What would you recommend to her if she were your niece?

Any ideas/suggestions would be greatly appreciated on my part. I have never tackled a wedding before. I can do the bouquets, hand-wrap, etc, but would appreciate your thoughts on colors/varieties.

That being said, I think the colors are gorgeous, and can be very elegant in themselves, if the flowers are not quite so.

My concern would be, would you have flowers that late? When in October is the wedding?

Dahlias can be more elegant, and bloom for me fairly late although I can't remember off the top of my head HOW late - at least late September, I think. I once grew an absolutely gorgeous dahlia called End of Summer, which did not even begin to bloom till the end of fall, lol - way into October and even November (although it was a very warm autumn that year). Unfortunately the color probably wouldn't do well for you. However, there are lots of red, yellow, and orange dahlias to choose from. I would just go to a vendor's site (Dan's Dahlias, Swan Island, Frey's) and just look through their pictures.

Goldenrod (solidago) is a nice fall flower, and of course mums and asters can be had.

As for sunflowers, there are lots to choose from. I grow two that are a deep, brownish red - Velvet Queen and Prado Red. One of them is really almost brown - might actually be ugly if it weren't so unusual, and it can be used to complement other sunflowers.

I've also grown Earthwalker, Bees Knees, and Pastiche, which are bicolor/mixed color sunflowers. Sparky is a kind of cool, quilled sunflower. And then a quick search at T&M showed a sunflower called Claret which was described as having a "gorgeous metallic sheen", and Little Dorrit, which has beautiful big centers.

There are so many sunflowers. Again, I would go to a vendor site such as T&M or Johnny's and just search through their offerings.

Let's see... I don't suppose you would have helenium that late? Or maybe heliopsis? Monkshood? Sedum? How about some pansies - the large icicle pansies can be quite eye-catching.

Ooh, I just thought of something - how about ornamental kale? They come in pinks, purples, reds and whites, and can be absolutely beautiful - and don't forget the smaller, cut-flower kales. Like roses in fall - gorgeous!

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=ornamental%20kale&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

I would also do a google search for fall wedding flowers. I'm sure you would find lots of ideas, aside from the orange roses from the florist, lol.

Good luck. Please let us know what you and your niece decide. What an exciting project!

:)
Dee

They look great with zinnias (wine/crimson) and dahlias (burgandys/oranges). You might add cream dahlias, asiatic lilies -- which if planted in July/early August should be ready. Some of the shorter duration asiatics would make it by then, unless you have a hard frost.

Also, lisianthus is in all sorts of great colors, including cream, and they take all year for me...outdoors without a hoophouse though...

Good luck,

Wendy

We'll be watching the frost dates closely this year. Late spring freeze has been as issue.

Maybe my sister will spring for a hoophouse????

So if her dress is gold and elegant, I'd recommend for her bouquet doing shades from ivories, golds, to oranges. Maybe a touch of the chocolate cosmos since the brown is neutral (and really gorgeous!!!) Limit the color palette for her and use the rest of the fall colors for attendants, groomsmen, and centerpieces.

Dahlias are really great fall flowers that are still elegant, and the deep burgundy colors, orange, and ivory colors would all work perfectly. I'd also think about incorporating fall leaves, hypericum berries, and other pretty textures. Fall weddings have so many pretty options for texture!

Hydrangea that we order in the fall often comes with an antique-y look, green with red tips and it's gorgeous in fall arrangements and a great start for a bouquet.

Favorite roses for ivories/golds: sahara (pretty tan) milva (orange) vendela (ivory)

Callas are very elegant and come in white, ivory, peach, mango and green.

I don't know if you can grow orchids, but there are some really pretty chocolate cymbidiums, and some orange and red mokara is pretty as well.

Hope that helps!

I grow them and they are outstanding, relatively large, and various colors and bicolors.

They don't start blooming here in NH until early Oct.

Cherokee Sunset Rudbeckia is an ideal flower, large, with autuminal colors. I'm not sure if they'll last that long in your area, but have been providing me with outstanding production.

Something different and very interesting would be flowering kale (Sunrise & Sunset) from Johnnys'. They actually look like huge roses and have long stalks (stems) and mature late in the season.

We used Frosted Explosion grass and dark red roses to complete the table arrangements.

Julia in Central Indiana

Teresa