Over the last year we have been having fun preparing for the marriage of our daughter. The plan is to have a large informal country wedding out in the garden amongst the flowers and trees. Alas, one or two pandemic issues have got in the way but the preparation continues for a rescheduled wedding in 2021.
In many respects the delay last year has allowed us to try a few things out in the garden. Some have worked, some have been less successful and in this new year we will be able to build on the successes of this year’s planting combinations and ditch those that did not work.
With the pressure off somewhat we have been able to play a little. One of the most enjoyable and relaxing activities is to wander around the garden in the warm sunshine picking flowers to make petal confetti. It is so satisfying.
Along the way we have learnt some tricks which we thought it would be nice to pass on if you plan to do this yourself.
First of all you may need a large floppy hat and Sussex Trug to really feel the part! Choose a warm, dry day if possible and certainly wait until any dew has gone. The flowers that you choose to pick should be fully out and mature. Good quality blown roses are fine to use.
We collected petals in cardboard trays lined with kitchen paper. If possible you want to create a single layer so that they dry well. You certainly don’t want piles of petals or they will not dry successfully.
The trays of petals were slowly dried in the airing cupboard for 2 days. Once dried we placed the petals carefully and loosely into air tight storage jars (we re-purposed washed Douwe Egberts coffee jars). In each of the jars we put a home made sachet of silica gel created using unwanted, emptied herbal tea bags.
It is important to store the jars in the dark. As you can see from the pictures the petals have kept their colour well over the months. Although you cannot smell them they have also retained their wonderful scent if they had one originally.
We have labelled each picture so that you can see how the different types flowers have turned out.
Dark purple RoseDeep pink rosePale pink RoseWhite and yellow RoseGeumDahlia David HowardCrocosmiaCalendulaPink LarkspurBlue Larkspur
So what have we learnt along the way:
White flowers are less successful as the petals tend to dry an unattractive brown or dirty white.
Many of the dark red flowers turned almost black and lost their attractive colour.
Very fleshy petals (eg. hemerocallis) don’t seem to dry well.
We have also been advised that taking good wedding day photographs of confetti throwing takes some practice so we had a really fun afternoon in the summer throwing petals and taking some pictures. Timing the release of your treasured petals is everything and unfortunately some of your guests may not be up to the task on the day – but that is half the fun.
Finally we think we should offer a word of warning for the big day. Some darker coloured petals will stain if moistened so we suggest you don’t throw these at the bride in her beautiful dress if the weather is at all damp!
The wedding season is in full swing and blue seems to be the colour of the moment. As we bask in the summer sun here are this weeks ‘Six on Saturday’ from the garden. All seem to be loving the hot weather.
One: Lavender
Two: Echinops ritro
Three: Ageratum (with Clary Sage in the background)
Four: Eryngium planum
Five: Cornflowers
Six: Sweet Peas
The Six on Saturday meme is hosted by The Propagator. Click on the link to see what other plant lovers are chatting about.
Honey Pot Flowers are wedding and celebration florists based in Warwickshire in the United Kingdom specialising in natural, locally grown seasonal flowers. We grow many of our own flowers allowing us to offer something very different and uniquely personal.
As our thoughts turn to the spring sowing of flower seeds we have been keeping an eye on the current trends for 2018 weddings. Certainly the talk on the various bridal forums has indicated that blue, particularly navy and royal blue, is likely to be very popular this year. This is also borne out by the orders we have received so far.
As there are relatively few true blue flowers this could potentially be challenging if we don’t carefully plan our sowing to ensure we have a good range in flowers throughout the season. It is, however, not just about the blue as we need to ensure that we have a selection of complementary and contrasting colours available to set off the blues perfectly.
Pew ends of blue cornflowers and dutch iris alongside white roses and feverfew providing that tiny pop of yellow. Flowers by Honey Pot Flowers. Venue Wethele Manor, Warwickshire
So what are the options available for providing these blue floral arrangements with country garden flowers?
Powder Blue
I feel the lighter powder blues are perhaps easier to achieve than the darker navy and royal blues. Many of these varieties make lovely garden plants as well as having the advantage of being good cut flowers. Some of our favourites include:
‘Love-in-a-mist’ (Nigella damascina andNigella hispanica) – a lovely, delicate true blue flower that also yields interesting seed pods later in the season.
Ageratum – we particularly like the F1 strain ‘Blue Horizon’ as it has much longer cutting stems than the typical bedding varieties. It is a great garden plant and goes on flowering its socks off and looking good until the first frosts of the autumn.
Ageratum ‘Blue Horizon’
Sea lavender (Limonium latifolium) – a light and delicate Limonium that is great for creating the open, wispy effect that sits so well with country garden wedding bouquets. It also dries well.
Scabious – this is such a fantastic meadow style flower and always looks good in country style and wild garden bouquets.
Bouquet of white peonies, blue scabious and nigella backed with asparagus fern and pittosporum. Flowers by Honey Pot Flowers
Sweet Peas – for fragrance you cannot beat the Sweet Pea and there are some pale blue varieties that fit this blue trend perfectly.
Pale blue sweet peas with lime green Alchemilla
Didiscus – a delicate and interesting bloom that holds well and adds a meadow touch to any arrangement.
Didiscus
Mid-blue
Cornflowers – probably one of our most used blue flowers ideal for bouquets, arrangements and buttonholes. They hold extremely well and can cope with being out of water for some time. Cornflowers are one of a limited number of flowers that work reliably in a flower crown of fresh flowers on a hot summers day. They are also edible and can be used as cake flowers.
Flower Girl Wand in blue and white bound with white satin. Flowers by Honey Pot Flowers
Delphiniums – these are extremely valuable as they come in a range of blues from a light powder blue shade, through mid-blue and also rich deep blues. The blooms are rather more ‘chunky’ than larkspur but that makes them particularly good for large pedestal and church arrangements.
Dutch Iris – blue is a receding colour and it often requires a pop of white or yellow to bring it to life. There are some varieties of Dutch Iris which are almost a deep velvety blue but the typical dutch iris is mid-blue with a flash of yellow or white that sets off the blue nicely.
Deep Blue to Mauve/Purple
Anemone – if you are putting together a spring wedding then the Anemone will be one of the stars of the show. We have found that they are relatively short lived in our garden and each year the flower stems get shorter and shorter. Although still useful as a garden plant they become less useful as a cut flower as time goes by. We therefore tend to buy and plant new corms each year to maintain a good crop of usable stems.
Country bouquet featuring blue anenomes, dutch iris and limonium. Flowers by Honey Pot Flowers. Photograph by Michelle Hardy Photography http://www.michellehardyphotography.com/
Delphinium ‘Volkerfrieden’ – this Delphinium of the ‘Belladonna Group’ provides a true blue flower that is open and delicate. It regularly appears in our Honey Pot Flowers designs!
Larkspur – although strictly speaking a Delphinium the annual Larkspur species D.consolida and D.ajacis tend to be much more delicate than the perennial border delphiniums. They therefore lend themselves better to smaller bouquets and table arrangements and can also be dried and used for petal confetti.
Larkspur ‘Braveheart’
Clary Sage – a well behaved flower stem that provides colour all summer. A useful filler in both the borders and in bouquets. It is in fact the colourful bracts rather than the true flowers that provide the shot of blue.
Salvia caradona – a very useful addition to any arrangement providing an architectural spike of deep blue/mauve. In the garden we do find that it is a short lived perennial that needs to be replaced regularly.
Blue and white wedding bouquet of Delphinium ‘Volkerfrieden’ and Cornflower with the deeper blue/mauve provided by Salvia caradona. Flowers by Honey Pot Flowers
Complementary and contrasting colours
I think it is important to mention that when designing with blue, either in a garden setting or in a floral arrangement, you need other colours to bring the blue to life. Blue and white sit well together and provide a pleasing and relaxed effect but equally pairing deep blues and mauve with pops of yellow or even orange create a strong vibrant effect that can be truly stunning.
Blues have the ability to offer both soft or vibrant displays. If the blues become a strong trend in 2018 it could prove to be a very exciting year.
There remains an entrenched belief amongst the flower buying public that British garden flowers do not last as long in the vase as those purchased from the florist or supermarket.
Inevitably this will vary from species to species but fundamentally those picked and harvested locally should have an immediate advantage. The vast majority of shop bought flowers will have been grown in Columbia, Ecuador and Kenya, will have flown thousands of miles across the world to the flower auctions in Holland, been transferred overnight to UK flower wholesalers and subsequently purchased by retail florists ready for sale to the public.
There is a certain, and I agree rather idyllic perception, of walking around your flower garden on a sunny day in a large floppy hat and trug, cutting big open flowers and taking them back to the house and placing them straight into a vase of water to grace the rooms of your house. Unfortunately, as Linda Beutler in her book Garden to Vase quite rightly points out, the reality is that assembling good bouquets and arrangements with a long vase life takes time, planning and patience.
How you handle, prepare and condition your cut flowers is critical. If neglected or rushed this will indeed lead to disappointment.
The basics
It is important to remember that plants and their flowers are living things that require water, food and good health to prosper. When you cut the flower you are immediately severing it from the supply of water that will keep the cells turgid, from the food that is normally generated by photosynthesis in the leaves and you will have created a significant wound that will be prone to infection by bacteria and other micro organisms.
Inevitably cutting the plant in this way will be a significant shock and you need to ensure that air and bacteria do not start to block the all important xylem and phloem vessels that will continue to carry the water and food along the stems of the cut flower.
Cleanliness
If bacteria, debris or fungal growth start to block the vessels in the stem it will significantly reduce the longevity of the flower. It is important that all buckets and secateurs that you use are cleaned prior to cutting your flowers.
Time of day
The best time of day to cut your flowers if first thing in the morning before the sun begins to heat the air. Overnight the stomata on the leaves will have closed, reducing the transpiration of water, and allowing the cells of the plants and flowers to become fully turgid. Once the sun comes up photosynthesis begins and the stomata open allowing the flow of carbon dioxide into the plant and the resulting oxygen to escape. At the same time transpiration of water occurs through these stomata and in hot weather the plant may not be able to draw up sufficient water to replace that being lost.
If you cannot pick in the morning then it is possible to cut during the evening as the air cools and the plants are well saturated with the sugars produced during the day.
Tools
The tools you use to cut your flowers should be clean and sharp. Remember that you want to keep the vessels open so try to use cutters that will not mash or block the tiny vessels. Use cutters with by-pass blades rather than anvil secateurs.
Cutting your flowers at the right stage
If you cut your biggest, brightest flowers when they are too mature they will not last long in the vase. If the bees have got to your flowers and have already pollinated the blooms they will already be moving onto their next stage, dropping their petals and putting their energy into seed production.
For example, all the daisy type flowers, such as Cosmos, Rudbeckia and Ox-eye daisies, will not last long if the pollen has matured and the flowers have been visited by pollinating insects. The way to tell is by touching the centre of the flower with the tip of your finger. No pollen should come off and colour your finger.
Many flowers like roses, tulips and daffodils, will need to be cut before they open when the buds are first showing some colour. Poppies are best picked when the bud is just about to burst open.
Buckets of conditioned country garden flowers ready for delivery for a DIY wedding reception
Cut into water
We always cut our flowers straight into cool clean water in the field, cutting the stem at an angle to create a greater surface area for the flower to take up water (so that the cut end is not flat against the bottom of the bucket). We strip off any leaves that will sit below the water surface. The latter is important as any leaves below the water will quickly begin to decompose and create the infections that we want to avoid.
If the flowers or foliage are cut and then left awhile in the air, air bubbles will begin to be pulled into the vessels and inhibit the free flow of water up the stem and into the flower causing the flower to wilt.
Some flowers that produce a sticky sap (eg. Poppies and Euphorbia) will benefit from searing when they are cut. Searing the end of the cut stem in boiling water or with a flame will stop these substances contaminating and poisoning the water and will help water uptake.
On woody shrubs and stems the important vessels for water uptake are in the cambium, the living layer of cells between the bark and the dead heart wood. After cutting the stems at an angle, split the stems vertically up the centre to give as much surface area as possible for the uptake of water. It may be beneficial to shave back some of the bark to reveal and expose the bright green cambium.
Up early cutting flowers in the morning light before breakfast
Mixing flowers of different types
It is worth being aware that some flowers effect the longevity of other flowers and you should be careful of cutting them into the same field bucket. An example of this is with daffodils and narcissus and these should be cut into a separate bucket. The water should be changed every 20 minutes or so to check to see if the stems are still dripping sap from the cut wound. Keep doing this until the sap stops running and then they can be left to condition. Once the sap has stopped narcissus can be incorporated into arrangements with other flowers but do not be tempted to cut the stems again or the sap will start to run again.
It is also appropriate to do this with other plants with toxic sap like Euphorbia and Campanula.
Conditioning
This is such an important part of preparing and nurturing the flowers which you will have been lovingly looking after and growing for many months. It is not to be rushed.
Your flowers should be placed in cool, deep water for at least 2 hours (preferably overnight) before you start to use them in bouquets or arrangements. Keep them in a cool room out of direct sunlight whilst they are conditioning.
With woody foliage you will need to condition for at least 24 hours and more if you can. The tips of the shoots may initially droop but you will find that they eventually perk up if left long enough. The key message is be patient and you will be rewarded.
There are varying opinions on whether the addition of “flower food” to the conditioning water is valuable or not. Commercially available “flower food” contains sugars to feed the flowers (now that they have no leaves), help them take up water efficiently and keep the water free of bacterial infection. This is such a small cost that for us it is simply part of maintaining the good health and cleanliness of the flowers that we have invested so much time in growing over the summer.
James C. Schmidt from the University of Illinois makes a valuable point about the impact of hard and soft water on the longevity of cut flowers. He indicates that hard waters and those “softened” with a home water softener are unsatisfactory for keeping flowers fresh. Clearly if you are growing flowers in a hard water area there is little you can do about this but the use of “flower foods” may be particularly valuable in hard water areas (because they lower the pH of the water).
Beware ripening fruit
It is worth remembering that ethylene is naturally produced by all ripening fruit. Exposing flowers to ethylene will speed up the development of your cut flowers and eventual death. Don’t be tempted to leave your flowers conditioning in an out house or kitchen where you are storing fruit or other ripening vegetables.
Any finally ….
When your flowers and foliage are fully conditioned you can now let your creative juices flow. Cut the stems once again as you arrange them to help further water uptake and increase the flower life.
If arranging in a vase try to replace the water regularly to keep your flowers in tip top condition for as long as possible.
When delivering our Honey Pot Flowers bouquets by hand or by courier we always include detailed care instructions and flower food to help the recipient achieve the best from their flowers. We often get feedback and comments from delighted customers telling us how pleased they are with their long lasting bouquets.
Further reading
It is important to recognise that although there are general principles to observe, ‘one size does not fit all’ when it comes to cutting and conditioning cottage garden flowers. There is a wealth of additional hints and tips available in the following books where specific flowers benefit from a slightly different or a specific approach.
“Speciality Cut Flowers” by Allan M. Armitage and Judy M. Laushman (ISBN 0-88192-579-9)
“Garden to Vase” by Linda Beutler (ISBN 978-0-88192-825-9)
“Cut Flower Garden” by Erin Benzakein and Julie Chai (ISBN 978-1-4521-4576-1)
“Grow your own wedding flowers” by Georgie Newbury (ISBN 978-0-85784-253-4)
“The Cutting Garden” by Sarah Raven (ISBN 978-0-7112-3465-9)
As florists and cut flower growers one of the ultimate aims of the garden at Honey Pot Flowers is to have a wide variety of country garden flowers that we can incorporate in our wedding bouquets and venue arrangements.
A couple of years ago we were asked to provide bouquets and hair flowers for a wedding ceremony in the Orangery at the wonderful National Trust Hidcote Gardens. Perhaps a slightly daunting prospect sending flowers to Hidcote but an exciting challenge all the same. We also provided DIY buckets of our cut flowers for the wedding party to decorate their wedding venue at nearby Mickleton Hills Farm.
Bridesmaid’s Bouquet. Photograph by Maria Farrelly
The cutting list
The brief was for relaxed bouquets of fresh country flowers in blues, pinks and whites with a pop of yellow. This style has proved popular with many of our couples over the years. For this design we used the following flowers:
Feverfew
Astrantia
Astilbe (Pink & White)
Larkspur (Pink & Blue)
Ageratum (Blue)
Limonium (Blue)
Gladiolus nanus (White)
Solidago (Yellow)
Dahlia (Pink)
Pinks (Pink)
Veronica (Pink & White)
Sweet William (White)
Cornflower (Blue)
Campanula (Pink)
Phlox (Purple)
Achillea (Pink)
Clary Sage (Pink)
Asparagus Fern
Also popular are our buckets of flowers for decorating the tables, bar area and entrance at the wedding venue. These are typically delivered the day before the wedding and allows family and friends to meet (possibly for the first time) and decorate the venue in a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.
Reception flowers in mixed glass jars and bottles.
Mickleton Hills Farm is a lovely barn conversion and the couple decorated the tables with small bottles and jars filled with our cottage garden flowers. The flowers provided included many of those used in the bouquets with the addition of Ridolfia, blue Clary Sage, drumstick Alliums, Cosmos, Shasta daisies, Antirrhinum, Amaranthus, green teasels and Liatris along with a variety of different Hosta leaves and Lonicera nitida stems for foliage.
Planning and preparation
Typically our weddings will have an agreed colour theme. However, we grow all of our flowers outdoors and are therefore at the mercy of the British weather. Seasonal flowers are by their very nature, seasonal, and so the flowers that will look at their best on a particular date will vary. I think all the Brides we work with appreciate this and it is very much part of providing wedding flowers that are locally grown and ‘of the moment’. We work closely with other growers and suppliers to ensure everything comes together on the day.
Our planning for each wedding usually starts in earnest two weeks before the event. A walk around the flower garden identifies what flowers will be available and ideas for the bridal party bouquets begin to form. Initially we will be looking to identify our feature flowers, the spikes, balls, umbels and discs in appropriate colours and then the fillers and foliage that will complement the design. Detailed bouquet and buttonhole designs are then developed and a full list of the flowers required is created. From this schedule we identify what additional flowers and materials we may need to order in.
For a Saturday wedding we will usually cut and condition on the Thursday, carry out all the arranging on the Friday ready for delivery on the Saturday. Cut flowers for venues are typically delivered in water the day before.
One of the major challenges for a mid-summer wedding is keeping all the flowers (and the florist!) cool. All our bouquets are kept well hydrated right up to the time of the wedding so that they remain at their very best.
For this wedding the Bride wanted individually wired fresh hair flowers for herself and the Bridesmaids. These have to be prepared at the very last minute and the blooms selected very carefully. Fresh flowers out of water on hot heads in the summer heat is definitely not ideal from a florists perspective but it all worked out in the end!
We are out in the garden ... 