Pansies for Springtime Weddings

I have always been enamored with the idea of adding pansies to wedding designs. One of the main reasons is because they are so unexpected, yet so lovely for garden-inspired designs. They are some of the first heralds of spring in our area, and always seem so cheery. There's nothing like picking a few and breathing in their delicate fragrance! Last year I met a bride who was also enamored by pansies. Kate wanted garden flowers in rich violets, purples, and lavender-blue. So included with the Chinese Forget Me Not, the hellebore, euphorbia, and spikes of catmint were... pansies.

Just as their sweet faces can light up the garden, so they can also light up garden-inspired wedding designs!

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Sweet Centerpiece Designs for Spring and Summer

I am always on the lookout for something a little different to add to wedding flower designs...

whether it's a unique flower to try in the garden, a new way to present bouquets for delivery, or new centerpiece containers. So here's the latest item to catch my eye- sundae dishes.
These make lovely vases for casual, eclectic reception designs. They work with a variety of flowers and would be charming for spring and summer time weddings. The image above shows them filled with springtime bloomers such as anemones, Spanish Bluebells, muscari, viburnum and pansies. The next design features late spring flowers such as peonies, nigella, yarrow and penstemon, and old fashion Fairy shrub roses.

The designs below show them with late summer flowers such as dahlias, zinnias, African Blue Basil, crested celosia and fragrant herbs.

It's such a refreshing way to welcome guests to your reception!

Can't wait to share this idea with my brides!

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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!

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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!!!

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Jewel Tone Anemone and Pansy Centerpiece and Bouquet

The garden beds are starting to crank out some real beauties! It's so exciting to watch tall stems of white and purple anemones unfurl to show off dark velvety centers. .Hellebores are starting to mellow to a mint green, and bridal wreath spirea and flowering almonds have reached their peak.  These are just some of the flowers of spring!

Here are a couple of designs that take advantage of these lovely flowers as well as others such as ranunculus,  hyacinth, viburnum, pansies and muscari.

 Muscari and pansies are delightful flowers, but they have short stems, so they had to be given a separate water source to use in both of these designs.

The ethereal beauty of these flowers makes them a joy for springtime weddings!

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Purple and Blue Pansies and Muscari for Springtime Weddings

The pansies had a rough time this year with all the cold, but they are finally starting to shine. Muscari was slow to start by a couple of weeks, but they too are now taking off..  

These blooms just shout "Spring!" and look great  in floral designs, but because of their short stems, you have to be creative. One way is to utilize the plants as well as the flowers. This short squared container lends itself well to a design in which individual plants and flower stems can be used.  

I have arranged two small pansy plants diagonally across from each other and two sedum plants along with some "hens and chicks" (sempervivum) in the other diagonal corners, then filled in with blooms from hyacinth, hellebore, anemones and muscari. The short stems of the flowers have their own water source while the plants were wrapped separately and tucked in. The container looks best when set on the table on the diagonal and offers a different view from all sides.

Another nice feature about this design is that it can be taken apart and the plants reused.  The pansies can be potted up and enjoyed for several more weeks before we really get hot (they can't take our summer heat), and the sedums can go right  into the garden bed or another container.

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Winter Wedding Flowers from the Garden

In winter in the South, you can still find flowers in the garden- you just have to look a little harder though. One cold weather bloomer at Springwell Gardens is Winter Daphne. It's an evergreen shrub that breaks out into a myriad of  waxy pink blooms in January. Though not very showy, these petite flower clusters are quite charming and VERY FRAGRANT!

They're so lovely tucked into bouquets with other winter bloomers such as hellebore and pansies, and with some frost protection- we can have anemones too.

 

 Winter Daphne is also great for detail work such as corsages, boutonnieres and flower halos.

The shrubs are loaded with tight pink buds and should start blooming in the next week or two- just in time for January weddings!

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Beautiful Blue Anemone and Muscari for Springtime Weddings

We have been blessed with a very cool start to springtime this year, and all the spring bulb-type flowers have LOVED it. The blue muscari and anemones have been blooming for several weeks. And it has been great using them in springtime wedding designs.

The color of the anemones runs from a dark blue to a deep purple blue, and the same is true for the muscari. My pictures are a little deceiving- in real life this color has more of a purple hue. They are pictured here in a bouquet of other spring beauties- rose colored anemones,  Bridal Crown Daffodils, ranunculus,  pansies, viburnum and vinca vine.

 When the temperatures are on the cool side, each flower will put on a show in the garden that lasts for about a week. But start adding a little heat- like upper 70's and low 80's and they will melt out quickly. My advice is to pick them so you can enjoy them for five to seven days inside your home!!!

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Blue Muscari and Yellow Daffodil Centerpiece for Spring

The muscari are in bloom now at Springwell Gardens. 

These charming blue flowers have a delightful "grape-like" fragrance and are so lovely for centerpiece and bouquet designs. Here they are featured with miniature daffodils called "Tete a tete", and purple and yellow face pansies.

 The first greens of the spring season include small leaves of lambs' ear, lime green Angelina sedum, Fairy rosebush sprigs and heuchera.

 The floating candles nestled among the floral elements in this wooden box complete this unique garden style centerpiece.

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Daffodil and Pansy Bouquet for Winter and Spring

The daffodils have started blooming at Springwell Gardens. Just a scattering for now, but more are on the way.

So here's a bouquet that features Ice Follies Daffodils and an unnamed  yellow trumpet variety along with some beautiful purple and yellow pansies nestled in a white hydrangea.

These flowers are truly the harbingers of spring!!!!

They exude such a lovely fragrance, especially the pansies.

 Vase life for this bouquet is just a few days... just enough time for your wedding day!!!

So how can you have daffodils for your springtime (or winter in the South) wedding... I'll explore that in the next post.

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Pansies and Winter Daphne for Winter Centerpiece

Pansies have been delightful this winter.

This week I worked them into a winter centerpiece design with some other garden gatherings such as...

 

 Winter Daphne (wonderful fragrance!!!),  Hellebore, Stonecrop, and a collection of a collection of "Nature" finds gathered while walking our dog.

Perfect for a winter bridal shower or luncheon....

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Pansies and Anemones for Winter and Spring Bouquets

 

Pansies are the brilliant jewels of the winter garden.

 

 You'll see them holding up their bright faces throughout December, January and February- anytime there is stretch of several days with temperatures above freezing. And they will keep on blooming and thriving until May.
This year I am especially interested in pansies as wedding flowers. You see, Jordan is getting married in early March, and pansies would fit perfectly with her English garden theme.

So now is the time to practice incorporating them into bouquets and centerpiece designs. Here they are in a dainty bouquet with blue and white anemones, fragrant Winter Daphne, and hellebore.

It's such a lovely combination! I can't wait to try them in Jordan's wedding flowers!

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Spring Wedding Flowers- Blue Muscari!

Muscari is such a charming spring time bloomer. The grape-blue flower heads start pushing up in early March and are found throughout my garden beds until mid April (usually).
The individual stems are rather short- about 6-8 inches, so I have to supply a separate water source in larger arrangements or bouquets. But they are definitely worth the effort.
They look great massed together as in these tiny handmade vases (or schapps glasses)...
And I love to add them to other petite designs of mixed flowers such as these white creamers that are filled with ranunculus, pansies, bridal wreath spirea and lamb's ear.
This year muscari started blooming early, and have already finished their spring time show...
They were wonderful while they lasted!!!
 Want to grow your own??? Muscari are grown from small corms or bulbs that you plant in the fall. Be prepared- these little guys multiply fast, but that's OK- you'll just have a lot more flowers each year! A good source for these bulbs is John Scheepers, or locally (in Cary, NC) you can purchase at Garden Supply Company.

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Yellow Tulips and White Ranunculus for Spring Weddings

Last week I was so anticipating these beauties!!!They are early blooming tulips called Monte Carlo. I used some of these tulips last year for CeCe and Lee's late March wedding. But with the temps sailing past the 70's and into the 80's this week, these flowers exploded open very early!!!

I have picked them and used them in a few arrangements... Here are some pictures that show the fruit of my labor.
The design above features Monte Carlo tulips, muscari, hellebore and euphorbia from the garden along with Majolica spray roses. All of these garden flowers are ideal for early springtime wedding designs.
This spring bouquet is also a garden design of Monte Carlo tulips and white ranunculus with white snap dragons.
And here is another shot of the first design. Monte Carlo tulips are a lovely clear yellow. The flowers are double petaled (more petals than a regular tulip). The other yellow flowers peaking out from this design are pansies. Pansies have a short vase life (only about three days), and short stems, so I provide a hidden water source that allows me to place them where I want them in the design and take them out when they look faded.
Monte Carlo tulips or any other tulip are suitable for spring time weddings with moderate temperatures. If using them when the weather is warmer than normal be sure to keep them in a cool place!

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