Dahlias for Stunning Centerpiece Designs

This is the third year of growing dahlias at Springwell Gardens, and I am looking forward to creating some beautiful bouquet and centerpiece designs for my couples later this summer and fall. 

 

The Café Au Lait dahlias definitely are eye-catching with colors that vary from blush-beige to soft lavender. The summer flowers are a bit smaller than the fall blooming ones. Here they are paired with Love-in-a-Puff vine, Queen Ann's Lace, lamb's ear and the peachy-red shrimp plant.

Bride-to-Be is a charming medium white flower, and Prospero is a lovely lavender pink. Cosmos, feverfew, foxglove and vinca vine complete the design in this vintage pitcher.

The Snoho Doris dahlias are varying shades of peach with soft yellow hues. They are featured in the design above with lamb's ear, ferns, zinnias, cosmos, foxglove, and gomphrena.
Look for these beauties and more from summer through late October!

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Dahlia! A Most Lovely Wedding Flower!!!

Spring is finally underway! And while I am watching for spring flowers, I am also getting ready for summer and fall. I pulled out my first batch of dahlia tubers this week and have started potting them up.

A favorite for weddings is the Cafe Au Lait Dahlia, and I am so looking forward to growing this beauty again this year. While the blooms are not dinner plate size, but they are large- a good 6-8" in diameter.

It was great to have it for several weddings last year, and I am looking forward to using it again this August and September!

Another favorite dahlia of mine is Snoho Doris.This is a ball variety with petals that are peachy pink. It pairs well with blush as well as stronger orange hues. It should start blooming in August and hopefully will keep it up through late October!

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Cafe Au Lait Dahlias and Pink Majolica Spray Roses

Some things are worth the wait! That is what I think about these Cafe Au Lait Dahlias. They are starting to bloom now at Springwell Gardens.

This is my second year of growing them. Last year I received dahlia tubers that were supposed to be Cafe Au Lait, but they were not!

Here they featured in a bouquet with pink Majolica spray roses, coral pink Jitterbug and white Bride-To-Be Dahlias, with a collar of seeded eucalyptus, Dusty Miller and Centaurea "Colchester White".

 I am looking forward to using them this fall for a few special brides!

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Cafe Au Lait Dahlias and Amnesia Roses for Mary and Brad's Wedding

They're coming home tonight from their honeymoon- home to a new way of life- my daughter, Mary, and her husband, Brad, are now newlyweds!

So many folks were involved in helping pull things together for their wedding- friends, brothers, aunts and uncles...
 Brad's Mom, Terry, put together a WONDERFUL dessert table with 500 individual, homemade, very yummy little cheesecakes- they were incredible!!!
Wilson was the behind the scenes man, setting up the arbor for the ceremony and making OODLES of wooden boxes for centerpiece designs.
 I even had boutonniere help from Mary's sister, Natalie, and of course my friend, Sandy, came over to help with the flowers as well.
The flowers.. Mary would send me a link or put images on Pinterest to give me ideas of what she and Brad liked. Soft muted colors, her favorite flower- Amnesia roses, and to humor me- something from my gardens. I joked with her last April... "I'm planting these Cafe Au Lait Dahlias just for your bouquet..."
I was so excited the Lord gave me some beautiful blooms to pick from !

 Brad and Mary wanted to use succulents for the boutonnieres. Here are a couple of images of Natalie's creations.

We used Wilson's wooden boxes for many of the centerpiece designs.

And filled them with Amnesia roses, eucalyptus, Majolica spray roses, hydrangeas and wax flowers.
A great "do ahead" were some of the small wooden boxes filled with succulents.

Hopefully some of these babies will keep on growing in their new potted homes.
All in all it was a crazy, wonderful time.

 And now the new chapter is about to begin... Brad and Mary, I am praying God's blessing for you as you begin your wedded life... Love, Mom

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Summer Bouquet of Cafe Au Lait Dahlias

The dahlias are starting to bloom. Summer is not their favorite season, but

it's so nice to see them! New to the garden beds are Cafe au Lait Dahlias. These blooms are gorgeous- Soft, billowy and BIG.

Here they are mixed with white dahlias, pink pincushion flowers and gomphrena.
Right now they are streaked with lots of lavender, but I think as the heat of summer gives way to cooler fall temps and shorter days, their color will soften to the more familiar creamy blush... We'll see.
I added them to the garden for my daughter, Mary. She and Brad will be getting married this October, and I was thrilled to find out that Mary really likes the look of this flower! So now is the time to gather their blooms and practice designing with them.
My daughter, Judy, agreed to model for me...she's such a sweetie!

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