Peonies and Astilbe for Nicole's Wedding Bouquet

The lush fragrant blooms of peonies are some of the most romantic flowers for May weddings.

And Nicole thought they would be perfect in her wedding bouquet. Feathery plumes of astilbe,  Sahara roses, Majolica spray roses and stock brought in the soft pink, blush and ivory color palette that she was looking for, and echeveria in a soft mint green added rich texture.

Echeveria and other succulents add a keepsake touch to wedding designs as they can be removed from the bouquet after the wedding,  and planted for later enjoyment.

Chantilly snapdragons from the garden added a wonderful soft pink to the bridesmaids' bouquet.

And a collar of Dusty Miller and pittosporum completed the designs.

It's always a privilege to create lovely floral designs for a couple's wedding, but one of most special aspects is getting to know the couple. Nicole and Jeff and I started this process a year ago and through emails and visits I have so enjoyed getting to know these two. I am very excited for them as they begin their married journey!!!

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Garden Flowers for Spring and Summer Weddings- Chantilly Snapdragons

Every day brings us one day closer to spring! Even with the very cold weather I am already seeing signs. Here's another flower that will be blooming soon at Springwell Gardens- Chantilly Snapdragons!

This type of snapdragon has a lovely open face with delicate petals that face. Chantilly Snapdragons come in an array of soft pastel colors such as pink and peach and light yellow.

I grow this variety with winter protection. The blooms start up in late March along with ranunculus, poppies, and anemones as shown in the design above.

 It continues to bloom through early summer and looks great with zinnias, yarrow and feverfew.

I am looking forward to using it for my May and June weddings!

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Chantilly Snapdragons and Zinnia Bouquet for Early Summer Weddings

The garden beds continue to change as the summer season moves forward. It's time to say goodbye to Chantilly Snapdragons (for awhile)

They starting blooming in April and continued for a solid two months. This fall I will do two plantings about four weeks apart to see if I can get some later blooms.

They looked great with spring blooms like ranunculus and anemones, but they also work well with summer flowers.
The bouquet below features a pastel palette of Chantilly snapdragons with zinnias, feverfew, and laceflower (orlaya), and yarrow.

It's great to have flowers that transition from one season to another. I have several brides who are looking forward to seeing these blooms in their spring and summer wedding designs!

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Zinnia Bouquets in Peach and Coral and Lavender and Plum

Spring lingered a little longer than usual this year, but with the typical humidity of the Deep South streaming in over these last couple of weeks, I think it has finally given way to summer.

This is a transition time in the flower garden. Snapdragons, Feverfew, Yarrow and Queen Ann's Lace are some late spring bloomers that will persist through June. Zinnias, gomphrena, and celosia are just starting up and will crank out blooms through frost. Dahlias are also starting up as well, but won't hit their stride until fall.

So as the weather heats up, I thought it would be a great time to work up some bouquets with summer offerings.

Open-face Chantilly snapdragons and zinnias in soft yellows, peach, salmon and pink are paired with white feverfew and Queen Ann's Lace. It's a very popular color palette this year!

The next bouquet features hydrangea, clematis, zinnia, marble arch salvia, chocolate cosmos and catmint in lavender, purple, plum, and pink with touches of white double flowered feverfew.

The best part of all is having my daughter, Judy, agree to help me out, and hold the bouquets for me. I tell her it's good practice...

She just laughs!

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