Wild Flowers question

DitaBombita

Hello all, Quick question. Im growing wild flowers for my wedding decorations in August. Ive got several packets from Wilkos, Lidl ect. They state to plant from March onwards. I want the flowers for the end of Aug, they will be grown on my shady balcony in Yorkshire in pots - am I best going with the later sowing date rather than now so that the majority are in bloom end of Aug? Any ideas.... dont want to be too eager!

Zazen999

Ok

First thing.

What are you growing these flowers in?

Wild flowers grow in really poor soil - so don't use multipurpose compost!!! If anything, use seed compost which has the least amount of nutrients in it - plus some sand if you have it.

There is no way of knowing when the flowers will bloom; as the way that wild flowers work is that the seeds are scattered in the autumn and endure the cold and will germinate when they are ready. Then, they will grow according to the weather [faster in warm springs, slower in cold springs]. To get flowers all flowering in one weekend would be an amazing feat - so I hope you have a backup plan.

Anyhow - bearing that in mind - sow as soon as you can, they will germinate when they are ready and grow at their own speed. Or you could sow a few pots now and a few in 3 weeks, and a few more in April. To hedge your bets.

Good luck; can any of your friends dedicate a spot on their garden to also grow some in case yours don't all take?

What types of flowers are you growing?

DitaBombita

Thanks for that ... I will find some rubbish soil this weekend - I have some stand by gardens to put them in too. I did a trial run last year and quite a few were out in Aug.... but im an idiot and cant remeber when I planted them!

paddy's_mum

I applaud you for being so very mse but just wanted to say that I believe you're putting a lot of your eggs into one basket if you plan to rely on wild flowers for your wedding.

Quite apart from the grave uncertainty of being able to control when they flower (and by their very nature, they're setting seed by the end of the summer) there is also the fact that very few wild flowers will 'hold' when cut and used as you intend. You have only to think of the unrepairable wilting of a bunch of bluebells picked by a child to realise that perhaps your frugal plan is not very promising. Many wild flowers will also drop their petal within a couple of hours if they are denied water for even a few moments. If you think about it, their very fragility is part of the reason why so many of us find wild flowers so charming.

You might be wise to take advise from your local flower arranging club ladies and if they agree with my comments, have a bit of a re-think. Many florists' flowers are in full and therefore cheap supply in August and spending out a little bit more than you intended may, in the long run, be a better use of your money. If you cost the time spent on tending a potentially unreliable crop of wild flowers and compare to say Tescos cut flowers, is there actually any saving?

If it helps, I did my own wedding flowers a few years ago and spent only £50. Friend's gardens and the local park-keeper supplied lots of prunings for the greenery and then I ordered 10 or 12 identical cut flower bunches ahead of time from Morrisons. I got them on the Friday, took them apart, made up all the bouquets (my waterfall bouquet, three bride's daughter's generous posies) buttonholes and table decorations and stored them overnight on a cool garage floor. They looked lovely, saved me a fortune and every lady took home a table arrangement as a floral memento of a wonderful, and frugal, day.

Sorry - didn't want to burst your bubble but perhaps forewarned is better prepared!

conradmum

I agree. It's a lovely, romantic idea, but utter madness. Just thinking of the efforts the experts go to to get plants in bloom in time for the big shows, should tell us how difficult this is, and they're working with cultivated plants, not completely unpredictable wildflowers.

And even if they're in bloom at the right time, they'll droop within hours of being picked.

Having said that, I wish you luck and hope you prove us wrong. Please post photos in August if you succeed!

DitaBombita

Thank you for your comments - I shall plough ahead all the same - Ive got a squillion pots on the go. Last year I had numerous vases of them in the house from my trial run so should be ok as thats all im after this year.

orchid_lady

Have you got a local Country Markets stall (formerly known as WI Markets) nearby? Country Markets always have loads of bunches of wild flowers and cottage garden flowers for sale at very reasonable prices.
At our local one, you can even ask for bunches to be put aside for you.
At least then you know that you are buying freshly picked, seasonal flowers that haven't been flown in from another country or kept in cold storage.

I think that it is a lovely idea to have wild flowers for your wedding.
Good luck!

GreenQueen

we got married in July (years ago!), and did all our table decorations with sweet peas - they are easy to grow, look more 'wild' than a lot of the things at the florists, and smell lovely. If you keep picking as soon as they start flowering, they keep producing flowers for weeks, and the blooms will stand for a couple of days in a vase/arrangement. You can also be more selective about colours if you want to as there are so many varieties around. Something like that may be an idea to bulk out your other flowers.

Also, it can be nice to put herbs in with the greenery for the flowers - thinkgs like lavendar and rosemary stand up to a lot, and there are other things that are softer and more floppy - again, lovely smells.

You've obviously decided that is the look you want, so go for it. At that time of the year, there are other things in the florists that you can use to bulk out that look wild-ish (stocks, sweet williams, etc) if you don't end up with quite enough for what you need, although hopefully you won't need them.

probably also worth doing a 'dry run' with the flowers you are wanting to use a couple of weeks before, to see how easily they arrange, how they stand up and last, etc. The thing about wild flowers is they won't alll be ready at once, so you should be able to get some trial samples in advance.

Sarah Raven - TV gardener - seems to be an expert on wild flowers for arrangements - I seem to remember her doing something about it on a TV show, and she also has a book and website - http://sarahraven.com/

good luck!