Amy - cow parsley might be a useful supplement to your plants - light, white, frothy and usually freely available in hedgerows in June. I have seen some very pretty rustic arrangements using this plant.
Only thing I would say is it doesn't last very long indoors so maybe cut it the night before. It can also smell a bit in confined spaces - but some large jugs at the entrance to the venue(s) might look very pretty.
Begging snippets of evergreens from anybody and everybody is the ideal way to bulk out the flowers you do have and I wouldn't be above asking a local florist how much notice they need to get in the sweet peas you want if your plants do not flower in time.
But plenty of warm weather and lots of water and feed and they might surprise you yet! Definitely a good idea to have a plan (b) tho'. I'm sure your nigella will be out and the seed heads & foliage are so pretty even if they start to drop their petals.
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
Ivy and ox-eye daisies perhaps but you must have the landowners permission to explore & pick. Only take a relatively small percentage of what's there - making sure you leave roots and seed heads so the plants can reappear next year.
Personally, I would not rely too heavily on foraging unless you have a reliable source on your doorstep. It could all be quite time consuming at the very last minute. Foliage will almost certainly keep well for a few days in a bucket of water in the shade - but wild flowers are usually quite ephemeral & need to be gathered the night before (even on the day) and, if it's raining, they will look rather bedraggled.
Better, I think, to plan to only use something like the cow parsley to make a last minute informal display if it's looking good on the day.
Now is the time to find out where you might be allowed to pick some - try to find several sites with different conditions - plants will mature at different times depending on whether they are shaded or sunny
In friends' gardens you might well find some lovely weddingy flowers such as anthemis, ammi major and feverfew - these always make lovely frothy mini-arrangements for placing along window ledges etc. If you have enough they will supplement larger arrangements too. I often use things such as dill or fennel in flower arrangements - the foliage is light and ferny and the flower heads are beautiful.
You don't necessarily need a lot of flowers - single stems of anthemis, zinnias, carnations, cornflowers etc in tiny containers (even test tubes held upright in sand or a block of oasis) can look stunning placed in a line down the centre of a long table.
Sarah Raven's website usually has some good ideas for very simple & more complex flower arrangements. Hope it all works out and everyone has a great day
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
Bit of an update - my sweetpeas started producing buds and enough bloomed for only ONE vase of flowers....and then when we came home from the wedding (2 days later) - there were LOADS in bloom!! Typical!
But it was a success! I had tonnes of gyp and candytuft! Another friend also grew loads of gyp too - so in the end she only had to buy 2 bouquets of supermarket roses, 4 bouquets of chrysanthemums and she also ordered some beautiful peonies from a florist. There were 8 tables each with about 10 little decorated jars and they were full of beautiful blooms! Then there was loads left over for places like the guest book table and cake table etc! It was great and I'm really proud of myself considering this is my first time doing anything like that!
I'll ask my friend if she has any pics I could post to show you as I was too busy with bridesmaid duties to take any!
Hello Amy, so pleased that the wedding was such a success. I did follow your posts earlier in the year (with much trepidation), but how happy i am for you that things finally turned out so well. You say you are proud of yourself, and so you should be, taking on such a marathon task. I'm sure you have learnt a lot over the past couple of months.
Congratulations to the bride and groom, and a huge well done to you!
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Will do Granma - thanks for the tip
Amy also the stems can contain a milky sap which can irritate and cause a rash.
to seal this hold them over a flame soon as possible after being picked.
Amy - cow parsley might be a useful supplement to your plants - light, white, frothy and usually freely available in hedgerows in June. I have seen some very pretty rustic arrangements using this plant.
Only thing I would say is it doesn't last very long indoors so maybe cut it the night before. It can also smell a bit in confined spaces - but some large jugs at the entrance to the venue(s) might look very pretty.
Begging snippets of evergreens from anybody and everybody is the ideal way to bulk out the flowers you do have and I wouldn't be above asking a local florist how much notice they need to get in the sweet peas you want if your plants do not flower in time.
But plenty of warm weather and lots of water and feed and they might surprise you yet! Definitely a good idea to have a plan (b) tho'. I'm sure your nigella will be out and the seed heads & foliage are so pretty even if they start to drop their petals.
Thanks Topbird - we had thought about foraging for wildflowers and foliage - any other recommendations??
Ivy and ox-eye daisies perhaps but you must have the landowners permission to explore & pick. Only take a relatively small percentage of what's there - making sure you leave roots and seed heads so the plants can reappear next year.
Personally, I would not rely too heavily on foraging unless you have a reliable source on your doorstep. It could all be quite time consuming at the very last minute. Foliage will almost certainly keep well for a few days in a bucket of water in the shade - but wild flowers are usually quite ephemeral & need to be gathered the night before (even on the day) and, if it's raining, they will look rather bedraggled.
Better, I think, to plan to only use something like the cow parsley to make a last minute informal display if it's looking good on the day.
Now is the time to find out where you might be allowed to pick some - try to find several sites with different conditions - plants will mature at different times depending on whether they are shaded or sunny
In friends' gardens you might well find some lovely weddingy flowers such as anthemis, ammi major and feverfew - these always make lovely frothy mini-arrangements for placing along window ledges etc. If you have enough they will supplement larger arrangements too. I often use things such as dill or fennel in flower arrangements - the foliage is light and ferny and the flower heads are beautiful.
You don't necessarily need a lot of flowers - single stems of anthemis, zinnias, carnations, cornflowers etc in tiny containers (even test tubes held upright in sand or a block of oasis) can look stunning placed in a line down the centre of a long table.
Sarah Raven's website usually has some good ideas for very simple & more complex flower arrangements. Hope it all works out and everyone has a great day
Bit of an update - my sweetpeas started producing buds and enough bloomed for only ONE vase of flowers....and then when we came home from the wedding (2 days later) - there were LOADS in bloom!! Typical!
But it was a success! I had tonnes of gyp and candytuft! Another friend also grew loads of gyp too - so in the end she only had to buy 2 bouquets of supermarket roses, 4 bouquets of chrysanthemums and she also ordered some beautiful peonies from a florist. There were 8 tables each with about 10 little decorated jars and they were full of beautiful blooms! Then there was loads left over for places like the guest book table and cake table etc! It was great and I'm really proud of myself considering this is my first time doing anything like that!
I'll ask my friend if she has any pics I could post to show you as I was too busy with bridesmaid duties to take any!
Just a shame about the sweetpeas!
Hello Amy, so pleased that the wedding was such a success. I did follow your posts earlier in the year (with much trepidation), but how happy i am for you that things finally turned out so well. You say you are proud of yourself, and so you should be, taking on such a marathon task. I'm sure you have learnt a lot over the past couple of months.
Congratulations to the bride and groom, and a huge well done to you!
What lovely news! thanks for the update and well done
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.