Hi Grahame,

I'm a tad confused. Will the wedding take place in England or PA?

Are you looking for one or various varieties?
How many plants are you seeking? Approximately.
What about cost?

The problem is finding 'X' amount, in bloom, a certain time of year..June, in your case.

If money isn't an issue, have to you considered places like FTD 'florist?'
I'd normally suggest buying plants via online nurseries, but since you're searching for 'X' amount might be difficult if not impossible.

Are you seeking fragrant tropicals, annuals, or does it matter?

Another option is garden centers.
Check your local phone book or online phone directory, since your nearest center is closed.

You might be able to order 'x' plant/s in advance. Florists take large orders, but like FTD, are quite costly.

Florists sell cut flowers, but you'll need to ask which are fragrant and will be available in June.

Not sure I answered your question...lol. If there are more, ask away.
Hopefully others will chime in.
Have fun at the wedding, Toni

FTD is a florist. Although I've never ordered from this company, I've heard they're competent.
To me FTD is an over-priced florist, but in cases such as yours, ordering from them might be the easiest way to go.
FTD usually usually has plants one is seeking and they deliver.

Hi Toni
The wedding is west of Philadelphia PA (mainline)
We are looking for garden centres people can recommend in that area, anywhere West of Philly up to Lancaster area.
Specifically garden centres that will hold stocks of fragrant flowers come the end of June, they can be cut or potted as we will need both. The wedding is small (30 guests) and we have the bulk of the flowers but I don't think they'll have the fragrance we are looking for. I'm thinking cut flowers (Freesia's, Lilies, Sweet Peas etc) and potted plants such as Jasmine/Gardenia.
Probably my best bet is just to ask around when I come over, I'm there for 2 weeks beforehand, I've been over several times...just have to wait and see. Thanks for the information Toni, appreciate it.

Howdy,

A June wedding!! Hope the weather cooperates. :)

Since you'll be in the states two-weeks beforehand, I too think it's best to wait.
Once you arrive, you can check out different garden centers. Ask around.

Hopefully, someone here on GW, who lives in the area, can direct you to a nursery/green house.

Don't forget Stargazer Lily..The scent is amazing! Strong, but not annoying.
Of all Lily's, Stargazer is my favorite.

It'd be great if you found blooming Lilacs....

Potted Jasmine is a fanastic idea. Are you looking for vining or uprights?
Green or variegated foliage?

Wish I had an idea for cut flowers, but I rarely buy cut.
Every so often, our grocery store has Carnations.. .10 cent each. lol.
Carnation scent is lovely too.

I'm getting excited thinking about all these plants..lol.

Anyway, have a safe trip, and Welcome. Toni

I am a florist with over twenty years experience.

FTD is not a florist. FTD is an organization that florists belong too. FTD does not sell flowers, all orders through their website go to a local florist who is a member. Florist Transworld Delivery is what it stands for.

Some member florists are over priced, some are not. Some are competent, some are not. I have worked for florists who took such horrid care of their cut flowers and plants that they are ripping off the public and should be shut down but the US does not license florists like many other countries do.

There is a large chain of florists in PA called Royer's Flowers that are very good.

Costco cut flowers come grower direct and are very fresh you can save a lot of money and have a lot more flowers than if going through a local florist.

Costco does offer Oriental lilies in bulk and in arranged wedding flowers. They are available year' round and are very fragrant. So fragrant that many complain about them in all of the flower shops I've worked at over the years....I love all of them but many do not. Not sure what the wedding colors are, Costco lilies are all hot pink and white variations which may not go.

Most commercially grown roses do not have much scent though some will. Scent in roses is directly in proportion to how long they last cut, so the stronger the scent the shorter they last which is why garden roses smell better.

Most commercial carnations have little scent though in large quantities all flowers are going to have some scent.

Potted pink jasmine Jasminum polyanthum are not ever offered in June here in Oregon so I think you'll be too late for them in PA too. They are usually offered in Jan and Feb.
These are the only jasmines commonly offered as potted gift plants rather than as nursery stock.

You are going to want potted gift plants rather than nursery stock if you want attractive plants with wrapped pots.

Most garden centers/nurseries are not in the gift potted plant business. Most of their plants won't be grown for show but for long term garden growth and may not be very attractive even if they do smell good.

There are Whole Foods in Philadelphia their floral departments would be a good place to order blooming potted plants for less than Royer's....most likely though check with both. I do not know if there are Kroger grocery stores in PA but they usually have excellent floral departments. I would avoid big box stores like Home Depot and Wal Mart, they generally cannot order in advance and do not hire experienced people for their garden departments. Most plants are brought in and merchandised by the growers...

Royer's not in that area, sorry.

Looking at several florist websites in that area. They are all using the same generic FTD website with their own pricing.

Prices are significantly higher than you would find at Whole Foods. YIKES a lot higher than here.

The Flower Pot has lowest web prices on blooming plants.

Mainline Gardens in Malvern is the closest nursery I can find, no mention of gift type plants on their site so would be nursery stock most likely.

There is a Whole Foods in Wayne PA which looks close to Berwyn to me. They call it the Devon store. They do have a full service floral department. Looking on their facebook page they have excellent prices for potted gift plants and cut flowers.

Hope this helps. I would NOT wait until you are here to order these plants or flowers. I would contact whomever you decide to use in advance. June is slow after the spring holidays and stock may be low.

Hi buyorsell888...Thanks for the information, a couple of the places we have on our list were Whole Foods and Wegmans, both do great cut flowers and the prices are good as well. We'll be ordering the Costco flowers at the beginning of June before we leave the UK, but we did not think about getting in touch with the supermarkets we were just going to turn up and look!! I have a few friends in the area, I'll get one of them to pop in and have a chat with the florist. We are going to try some of the local garden centres when we arrive as we will be looking for potted plants, they don't need to be in any fancy pots or anything, we have burlap planters we intend to use. Costco also do a range of pot plants so we will have a look there. Thanks again for your very helpful information
grahame

Hello,

Buyorsell..FTD stands for 'Florists Transworld Delivery.'
FTD might not be a typical, neighborhood florist, but it's run in similar fashion.
F in FTD stands for Florist. lol

The rip-off, over-priced company sells live, flowering plants. Check it out.

Live orchids. $45-81.00.
Live trees.. $30-.150
Bonsai... $30-160.00

I'd never buy from FTD, any similar company or local florists.
As I mentioned above, FTD is quite costly.

Grahame...Good luck.
If you plan on purchasig rare, flowering plants, I agree with Buy, arrangements should be made before you arrive.

Besides Costco, you might consider Lowes, Home Depot, (HD, when plants are first shipped,) and Ikea.

Have you considered Scented Geraniums? Or Scented, variegated Geraniums? Toni

Hi buyorsell888...Thanks for the information, a couple of the places we have on our list were Whole Foods and Wegmans, both do great cut flowers and the prices are good as well. We'll be ordering the Costco flowers at the beginning of June before we leave the UK, but we did not think about getting in touch with the supermarkets we were just going to turn up and look!! I have a few friends in the area, I'll get one of them to pop in and have a chat with the florist. We are going to try some of the local garden centres when we arrive as we will be looking for potted plants, they don't need to be in any fancy pots or anything, we have burlap planters we intend to use. Costco also do a range of pot plants so we will have a look there. Thanks again for your very helpful information
grahame

Hi Toni, good idea with the Geraniums, I'm going to be sending a few of my PA friends out scouting for information, I'm sure there are going to be enough choices in the local area. The more I read the more I am happy we can do the things we are thinking of (well at least what the creative people in the family / friends are thinking of). We won't have the luxury of planning everything to the last petal, but with the bulk flowers we will be ordering, the local suppliers (supermarkets and a couple of flower growers we have found) and nature itself...we will pull it off!!
grahame

I'm well aware of what FTD stands for having worked for multiple FTD member florists for over twenty years, including being a floral manager for Safeway when they were FTD here in the PNW and also a local independent grocery store chain, Lamb's Markets, when they were FTD members here in the PNW.

There are multiple grocery store florists nationwide that are FTD members. Their prices are going to be lower than smaller family owned shops as most have group buying power. Kroger is the largest purchaser of cut flowers in the USA.

There was a lawsuit in the 80's by Kroger because they wanted to join and FTD said no simply because they were grocery stores however, the courts made FTD let them in IF they passed the same membership testing and approval process as any other florist.....they passed and so did I, twice!

I currently work for a FTD member florist and an interior plant maintenance company. Both are very reasonably priced. In fact the florist charges less for labor than I did ten years ago at the upscale grocery store flower shop I managed for nine years....

When you order on FTD.com your order is then sent to a florist in the area of delivery. The website may look like flowers are coming from FTD itself but they aren't.

Some FTD florists suck and some are excellent, some are high priced and some aren't.

FTD does not set the prices, each florist sets their own pricing. Flowers and plants with a lot of upgrades to them and labor for arranging are always going to be more expensive than loose cuts or those in grower pots. That doesn't mean they are a rip off.

Howdy,

Hi Grahame,

Whichever plants you choose, good luck, and have a fantastic time at the wedding.

Out of curiosity, after the reception, will guests be allowed to take plants home?

Hi Buy,

To be honest, I don't know anything about FTD.

When Grahame asked about plants for a wedding, I gave a list of suggestions, naming FTD as a last resort, in case ordering large amounts of plants was a problem since he's overseas.

I don't do florists. I've been in a few; walked out empty-handed. A difficult task, for sure. lol

Don't know if local florists were FTD related or not, but their prices, 'at least in IL,' were outrageous.

Thanks for the info...Toni

Hi Tony
Table decorations, I'd be happy for people to take them but the circumstances are a little different. The reception is in a good friends house/back yard, a lot of the guests will be from the UK and my youngest son lives over in Philly so he can have any potted plants we buy. Thanks for the really useful info, my wife has been making test bouquets and table decorations over the last week and we a reasonably confident we will pull this off. It won't be the same as you would expect from a professional florist, but the effect we are after lends itself to the amateur...very relaxed, very English cottage garden.
Thanks once again for taking the time and interest in answering my question, and here's hoping for a great day!!
Grahame