gypsophila (babys breath) as flowers, what do you think, and advice on growing my own

lynnexxxo

I have been looking for centerpieces for my wedding in July stumbled across these :




I think they look fantastic. Now being a true cheapskate ( I mean a money saving expert) I though I could grow the gysophila myself. Do you think if I bought little plants they would be ready for july 15th? Or should I contact a florist and see how much they would cost.

Or can you buy just bunches of them in the supermarket, or flower market (i've never been to one but I believe there is one in glasgow I could go to).

Sammy85_2

Hi

Ive tried growing it with little success (which i probably more down to me than anything else!).

You can buy it, it often comes with supermarket bunches of roses, although not it anywhere near the quantities you would need. You could approach a florist and ask if they can get it in for you, they may be willing to but beware that a lot wont want to. I had great difficulty finding flowers to do the casket flowers and tributes for my grandads funeral. Florist wouldnt deal with me as they saw it as losing business and wholesalers wouldnt sell to me as they can lose florists business if they are seen to be dealing with the general public.

There are a few online floristry wholesalers you might be able to try. flowers 4 florists & triangle nursurys come to mind. Some of these have a minimum spend though which is quite a high figure.

Scotsbride

I use to work in a garden centre you probably missed the bulbs that you grow them from this year and to be totally honost any that you can still find won't be that good the bulbs having already sprouted in the bag which you will need to plant deeply thus covering upthe bits that are growing or the bulbs tend to be so dried out and disintrigrated. As for plants espect to pay more than the flowermarkets but generally a bit less than florists as potted plants keep a bit longer. Best advise is to try a get a good price on the one from the flower market the more you buy the cheaper it generally is! Get there early as soon as it opens for the best stuff and deals. As for the stuff from garden centres some buy there plants from Holland generally as their plants are cheaper or from the wholesales at flowermarkets as do florists! Hope this helps!

aarchk

I had gyp in my flowers last weekend! We did our own arrangements and just ordered the cut flowers and bouquets from the florist. We were lucky though as did not finalise the order until 10 days before. I had hoped that the cow parsley would be out early so we could use that instead of gyp for the smaller less important arrangements. I saved a bit by halving the amount of gyp we needed.

so if you live in the country keep an eye on the cow parsley because it is free!

PS - The gyp was only costing me £18 a 'bundle' which I think is enough for two of the centrepeices you show in the pic
pps - in the victorian language of flowers it means everlasting love (or something like that anyhow)

jenhug

definitely see if a wholesaler will let you buy some.
A little tip for seperating it when you get it, as it will be all intertwined, is to turn the bunch upside down, and gently shake as you tease the stems apart. you should have minimal damage this way.

It will look lovely, but you are going to need quite alot of it.

no_pennies

do you know anyone with a card for the florist wholesaler ? where do you or hubby to be work could you get a card through work or do you know anyone who has there own business (look on the website of the wholesalers and see what you need to get a card)
i just bought some of this from the wholesalers i use and it cost about £8 including vat the variety that is best for the look you want is called million star (more bobbly and close together than other types ) you would probably get 2and a half vases out of one bunch maybe three depends on the vase size good luck

lynnexxxo

I have recently got a membership card for country baskets and when I was in having a nosey they have a florist inside (it wasn't open as I went at 5pm but will go back earlier in the day) so am going to earlier in the day and chat to them. £8 sounds like my sort of budget!

Also in country baskets they had the exact vases that are in the pic above. They had three sizes, the smallest looked a bit small but the medium size one were £7.99 (plus vat) and the large were £12.99. Think i might be on to a winner and hopefully would be able to ebay the vases afterwards and make back at least half the cost.

I have been noticing some gyp type flowers growing at the side of the motorway on my way to work. Now I'm not going to suggest that I get out and pick them but was wondering if anyone had picked wild flowers? and if so does anyone have any photos for inspiration.

LEJC

Wild flowers will wilt fairly quickly so may not really be an option as they will need to be picked and displayed almost instantly

The stuff you see on the side of the road is a type of wild flower/weed sorry the name escapes me at th moment...big white heads...wouldnt really suggest this it has very little smell and sometimes can have an unpleasent smell if in large quantities....the other thing you could be seeing is wild garlic thats a little prettier but again the smell will put you off I think!

twirlypinky

That gyp style stuff that grows on the side of the road may well be lovely (and it really would look great), but it makes me sneeze more than anything - hope your guest take their piriton in the morning!

Scotsbride

lynnexxxo wrote: »

I have recently got a membership card for country baskets and when I was in having a nosey they have a florist inside (it wasn't open as I went at 5pm but will go back earlier in the day) so am going to earlier in the day and chat to them. £8 sounds like my sort of budget!

Also in country baskets they had the exact vases that are in the pic above. They had three sizes, the smallest looked a bit small but the medium size one were £7.99 (plus vat) and the large were £12.99. Think i might be on to a winner and hopefully would be able to ebay the vases afterwards and make back at least half the cost.

I have been noticing some gyp type flowers growing at the side of the motorway on my way to work. Now I'm not going to suggest that I get out and pick them but was wondering if anyone had picked wild flowers? and if so does anyone have any photos for inspiration.

WARNING: Some wild flowers are protected by law and you can't go and pick them. I'd be very careful about going down this route as it is quite difficult to distinguish between what you legally take from the wild and what you can't. also where you can pick flowers as some sites are protected.

LEJC

a lot really depends on how mant tables you have and how much you want to spend on each centrepiece completed.

If you are looking at £12.99 for each vase then thatmay not leave much budget for the filiing and as they are quite tall you would need something quite dramatic...

You could possibly have Gerberas as the main flower...you wouldnt need too many to get a pretty effect and they are very easy to get hold of via a florist or supermarket during the summer...perhaps a white/cream flower and then add something like an ivy which could be sourced in woodland etc..or even neighbours gardens...ive loads growning in mine...you could have the ivy cascading from the vases downwards and fill in the gaps around the top of the vase with some floristry rafia or something like that if you wanted...

Another thought has just occurred to me that you could possibly use white hydrangea plants...either the flowers which you could get from a florist...but may be pricey or look at the potted ones in places like homebase or b&q if you painted the pot a contrasting colour or added a ribbon something like that might look quite unusual and different on each table.