My niece is getting married in late Oct. She wants to use some plants for centerpieces on round tables that they could plant at their home later. They need to be no taller than about 12 inches. Any ideas?
Blooming plants for late Oct wedding
What kind of light will they get once planted?
and color of the wedding?
Maggimoo, I don't think the sunlight matters because they will be putting in new landscaping at a new home.
75154, The colors that the bridal party will carry are pink to rose and lime green. But I think she is open to almost any color for the tables. It is a garden wedding.
I suppose that they are thinking of perennials, since they want to plant them outside at their new home. As I am sure you know it is very hard to count on a plant to be in full bloom exactly when you want it to.
My first impulse is to say Purple Aster, ( Aster oblongifolious ) they bloom very heavily for about a month, and are hardy native perennials. The only problem is the heighth of 12 inches, I don't think you could keep them that low.
One sure fire plant that is low and you can count on to bloom is Begonias, those won't last outside as long, but if you live in a mild climate you could get some mileage out of them.
I hope that helped. Josephine.
The other challenge is for them to be in bloom in October. How about some pretty foliage plants, and maybe a few flowers from the florist (or silk flowers) arranged in the foliage?
Hostas would be great they could add a few flowers if they have shade they would be my first pick. mini mums would look great but getting them to bloom then would be the problem... Monkey Grass would look sharp with flowers... There is Blue Fescue grass great for a full sun yard... We had a few wax Begonias at ours keep them blooming for the 8 weeks we found them and they looked sharp... they could force bulbs to bloom but they dont really look afterwords for their yard.... they could start summer cuttings of Rosemary - or even look at other shrubs to start, would look good. Mini roses comes to mind to but hard to figure out when they will bloom...
I will think of a few more - Mitch
Good ideas. You see the same challenge that I do. Being sure they will be blooming at the right time and the height. I had thought of begonias, there are so many different kinds and some have beautiful leaves. I was thinking of the possibility of using some plant that had pretty leaves.
Mitch, are there hostas that will do well in the Austin area? We can't grow them in S. Texas so I had not even thought of them.
Frostweed, I'll look in the plant file at the asters.
Some where in here they mentioned a few... I think even down to San An they can grow a few.. you have to be picky what types but I think if you asked maybe htop she might be able to help or know who knows for sure.. unless you can hunt up that thread.....
Barbur, the aster I am talking about is the plant files with a different name, I don't know why, here is the link.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/76317/index.html
I hope this helps.
Josephine.
How about gerber daisies?
Frostweed, I looked them up. I don't know if she'll use them but I'm going to plant some for myself. In the common name they call them Aromatic asters, do they have a good scent?
Trunnels, gerbera daisies would be good if they are blooming in Oct.
Today at the nursery they had kalanchoes in small containers in a variety of beautiful colors that would be perfect.......if the wedding was this week!
Barbur, the scent comes from the foliage, it has a lemony smell.
It might be your best bet to just get some small potted evergreens, fill those in with fresh flowers for the wedding , and then use them in the landscape. Good Luck.
Barbur,
FYI, my gerber daisies do bloom in the fall so if you were interested, I'm sure one of your local garden centers could order them for you. :-)
Pink skullcap is a lowgrowing perennial. The flowers are small but fairly numerous and a deep pink. My outdoor plants bloom continuously for months on end.