cleome is a nice fun flowering annual....gets about 5 feet high and branches out with LOTS of spidery flowers...and looks good right now....

congrats on the engagement....jill

In the spring get yourself a bunch of deck pots and have somebody help you make up some big combination pots. Water and fertilize according to the directions all summer long with some TLC and you will have some beautiful flowers for your wedding. Its a commitment you will have to make in the spring to have beautiful flowers. Good Luck -- Upnortdareh

Congrats! Are there certain colors you are looking for? Helenium (sneezeweed) is gorgeous and blooms in September. It comes in yellow, red, and mixes of both colors. Mums bloom in September and you can get them now for a good price almost anywhere. Dinner Plate dahlias are also easy to grow (you just have to dig them out in winter) and are beautful this time of year with its huge flowers in a vareity of colors.

Do you want flowers for a bouquet and vases, or are you having a garden wedding?

Welcome to GardenWeb Schmitaa! You have come to the right place for answers! There are many helpfull folks visiting here!
Almost all of the annuals are doing their darndest to produce flowers and set seed at this time of year- if they have been watered and fed and deadheaded through the summer-that is.
Some of mine that are especially nice now are Morning Glories, himilayan Impatiens, talinum, rudbeckias, sun flowers, daturas, allysums, marigolds, salpiglosses, cosmos, 4 o'clocks, salvias, grasses, amanthus, nastirtiums, phlox, coleus, malva, hibiscus, nicotiana, nicandra, impatens, cleomes, scarlet runner beans, hyacinth beans, ornamental kale-
For perennials- mums and Dahlias are in thier prime- as are asters, rudbeckias, cannas, hosta 'honey bells', phlox, seedum, mallows, hibiscus, roses (everbearing), fernleaf bleeding hearts, turtle heads-
There is much life in the garden- and so easliy had- I would suggest checking out the WinterSowing forum as many of these can be started so easily through the winter, and be blooming by fall- all for the price of a postage stamp and some miracle-grow- and well a swap or two or three-or a Round Robin or two- as well.
Schmitaa- if you are interested- I would gladly send you a SASBE (self addressed stamped bubble envelope) of some pretty easy to wintersow seeds to get you started- consider it a wedding gift- Just send me an e-mail! Click on the blue Julie_MN above and then click on send me an e-mail. Take a peek at my trade page to see what you might like as well. If I send you too much of something- or someting you don't want- put it on your trade page! Look to the WinterSowers exchange area (click the lttle blue exchange word on that forum) and look for SASBEs for 'Newbies'- you will have more seeds than you imagined possible in no time!
Congradualtions on your soon to be marriage- and best of luck to you!
Julie

Congrats! This might sound silly, but sunflowers are real show stoppers this time of year--and they come in tons of colors and are EASY to grow. My nephew is having a garden wedding this Saturday the 9th, and is using hundred of my sunflowers.

I agree with the sunflowers. That would make for beautiful wedding flowers, plus they are long lasting. Hyacinth bean vines are also gorgeous, not sure on how long they last once cut...if you are planning on cutting them.

My zinnias look great right now. I started them from seed that I planted in june. I think they need hot temps to germinate the best. Also stems or ornamental grasses would look great in your bouquets. I was at the madison farmer's market today and there were many many flowers for sale. You could certainly get great ideas there. Goldenrod, obedient plant, mums, asters, black eyed susans are blooming in my gardens. But sunflowers is something I really wish I had! They would make great flowers for a wedding!

What part of the state are you in? In SE WI the goldenrod is gorgeous right now, that would match up well with black-eyed susans (rudbeckia) if you like gold, also go well with sunflowers. Not my favorite color, but they go great together and look pretty nice. The goldenrod can be found in anybody's yard that has a prairie or wild areas or even along roads. What I would recommend is you look around in ditches and friend's yards and see what is blooming right now, and ask if you could have some of it next year. That could be in addition to growing some things yourself, make the task easier. Also, if you are making bouquets, ask your friend to save clear glass jars for you.

Good luck. A friend of mine once used my yard as the source for her roommate's wedding, I had also given her my large stash of glass jars for the vases. Another friend planted seeds in pots in the spring and then used those as the centerpieces at dinner. The funny thing was she didn't really know what the plants were all supposed to look like, so some of the pots just had weeds growing in them because that is what came up. Still, they were live greenery.

Marcia