Cut Flowers and Bouquets

[clkeiper]

too bad you aren't closer. I have oodles of statice not being planted. I didn't expect it to germinate so well. I had old seed and sowed it heavily. . and now I have lots left. Probably will plant it everywhere I have space I guess. On theother hand the dried flowers can be cut and dried for Fall bouquets. you have virtually no waste from the flowers not being needed when they are ready.

[Cole_Robbie]

Here is what I bookmarked off Harris' site last night as filler ideas. What I never know when I am ordering something for the first time is if it will actually grow from seed, or if I am supposed to get plugs or plants.

https://www.harrisseeds.com/collecti...-louise-purple


https://www.harrisseeds.com/collecti...nt=28918238225


https://www.harrisseeds.com/collecti...ya-white-finch


https://www.harrisseeds.com/collecti...nt=39290024785



https://www.harrisseeds.com/products/22956-daucus-dara

[clkeiper]

if the catalog sells them as seed it is far cheaper to start your own. if it is a patented variety that you can only buy as plugs you have to go with plugs... such as Proven Winners. (and Harris seed is not selling those expensive varieties... if you want expensive go to the burpees catalog/site.) you need to start your seeds in the greenhouse though. don't direct seed these unless you have found somewhere it instructs to direct seed.

those are all great fillers. I see Yarrow at the bottom of the harris page. I forgot about that. but it is a perennial. keep it cut back and don't let it go to seed unless you wan an invasion of it. and give 1/2 of it a hair cut to delay flowering for a portion of it.

[Nan_PA_6b]

I've used the following plants from my backyard successfully in bouquets:
Daisies, Tansy leaves, Cattails, Cattail leaves, Alliums, Purple Aster in the late summer, Bee Balm/ Monarda/ Bergamot, Blazing Star (you can get 100 or 1000 roots for very cheap, like at Van Bourgondian, for example), Black-Eyed Susans.

(Note tansy leaves do have a medicinal smell, but they look very fern-like and you cannot kill the plants.)

[Cole_Robbie]

Speaking of smell, here is my first attempt ever at making bouquets. I just cut what was blooming. The yellow is forsythia. The red was another bush next to the forsythia, and the white stuff is a thorn tree, honey locust I think. The funny part is that I didn't know that apparently honey locust smells like dead fish. My house reeks.

[Nan_PA_6b]

Those are great colors.

For early bouquets, P u ssywillow and forsythia.

Nan

[Cole_Robbie]

I think the red stuff might be quince.

[bower]

Really really pretty. Too bad about the dead fish smell, thank goodness for open air markets.
Johnny's has a good page about fillers. The bouquets we made for farmer's market we put together as for "hand tied" bouquet you can see lots of examples on YouTube, what will fit in your hand, rubber band to tie and trim with pruning shears, as CarolynK does. These would go straight into a florist bucket with some water in it, as many bouquets as could fit for transportation to market - then my friend had 3 or 4 metal vases that would hold about 3 bouquets at a time for display. Not selling with vase, and she keeps the bouquets smallish and go for the lower price point. Not sure how she packed the stems at point of sale, maybe a plastic bag/rubber band? just to keep from dripping she must use something. Our bouquets used mostly zinnias as focals, lots of bachelors buttons, some sunflowers, calendula. Very bohemian mix of fillers, as available. She has a couple of patches of ribbon grass - this is perennial and a mainstay for filler, greygreen and white striped. Dill especially flower heads and seed heads makes a great filler. Poppy seed capsules. And once the flowers come on in my perennial herb garden we had fillers galore - quite a few things that worked well including yarrow, oregano, betony, lady's mantle...

As for the shrubs, Boxwood is a really classic filler, I bet you could grow. Ideally you want a mix of different leaf shapes to work with. Round shapes like boxwood are very nice. My DIL is a pro flower arranger and I've helped her to do a couple of weddings, learnt a few things. We couldn't find boxwood and substituted poplar leaves for my bro's wedding flowers. If I were doing spring bouquets I'd look to other shrubs as well, thinking of alder which is really pretty and smells great too when the catkins are in bloom. Pussy willow of course if you can get em... Grassy shapes are another great filler type, so are fronds like fern. Whatever shade of green, the leafy filler helps the focal flowers to pop and doesn't distract like a skeletized compound flower head after it shakes out as many do (thinking elder and apple family shrubs). DIL was reluctant to try unknowns that looked promising on the bush, because some flowers will drop their petals within the 24h and screw up your arrangements in a hurry. Mallows from my garden turned out to be good and lasting. For the farm bouquets we've tried lots of things and then you rate them as you learn, which last long and which don't. Roses sadly have a habit of disgorging petals before they've been appreciated.
The pros like my DIL trim stems diagonally for overnight, also use bleach and sugar in the water to keep the flowers fresh, but that is a different scene doing arrangements for an event vs market bouquets people are enjoying in the moment...
Here's what Johnny's had to say:
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-l...e-fillers.html

[PureHarvest]

The red is definitely Quince (Chaenomeles).
The white looks like flowering pear.

[clkeiper]

Originally Posted by PureHarvest

The red is definitely Quince (Chaenomeles).
The white looks like flowering pear.

yah, especially if the smell is so offensive. Bradford calary pear. nasty nasty foul odiferous trees. If mine didn't make such nice shade on the driveway I would cut it down.

[Cole_Robbie]

The tree the white stuff came from has some wicked thorns. I think locals here just call it a Thorn Tree.

[hl2601]

Loving this thread! A good idea source you may want to take a peek at is Floret flowers- they put together seed collections in all sorts of color ways that may inspire some of your choices. Here's one based on your idea for using zinnias but do look at her others-
https://shop.floretflowers.com/colle...ion-fiesta-mix
I grew basil aromata last year as a pretty and nice smelling filler- herbs as fillers add a whole new dimension to me and I think that might translate at market well.

[clkeiper]

Cool. Those are awesome seed collections. What a great idea. I am walking up and down the rows collecting matching bouquets. Maybe a row of each of these instead.

[bower]

Yeah really pretty! The basil looks much like oregano with those purple buds.
Basil is pretty hard to grow here, but oregano is truly a weed.
I think it's great to have nice scented foliage in the mix.

[Nan_PA_6b]

Originally Posted by bower

Yeah really pretty! The basil looks much like oregano with those purple buds.
Basil is pretty hard to grow here, but oregano is truly a weed.
I think it's great to have nice scented foliage in the mix.

My mother grows ornamental oregano "Herrnhausen". Good as a spice, but when it blooms, Oh Boy! It's gorgeous. It has a trailing habit, so would be good for hanging baskets. I never tried the flowers in a bouquet; maybe someone has experience with this? Do they last?

Nan