June flowers

[Mother of Bride]

Hello
My daughter is getting married on 14th June this year and we want to use fresh cut flowers in vases dotted around the garden of the venue, and possibly use some for her to carry (it's not a traditional wedding!). Am I wrong in assuming that I can sow seeds now (indoors) and expect them to flower this June? Also can anyone suggest what flower seeds to purchase that will guarantee this please? It doesn't always say on the packets whether they flower the same year. By the way I've already got some sweet peas growing.
Lynne

[digger]

Hello Mother of bride, Welcome to the forum :-), You are right to presume that you can sow seed this year and expect flowers,these are called annuals and somwhere on the seed packet it should say annuals, some perennials will also flower in the same year as when they are sown. What we should do (I think) is find out the colours of flowers that you and your daughter wish to have and then work out if you need any with fragrance etc.. This is a marvelous idea for the flowers because it is way less expensive than buying in loads of cutflowers and they will be fun to grow. Once you know the colours you want I am sure between us we will be able to come up with a growing plan.

[Mother of Bride]

Thank you for your quick response Digger. There is no colour scheme as such - the remit is that they should be just colourful and pretty, scented would be a bonus! Hopefully this should make the job easier!?

[digger]

Well, You could get some oriental lily bulbs these can be a little costly so shop around, they won't be good in a boquet but should be fine in the vases because the pollen stain anything it touches, but the fragrance is out of this world. You've alredy got the sweet peas on the go you could still sow more of them for lots of different colours (except yellow). You can sow some calendulas they are mainly in shades of orange but they can be spikey or flat petals, they all look nice, next some cornflowers they are a lovely blue and also some are ruby red, California poppies and iceland poppies will floer if sown early enough. if you can get some sunflower seeds (dwarf ones) and sow them indoors at first they will look nice to contrast with the blue cornflowers or blue sweetpeas as it is a wedding, something old? something new? something borrowed and something blue, well the blue can be flowers anyway. All the above are annuals that will flower this year, but when it comes cutting time for the sunflowers a word of warning, have a deep bucket of water at the side of your plant,cut the stem and put your finger over the cut end then plunge it straight into the bucket of water and then release your finger under the water ,this should stop the stem from wilting if it does wilt you can invert the stem and pour water into it ,it's like a big straw then plunge it back into the bucket, they are a bit fussy but they look really well as a cut flower. I shall think of some more and post again soon.

[Mother of Bride]

Thank you. I'll get some calendula seed. I already have some blue cornflower seed but not sown it yet but I will look for the red ones too. I didn't think sunflowers would be flowering in June - I thought they were later but I will look at these too. Look forward to hearing from you again.

[digger]

Hi, If you sow sunflowers early enough and provide them with enough warmth and light they can be brought into flower for June, a window sill will do to get them started off.