A Guide To Wedding Flowers | Part 2
Written by on June 11, 2014.
Tagged under: A Guide to Wedding Flowers, Part 2, Wedding flowers, florist, flowers.ae, wedding flower guide, wedding flowers dubai
A Guide To Wedding Flowers | Part 2
We posed a question to our readers a while back on our Instagram page. What features would YOU like to see on Bride Club ME? By popular demand, a guide to wedding flowers was one of the top requested feature ideas.
Following on from part 1 of our guide to wedding flowers, floral designer and founder of Flowers.ae, Martin O’Gara, continues to offer advice on popular wedding flowers and their seasons.
Billy Ball (Craspedia)
Craspedia is a genus of flowering plants in the daisy family commonly known as billy buttons and woollyheads. They are native to Australia and New Zealand. These little guys have soared in popularity as they look like something that’s just been picked from a garden or meadow.
Season: Summer, but it’s always summer somewhere!
Daisy (Bellis perennis)
The common species of daisy is a member of the Aster family. It is native to Europe, but is widely naturalised in most temperate regions.
Daisy is a much-maligned word. The flower in fact comprises two sets of flower petals: the outside ring and the tiny little flowers that make up the central pad. The name daisy is considered to be a corruption of ‘day’s eye’, because the whole head closes at night and opens in the morning. Chaucer called it the ‘eye of the day’. In medieval times, the English Daisy was commonly known as the Mary’s Rose.
Season: It generally blooms from early to midsummer, although when grown under ideal conditions, they have a very long flowering season and will even produce flowers in winter.
Succulents
In botany, succulents are plants that have parts that are thickened and fleshy, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. Aloe Vera is the most well known. The succulent most commonly used in weddings is probably the Sedum, which comes in plenty of interesting shapes.
Season: There’s no real season, as availability is based on growers’ agendas.
Snapdragons (Antirrhinum)
Antirrhinum is commonly known as snapdragons or dragon flowers, from the flowers’ fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. It has long elegant stems and comes in so many colours that it puts the rainbow to shame.
Season: It is a summer flower, but has been genetically modified to extend its availability to almost the whole year. It lasts a long time and is very adaptable for use in bouquets.
Proteas
Proteas are a diverse array of plants, also known as sugar bushes. They can range from ground-creeping shrubs to trees 35m tall, but all have leathery leaves and thistle-like flowers, from tiny red blooms to great furry pink and black globes. Found predominantly in the southern regions of Africa, the flower is the national flower of South Africa, even inspiring the nickname of the South African cricket team. This unusual flower has a long vase life in flower arrangements, and makes for an excellent dried flower. Proteas also come in numerous different textures and colours.
Season: All year.
Dried lavender (Lavandula)
Lavender is a member of the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found from Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, southern Europe across to northern and eastern Africa, the Mediterranean, southwest Asia to southeast India. It has been cultivated extensively in various climates as ornamental plants for garden and landscape use, for use as culinary herbs, and also commercially for the extraction of essential oils. The most widely cultivated species, Lavandula angustifolia, is often referred to as lavender, and the colour lavender is named after the shade of this species.
Its perfume is credited with qualities such as encouraging sleep and calmness. The flower stems dry incredibly well, maintaining all the features of the fresh cutting. Its use in wedding bouquets has been recorded since time immemorial.
Season: Fresh lavender is available easily from May to September. Dried lavender is always available, but beware of old stock, as over time the oil in the stems evaporates and the flowers will scatter.
A HUGE thank you to Martin for your wedding bloom tips!
Looking for more wedding inspiration? Click here.
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