Grow your own Wedding Flowers
Page 15
1. First make a twisted wire length to fit the head of the person who will wear the crown.
2. Bind with tape.
3. Add foliage.
4. Add flowers, wired in to face the same direction so they don’t bruise one another.
FRESH PETAL CONFETTI
On the morning of the wedding, a quiet walk around the garden shaking rose petals into a basket can be a great way to just calm down and have a little time out before events get under way.
Churches and other wedding venues are often pernickety about paper confetti being chucked about to blow around all over their swept paths and green lawns – and understandably so. An increasing number of businesses are making dried-petal confetti to replace the paper version, and these make an attractive alternative. But you can go one better yourself, and make fresh petal confetti to celebrate with the happy couple.
Fresh petal confetti is fun to throw and biodegradable, so more popular with venues.
In addition to keeping venue managers happy, fresh petal confetti has other benefits . . .
The weight of the water in the petals makes them heavier and better to throw. Dry confetti can be so light that it is literally blown away by the wind, whereas fresh petals will more likely land in the direction they’re thrown.
Fresh petal confetti really can match your wedding scheme – especially if it’s made out of the leftovers when you’ve finished doing your wedding flowers.
It is, however, something to make at the very last minute. For each day that fresh petal confetti is left to curl, the browner its edges will be, and the more bruised and creased the petals look. So make fresh petal confetti the day of the wedding, or perhaps at most the day before, especially if you plan to use it as part of your decorations as well as for throwing.
It’s important to make sure the flowers are dry before you start pulling the petals off, or you risk bruising them. If the weather’s wet, you can always cut the flowers you’ll use for confetti the day before you need them, and put them aside to dry off overnight.
Ingredients
Rose petals are the obvious choice: they make great confetti because they’re large and therefore heavy, and easy to pull from the flower. If roses are really blown, then you can simply shake the flower heads and the petals will fall off into the basket.
Rose petals are nice and heavy for a good throwing confetti mix.
Then there are lots of good flowers you can add to the mix. Look closely at the petals of the different flowers growing in your garden, to see how strong they are: how they’ll stand out of water. Poppies, for example, are clearly very fragile and look as though they’d bruise in a heartbeat (which they do). Dahlias, roses, cornflowers and so on, all look, and are, stronger. As with all the ideas I suggest in this book, practise making your confetti before the big day, and you’ll come up with a mix which you like and which suits you, and which will last the short time you need it to before being thrown or scattered.
The example shown in the picture below has:
Creamy-white rose petals, for weight.
Champagne-coloured ‘Alba’ California poppies, for a real bridal-satin look.
White nigella, which has petals of unparalleled delicacy.
Blue cornflowers – because I love them, and because pulled away from the flower head you’ll see that each cornflower petal, is, in fact, a teeny single flower.
Bupleurum, because I like a spot of green in the mix.
Mix the petals up as you might a pretty salad.
Good flowers to use are larkspur and cornflowers, but also bupleurum for a spot of green in the mix. Lavender or rosemary spurs make a lovely scent.
How to make your confetti
Simply pull all the petals off into a basket and mix them up a bit, as you might a pretty salad. Don’t put too much in a basket at once, or you risk bruising the petals. About 5cm (2”) is plenty deep enough, so you might need several baskets – which are lovely for bridesmaids or pages to carry, as an alternative to posies. If you make your fresh confetti the day before, then keep it somewhere cool and out of direct sunlight until you need it.
Be creative with confetti
You don’t only have to throw confetti: you can use it to dress a table, or even a cake – scatter petals over a cloth, or make patterns with it. Or, if the flowers are edible (cornflowers and roses, for example), add them to a sparkling cocktail mix. Do be careful to make sure any flowers you plan to use in food or drink preparation really are edible! Larkspur, foxgloves and monkshood, for example, are poisonous, and even sweet peas are mildly poisonous.
Blown dahlias might not last the day in a warm venue, but the petals will scatter very prettily around the tables.
Growing your own wedding flowers is supposed to be fun. The flowers you grow yourself will certainly save you a good deal of money on your wedding budget, but the idea is also to have a lovely time. Weddings are about celebration and enjoyment, and anything that adds any stress to the occasion is to be avoided. So I hope that this book has inspired you to grow your own wedding flowers, but also that it has helped you manage your expectations, enabling you to turn your dream into reality without last-minute panics or unexpected disasters.
The route to success is in the planning, in practising, in having a good team of obedient helpers and – however unromantic it may sound – in the spreadsheet!
And the sensible couple will decide how much time they really have and what they can sensibly achieve. Will you grow and arrange all the flowers? Will you find a florist to help you who’ll use your flowers? Or will you keep the pressure down and let the florist do the bouquets, bridesmaids’ posies and buttonholes with flowers supplied, while you grow and arrange the table centrepieces and reception flowers? This is the approach taken by many of the DIY brides who come to Common Farm Flowers. Perhaps you might grow just some of the material you need, and source supplementary stock from local growers? Will you have someone earmarked to deliver extra supplies in case you need them?
However you choose to use your own flowers for your wedding, I hope this book has left you feeling can-do and positive about the project before you. While the point of a wedding is that two people stand up and plight their troth in front of friends and family, the bonus pride when you carry a bouquet of your own beautiful, scented, bee-feeding, carbon-footprint-avoiding, flower-miles-and-chemical-free, fresh-as-they-can-be flowers down the aisle is well earned. Growing and arranging your own wedding flowers is a great achievement, and something you can remember with joy for the rest of your life. So: good luck, and happy growing.
A celebration of colour in this mix of pot marigolds, scabious, feverfew, penstemons and more.
APPENDIX 1: PLANT NAMES
The following table gives the common and Latin names for all the plants mentioned in this book. The first column gives the name by which a plant is commonly known to gardeners: this is often an abbreviated version of the Latin name, rather than the plant’s traditional common name.
* ’Edible’ or ‘poisonous’ is indicated only where a plant is very edible or very poisonous. Beware using bought flowers on cakes unless you know they’re not sprayed.
Commonly known as
Latin name
Also known as
Notes*
Achillea
Achillea spp.
Yarrow
Be wary of contact dermatitis when cutting and using in floristry. Wear gloves and long sleeves.
Acidanthera
Gladiolus murielae
Abyssinian gladiolus
Very highly scented: don’t use too many in arrangements or the scent may be overpowering.
Alchemilla
Alchemilla mollis
Lady’s mantle
Be wary of contact dermatitis when cutting and using in floristry. Wear gloves and long sleeves.
Allium
Allium spp.
Ornamental onion
Can be smelly when cut, but the smell soon disappears
and the flowers are beautiful.
Amaryllis
Hippeastrum spp.
Fill stems with warm water to encourage them to open.
Ammi majus
Ammi majus
Bullwort
Arguably the most useful cut flower for summer weddings.
Ammi visnaga
Ammi visnaga
Toothpick bishop’s weed
Heavier-stemmed and later-flowering than ammi majus.
Amaranthus
Amaranthus caudatus
Love-lies-bleeding; careless
Coloured seedheads are striking in arrangements. Remove wilty leaves and use draping flower heads.
Anemone
Anemone coronaria
Try ‘The Bride’ for a weddingy look.
Apple
Malus spp.
You could wire the fruit to the branches to stop them falling off, if using them in autumn floristry.
Aquilegia
Aquilegia spp.
Columbine; granny’s bonnet
Artemisia
Artemisia ludoviciana
Western mugwort
Asparagus fern
Asparagus plumosus
Aster (perennial)
Aster spp.
Michaelmas daisy
Astrantia
Astrantia major
Masterwort
Mature flowers stand well out of water, so good for buttonholes and flower crowns.
Balsam poplar
Populus balsamifera
Balm of Gilead
Foliage has a wonderful scent in spring.
Beech
Fagus sylvatica
Common beech
Foliage may need searing to make it stand well in water.
Bells of Ireland
Moluccella laevis
Irish bell flower
Watch out for unexpected thorns, which can take you by surprise but won’t do any harm.
Bistort
Persicaria bistorta
Common bistort
Blackberry
Rubus fruticosus
Use when berries are not quite ripe, to avoid squishy black juice. Cut wearing gauntlets because of thorns.
Blackthorn
Prunus spinosa
Sloe
Bluebell (Spanish)
Hyacinthoides hispanica
Bluebell (UK native)
Hyacinthoides non-scripta
As with all wildflowers, only cut them if they’re on your own land, or you have the owner’s permission.
Bronze fennel
Foeniculum vulgare ‘Purpureum’
Edible.
Buddleja
Buddleja davidii
Butterfly bush
Cut flowers when they’re just beginning to open, as they go over quite quickly.
Bupleurum
Bupleurum rotundifolium
Hare’s ear; thorow-wax
Buttercup (meadow)
Ranunculus acris
Poisonous: don’t use to decorate cakes.
California poppy
Eschscholzia californica
Brittle stems: take care when cutting.
Campanula
Campanula medium
Canterbury bells
Catmint
Nepeta grandiflora
Choisya
Choisya ternata
Mexican orange blossom
Can be smelly when freshly cut, but the smell soon goes away, leaving you very useful, glossy foliage.
Chrysanthemum (annual)
Chrysanthemum carinatum
Another good daisy shape to grow.
Chrysanthemum (perennial)
Chrysanthemum spp.
Cineraria
Senecio cineraria
Silver ragwort; senecio
Clary sage
Salvia viridis
Annual clary
Clematis
Clematis spp.
Comfrey
Symphytum officinale
Common comfrey
Use to make a plant-feeding tea.
Cornflower
Centaurea cyanus
Bachelor’s buttons
Good also for confetti. Edible.
Cosmos
Cosmos bipinnatus
Mexican aster
Cow parsley
Anthriscus sylvestris
You can use hairspray to stop it shedding.
Cowslip
Primula veris
Bedlam cowslip
One of the loveliest scents of the flowering year.
Crab apple
Malus sylvestris
Wire fruit to branches to prevent them falling if using in autumn floristry.
Craspedia
Craspedia spp.
Billy buttons
Crocosmia
Crocosmia spp.
Montbretia
Lovely arching seedheads in autumn.
Crocus
Crocus spp.
Cuckoo flower
Cardamine pratensis
Lady’s smock
Flowers fleeting, but last long enough for a wedding posy.
Daffodil
Narcissus spp.
In bulb catalogues, those known as ‘daffodils’ are generally less scented than ‘narcissi’.
Dahlia
Dahlia spp.
Delphinium (perennial)
Delphinium spp.
Poisonous: don’t use to decorate cakes.
Devil’s bit scabious
Succisa pratensis
Dogwood
Cornus spp.
Bright cultivars for winter colour.
Echinacea
Echinacea purpurea
Purple coneflower
Pull off bruised petals when the flowers are going over, and use the thistley orange middles for interest and texture.
Elder
Sambucus nigra
Common elder; black elder
Tradition has it that you should ask the elder whether it minds being cut before you cut it.
Euonymus
Euonymus japonicus
This is the variegated euonymus.
Euphorbia
Euphorbia spp.
Spurge
Be wary of contact dermatitis from the caustic sap: wash your hands after cutting and arranging with it.
Euphorbia oblongata
Euphorbia oblongata
Balkan spurge
Be wary of contact dermatitis from the caustic sap: wash your hands after cutting and arranging with it.
Feverfew
Tanacetum parthenium
A few leaves in a cup of hot water will help with prewedding stress headaches also.
Field scabious
Knautia arvensis
Forget-me-not
Myosotis arvensis
This is the common field forget-me-not.
Fox-and-cubs
Pilosella aurantiaca
Orange hawkweed
Closes up at night, so won’t perform for an evening party.
Foxglove
Digitalis spp.
Poisonous: don’t use to decorate cakes.
Grape hyacinth
Muscari armeniacum
Muscari
Pull stems gently rather than cut them, and you’ll get longer stems.
Grey poplar
Populus x canescens
Guelder rose
Viburnum opulus
Gypsophila
Gypsophila elegans
Baby’s breath
Hawthorn
Crataegus monogyna
May; Beltane tree
Has been associated with bad luck when brought into the house. Read its history, though, and use it in wedding flowers.
Hazel
Corylus avellana
Lovely hazel catkins bring such promise of spring.
Helenium
Helenium spp.
Sneezeweed
Hellebore
&
nbsp; Helleborus spp.
Cut once the flowers are beginning to set seed, and they’ll last longer in arrangements.
Hogweed
Heracleum sphondylium
Common hogweed; cow parsnip
Be very wary of contact dermatitis when cutting and using in floristry. Wear gloves and long sleeves. Not to be confused with giant hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum), which causes severe skin burns.
Holly
Ilex aquifolium