Growing my own flowers

I have a black thumb but I would suggest visiting a Pike Nurseries or somewhere similar to speak to a pro. They can go over the different types of flowers for the season, when to plant them, how to care for them etc.

Agree with talking with a local horticulture expert (like at a higher-end garden center) for advice, but also understand that sometimes local weather conditions in the months preceding can have a big impact on the timetable. We had friends who planted hundreds of bulbs for their early spring wedding.... It was an awesome plan, but it was an unseasonably warm late winter and the bulbs were all in full-bloom about 3 weeks earlier than expected and were droopy and unusable by the wedding. Depending on your time and motivation, it might be worth looking into purchasing fresh flowers from discount vendors like Costco/Sam's Club or online vendors and figure out how much you'll likely save by relying on your gardening skills. If you have a green thumb and like gardening DIYing could be great, but online might be cheaper than you think. Good luck!

They will also tell you what to watch for - plant diseases.

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I do garden each year and plan on planting a variety of wild flowers, which usually are known to be much heartier because they are local and typically last a few weeks if not longer, unlike bulb flowers that are not natural to Ohio. Just not sure what ones to plant but definitely will call our local Extension office or higher end green house! Thanks for the suggestions!!!

I'm growing my own too! I'm in Southern Virginia, so very different elements, but I'm growing English lavender since it's such a hardy plant. It helps that I've planned a lavender and sage wedding too, haha.

I'm getting married next summer, so I'll be able to use some dried stems from this year as well as fresh cuts from next year's bloom. I plan on doing simple lavender and baby's breath bouquets as pictured below. I'm getting married in a botanical garden, so I don't feel like I need a lot of flowers.

View Quoted Comment Yay! I'm not alone and I absolutely love those bouquets!

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I love this! I contemplated growing my own, but my wedding is late October, so I’ll just buy a few mums for decorating the altar. And one of my bridesmaids and her husband loves doing the bouquets (they actually met when she was ordering flowers for her brother’s wedding). Although after just researching some more I may try to grow my own daisies. Shasta Daisy seeds can be planted throughout the summer as long as it’s more that 2 months before the first frost.

Curious since we’re in April now, what we’re you able to learn about local to you wildflowers?

View Quoted Comment So since I'm growing them for early September I've found a lot of options I just planted some late summer bulbs: dahlias, lilies, and gladiolus! From seeds I've planted lavender and black eyed Susan's. I have a few other mixed wild flower packs but I have to wait until late May to plant. I really hope at least half are in bloom by the time of my celebration!

View Quoted Comment Good luck. I picked up some Shasta daisy, purple coneflower and rudbeckia seeds oh and bachelor buttons. We’ll see. That’s one thing that makes me nervous about planting for the wedding is timing is key and things could still be off.

View Quoted Comment Even if you're able to supplement a portion it will be worth it! Plus it gives us a little bit of feeling of control being able to do something in the meantime 🙂Best of luck!

View Quoted Comment Thanks, good luck to you, too. And yes it does help feeling like I can do something right now, especially during all this COVID craziness.

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So my Black Eyed Susans are starting to do pretty good for still being fairly early (they should be in full bloom in August). My lavender are barely even seedlings and I'm a bit worried. The squirrels dug up about 50% of my bulbs, but I over-planted so there is still hope! Planning this weekend to plant the wildflower bag mix I got at Aldi! Still feeling positive and like one thing I can focus on when so many others are still up in the air.

View Quoted Comment Good to hear about the black eyed Susan’s. Mine are still small. I’ve got some coming up, but can’t remember exactly the order I planted those in. However, I also found an online supplier that will have daisies available in October, so I’m not super worried about my own growing.


I haven’t had luck growing lavender from seed yet.

Just spaced out some of my flowers but I’m terrible I can’t remember which one I planted where. I may go google the plant to see if I can figure out the leaves or just wait until they bloom. My bachelor buttons didn’t sprout at all, but my grandma has a huge row of them at her house. We’ll see if they’re still blooming in October.

View Quoted Comment At this point I have no clue what are going to be flowers and what are just plain weeds! Ha ha

View Quoted Comment That happens to me a lot. I’m not always the best gardener.