Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Coral and Blush Poppies for Weddings in April and May

I can't think of  more cheerful and bubbly flowers than POPPIES. They started showing their faces in mid April which worked out perfectly for pairing them with ranunculus, another April bloomer. Their bloom times overlapped for almost three weeks.
Below they are shown together in a bright and playful design of corals, hot pinks and yellows that includes Chantilly Snapdragons, sweet peas, pale green hellebore, and chartreuse euphoribia.
The softer peach and cream colors of poppies take on a more refined air as in this design that also features
blush colored garden roses, black eyed anemones and Dusty Miller.
 Poppies don't like the heat though! They are already starting to slow down. I was hoping to push them into June, but I think that I may have to shoot for earlier bloom times rather than later. Which means I will try to have them blooming in time for some mid to late March weddings next year!



Thursday, May 8, 2014

Lavender Pansies and Blue Muscari Add a Special Touch for Springtime Wedding Flowers

What happened to spring!!! Last week I was picking anemones, pansies and muscari and this week we're hitting 90's!!! Not the best weather for flowers that like it cool...
Well back to muscari and pansies. Both of these flowers have been featured several times this year on the blog in some springtime designs. A few weeks back I wrote about adding three new types of muscari (also known as grape hyacinth) to the garden borders. Well this is the last of the three- Saffier. It is taller than the other varieties that I am presently growing. Some stems are about 9 inches in length, and French blue with pale green overtones is very striking. You can find these bulbs at John Scheepers .
 As the season warms up the pansies began to stretch, and by May they are also providing longer stems, so I thought this would be a good time to work them up in a design.
This elegant centerpiece also features Spanish bluebells, white and purple anemones, white ranunculus and soft green viburnum heads. 
Look for these flowers from Springwell Gardens from late March through early May!

Friday, May 2, 2014

Peach and Coral Ranunculus and Poppies

The season for ranunculus has been a little shorter than last year. They are almost finished, and it will soon be time to replace them with zinnias.
There has been an overlap of the ranunculus bloom time with the Icelandic poppies which were started earlier this year than the year before. Something I will definitely do again!
These flowers really do complement each other! Poppies come in rich coral, yellow and orange as well as soft peach, yellow and cream. And the ranunculus are in the warm sunset colors.
Other flowers in this design include Chantilly snapdragons, hellebore, bleeding heart and pansies. The foliage from bleeding heart and spirea is a glowing yellow green!
It has been such a treat to work with these flowers this year. I am very thankful that the ranunculus made it through the COLD winter- I just wish they would stick around longer!!!