I'm thinking of growing alot of chives next year for a Reception table decoration for my daughters wedding reception, in the middle we would add a single Gerbera daisy with a 'faux' butterfly from the craft store......think it would work? It would be encased in plain brown paper (lined of course wtih cheap plasitc container) and on one side of the paper would be Their names and Wedding date, the other side would be a nice qoute of some kind, religious or other or both. I've never grown chives from seed but I have grass, I'd rather do chives so the guests could take it home and plant it and have it for a long while. Maybe this should be in the craft section, I dont know. Your thoughts are appreciated.
Chives....easy to grow from seed?
Chives are VERY easy from seed and you should be able to get a ton of them from gardeners here about mid summer. LOL If you don't dead head, you don't grow much else. :) Did you plan to start them this year or next?
My neighbors did something very similar! They bought those flat clear plastic platters, the ones that look like crystal. They had that full of grass. I think they may have ended up with sod because they waited to long to grow the grass seeds. I know she didn't like the sod when designing and neither did I for the same reason-very coarse and dark colored. Anyway, the sod/grass had a hole in the center-like a donut. In the hole was a purple pot with mums growing in it. Then the flower heads from purple mums were set on top of the grass around the pot. They looked very nice! Oh, she is an interior designer. LOL
Chives get quite tall - for me at least. You might have to put a block or something under the daisy to elevate it above the chives? If you are looking for other ideas, mondo grass would look really neat, and wouldn't be too tall. I don't know if you can get seeds, though. Dwarf pennyroyal mint would form a nice carpet, too. It spreads like crazy. You could plant a couple of starts now, and easily fill a 5' by 5' area in a year. It smells nice and minty too when brushed. There's also Carpet Lemon Thyme (Richters has seeds, I think) that would be a low growing turf kind of thing with a nice, lemony scent. http://www.richters.com/Web_store/web_store.cgi?product=X6462-600&cart_id=6983478.5014
Johnny's has a good selection of herb seeds, too. They have creeping thyme.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
What time of year is the wedding? Could you start stuff now and let it spread until you need it?
You could certainly "mow" the chives to get a low, trimmed look, and then they wouldn't be too tall, however that nice sharp onion scent of freshly cut chives might not be quite the thing at a wedding reception, LOL. I like the idea of using another lowgrowing herb, like Corsican mint or the ones port mentioned. I think folks in England have used chamomile for "lawns" for years, and it might look especially nice with your gerbera daisy. I love the idea of scattering a few extra flowerheads around as 'seed described, too.
Thanks Critteroligist, I never really thought abou the onion smell till now - LOL! Yes ---- something more pleasant smelling would be a good choice. Jill
If you are interested, I found a source for pennyroyal seeds. There are a couple of varieties...
American pennyroyal is an annual that naturalizes. It's botanical name is Hedeoma pulegioides.
English pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) is a perennial that makes a nice creeping ground cover.
Companion Plants has both: http://www.companionplants.com/
I've got pennyroyal planted (instead of grass) under a couple of fruit trees. I love the smell when I walk through that area.
Thanks Portiaw, I'm interested, I'll be checking those out this summer, I book marked the site.