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nettakay_gw

Need advice for wedding flowers

nettakay
13 years ago

Hello, I stumbled upon this forum today and was hoping someone could help me out! I am good at growing flowers but not very educated on them as far as blooming schedule. I am looking to have my wedding in June 2011, I wanted to do it in may but was talking with my grandmother and she said she doesn't know of many perennials that bloom in may so if she is wrong please advise. I don't know much about perennials but I am thinking this is the best way to go? Plant flowers this year and they bloom next year around the time of my wedding? sorry lol I am clueless but I really want to do this!! They are just going to be to decorate the back yard which is where I am having the wedding, they wont be for bouquets. I need examples of climbers, low to the ground-spreading type, and other low-medium height flowers that will bloom around early June. Any experts out there have some advice for me??

Comments (12)

  • lavender_lass
    13 years ago

    It's great that you want to do something so special for your wedding and it's a good idea to plan ahead :)

    How large is your yard? Do you just want to decorate the area where you're getting married or are you hoping to decorate the whole yard?

    There are so many beautiful flowers you can use. Roses and lilies are usually more formal. Daisies and marigolds and zinnias might be more casual. What type of flowers do you like? Is your dress going to be more of a long, traditional style, or maybe something more breezy and lacy, but maybe only just below the knee?

    I love roses and they always look nice for a wedding. There are so many perennials (and annuals) that go wonderfully with roses. You can pick almost any color, so you could have a rainbow of flowers, or focus on colors that might complement your wedding colors.

    When you say you are looking for climbers, do you already have a structure for them to climb on, or are you looking for ideas for that too? Let us know and I'm sure there will be plenty of excellent suggestions :)

  • ginny12
    13 years ago

    Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! If you want to guarantee that you will have a garden full of blooming flowers, plan on annuals and lots of them. Perennials, especially in spring, vary a lot in time of bloom. Most of them also don't bloom much when they are only a year old.

    Think of hanging baskets, plants on pedestals, plants in the ground. Annuals will give you an amazing show for this one-time event in one year. You would need five years to have a fabulous June perennial garden.

  • lavender_lass
    13 years ago

    It is true that annuals will look great at the wedding. If you like the idea of perennials, there are some nice ones that will bloom in June. Do you know what planting zone you're in? I'm guessing zone 5 or 6, since you're in Indiana. You can check on the USDA map to find out.

    Once you know your zone, it's easy to find perennials and other plants that will grow well for you. I'm in zone 4, so most perennials don't start blooming well here until July. I like coneflowers, daisies, butterfly bush shrubs, and many other butterfly/bee attracting plants, but that's what works well in my yard, which is actually on a farm.

    The best advice I can give you is to talk to people in your area. This can be people who work at garden centers and local plant nurseries, even neighbors who garden and have flowers that you like. Find out what grows well for them.

    Annuals will give you a great show for the wedding, but have to be replanted each year (unless they reseed on their own) but perennials will come back every year. This means your garden will look nice every summer and even better as your plants get bigger. This might be a nice way to celebrate your anniversary, as you enjoy your garden for many years to come :)

  • nettakay
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I think I will stick with annuals then since I want to make sure they are in bloom, now this means I dont need to plant until next year, not this year correct? Also I am wanting to do the whole yard. I have a decent size yard. I want to get a gazebo/canopy to get married under which I could grow climbing plants up.. I also want to make some bentwood trellises for the climbing plants.. I also want to take morning glories and plant by every fence post in my back yard.. I have a privacy fence. I cant decide if I want lots of colors or just my wedding theme yellow and white.. like a pastel yellow not bright. What do you guys think? Theme colors only or all kinds. I dont mind all colors and then maybe yellow and white theme around the canopy.

    Dont have a dress yet but I want it to be long. I was thinking I could make a walkway (small aisle type) to lead up to the canopy where we could walk up it.

    I really need ideas for leaf type plants and also flowers. I need to know what looks well together. I have two tree stumps in my backyard as well one is stubby the other is slender and has some length to it.. enough to look good with a bed of flowers around it. Any ideas. I am looking for more ideas for the climber plants too but dont have a lot of money so dont go too extravagant on me lol :P

  • Nancy
    13 years ago

    Morning glories are pretty, but keep in mind that their blooms are only open in the morning. For annual vines there are red cardinal vine, cyprus vines that come in pink, white, or red. Thumbergia is a nice annual that comes in yellow, white, & salmon shades. I'm sure there are lots of others, and morning glories may very well work for you.

  • keesha2006
    13 years ago

    Morning Glories also bloom here in Indiana..at least Northwest Indiana in Late July and August. Knockout roses are also much punch quickly..since your looking for lots of show in just a short year....remember, since you want a good show next year already to buy bigger pots...and always in three or five and plant togethether for waves of color quickly rather than scattering and getting smaller impact. June is early at my place, Northweat Indiana for much...even for annuals..they dont get a really grand start until end of June and early July. At my house, everything, including the annuals is looking darn good about the mid July range..everything is in height of glory, the beatles have not destroyed to much..and annuals dont look like they came right out of the blister packs :) Iris look good here in Early June...Hostas too. For annuals, Pansy if you plant in April, will still be lush by early June....just some ideas...

  • plantmaven
    13 years ago

    You must thrive on stress!!!!!!!!!

    Best wishes.

  • irene_dsc
    13 years ago

    I'd say, watch your neighbors yards throughout June, and check the local garden centers to see what you can find easily. ;). I'd also try for a balance of planting for the longterm, and punching up the blooms for the wedding with annuals.

    For foliage, depending on your sun conditions - lambs ears, hostas, brunnera, geraniums (can also be gorgeous in bloom). Nepeta grows quickly and blooms for a long time. If you start Sweet William, it should bloom next year.

    Good luck! Remember, you can use containers for temporary help if needed!

  • nettakay
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I thive on joy lol, anyway well I do not know what I should do I want there to be lots of pretty flowers like everywhere along the fence and around trellises and maybe an arch around a garden that I have dug that will be just flowers and foliage, a flower garden you walk into. Anyway, I am not set on a may wedding date, so what I guess I need to know now is does anyone know of when I should have the wedding according to which month has the most flowers? I want to have lots to make it gorgeous. I have sunny spots and shady spots in my yard.

  • party_music50
    13 years ago

    It's difficult to give recommendations without knowing your zone or seasonal growing conditions, but I would strongly urge you to try growing a variety of annuals and reliably "quick" perennials this year. It sounds like you don't have any gardens in place now, so use this year to experiment and practice.

    Even if you put in perennials this year for bloom next year, the plants will probably not be what you hope for (depending on your growing conditions).

    I'm in zone 5, and everything is at least a week early for me this year. My yard is currently flush with forget-me-nots and violets. Bleeding Heart and Primrose are flush with blooms. Centaurea Montana is starting to bloom, as are my earliest bearded iris. My lilacs are just about in full bloom now. Soon I'll have lily of the valley blooming, Dame's Rocket, tons of peonies, ... May is beautiful and very fragrant here!

    My June-bloomers will be tons more bearded iris and siberian iris, poppies, sweet william, asiatic lilies, matricaria, campanulas, honeysuckle vine, trollius, and so on.

    Plants with great foliage are beautiful and really light up shady areas -- I love to mix and contrast foliage colors, textures, shapes, and heights. I use a lot of hostas, heucheras, ferns, etc... and it's easy to tuck in annual impatiens to brighten dark spots.

  • gottagarden
    13 years ago

    Congratulations! Just trying to be helpful here . . .

    Is your wedding definitely in June? I think it will be very hard to find many early June blooming annuals. And most Perennials probably need more than one year to really make a good show.

    If your wedding was in late July or August you could have gobs of gorgeous annuals like cosmos, sunflowers, morning glories, cleomes, etc. that get quite large in just one season.

    If you had 3 years to plan, I would say go for June and perennials. But if you are relying on annuals, they do better later in the summer.

    Have a fabulous wedding whenever it is!

  • nettakay
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    thank you so much so I am thinking a mid-late july wedding, to get the best variety of annual flowers. does anyone know of climber plants that bloom flowers all day and not just in the morning like morning glories?