Megan and Will in Flint, Michigan

This weekend I had the pleasure of helping Megan and Will create beach-themed wedding flowers. The beach theme was inspired by Will's romantic proposal to Megan on a sailboat under the Mackinac Bridge. How sweet is that?!

Megan's bouquet was a delicate mix of pale blues, greens, silver and ivory. It contained tweedia, hydrangea, dusty miller, Vendela roses, bunny tail grass, tuberoses and leucadendron cones. I was really excited about how the bridal bouquet came together - the bunny tail and leucadendron really completed the coastal feeling.

The neutral bridesmaids' bouquets effortlessly complemented their pool blue dresses, and were made with fragrant Polar Star roses, hydrangea, dusty miller and leucadendron cones.

I actually used two species of the South African native leucadendron in the personal flowers. Leucadendron argenteum (silver tree) is the slender silver foliage used as the base of the corsages and boutonnieres. You might recognize it from the Silver Tree Composite Bouquet that I posted in April. The smaller, greener foliage with cones is a Leucadendron cultivar named 'Pisa'.

I made a variety of boutonnieres for this wedding. The first was Leucadendron 'Pisa' accented with silver tree and seeded eucalyptus.

The boutonnieres for the fathers were made of Viviane spray roses, silver tree, dusty miller and Leucadendron 'Pisa' foliage.

The groom and groomsmen wore boutonnieres of fragrant tuberose florets, silver tree and dusty miller.

Finally, I made a pair of conch shell arrangements for the reception. Megan's mother provided the shells, which were souvenirs from her travels, and I filled them with flowers. The Sarracenia leucophylla, or pitcher plant, was my favorite part of these arrangements.

I would like to send many thanks to Megan, Will and their wonderful family. Thank you for being open to my suggestions and last minute additions. You were an absolute dream to work with!

Best wishes and congratulations to Megan and Will!

Kate and Chris in Columbus, Ohio

On the last Saturday of April I drove down to Columbus, Ohio to deliver flowers to a very special couple, Kate and Chris. It was an unseasonably warm and sunny day, and the air was sweet with crabapple blossoms - a perfect day for their outdoor nuptials.

Kate's bouquet was made up with Freedom roses, Peter Pan spray roses, waxflower, lunaria, lycopodium and myrtle. The stems were tied off with red silk and ivory lace.

The bridesmaids' bouquets were similar, with Escimo Roses, Viviane spray roses, waxflower, lunaria, lycopodium and myrtle

Kate's attendants were her three brothers and her sister (Hi Joy!). I love how both Kate and Chris had male and female attendants stand up for them. My favorite part of the ceremony is when Kate's brother, Bryce, played guitar and serenaded the couple with the song "More Than Words."

I would like to thank Kate and Chris for inviting me to be a part of their beautiful and intimate ceremony. And I would like to send out deep gratitude to Kate's family for their hospitality during the weekend, and the fantastic Sunday morning brunch!

Congratulations Kate and Chris!

Container Gardening

Every year my favorite gardening project is planting a container garden for my front porch - just a little something to welcome guests and brides. Last week I was driving home from lunch with Diane (my MIL), and I got the itch to stop in at Bordine Nursery. After an hour of wandering the grounds, surveying everything that was available, I ended up with one "Asao" Clematis, one "Powis Castle" Artemisia, two "Sweet Caroline" sweet potato vines, six little dusty miller, and a tray of "Goldilocks" Lysimachia. For the front porch I whipped together this design. I stuffed a fiberglass urn with the Artemisia, one sweet potato vine, four dusty miller and a third of the Lysimachia. I'm hoping that the Artemisia will get large enough to shade the "Goldilocks" Lysimachia, because my south-facing porch gets really hot in the summer. Even though green is my favorite color, I am inexorably drawn to silvery-blue and chartreuse foliage. Also, I never seem to do flowers up on the porch. I don't know why, but I tend to leave those for the mulched beds around the house.

This is the first year I have also put together a planter for the back porch. Here I've used the "Asao" Clematis (Woo-hoo! A flowering plant!), the other sweet potato vine, two dusty miller and another third of the "Goldilocks" Lysimachia. It looks like I already need to build a larger trellis for the Clematis!

This "Asao" variety of Clematis is definitely a show stopper, with each bloom measuring six inches across! I would like to use a couple of blossoms in a bridal bouquet for one of my June brides. (What do you think Heather?) Hopefully it is still blooming in Mid-June.

Not surprisingly, Clematis is closely related to a few of my other favorite flowers - ranunculus, anemones, helleborus, columbine, nigella and delphinium are all in the same Family. And it is a bit more distantly related to poppies and bleeding hearts, which are in the same Order.

It would be a blast to put together some mini container gardens for wedding centerpieces. They could be planted ahead of time, and enjoyed after the wedding for the rest of the growing season. If there is an interested bride out there, shoot me an email, I'd love to design some miniature gardens for your wedding!

Overall, I think it was a successful container gardening year for me. I made an effort to pack as many plants into each urn as I could. I think that this will give me an "œovergrown" look a lot faster than my previous years. What are your favorite plant combinations and techniques for container gardening?