WEDDING FLOWERS: australian natives
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Showing posts with label australian natives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label australian natives. Show all posts

Early Spring Wedding



Spring is a fabulous time for native flowers, and a fabulous time for weddings.  I get to put the two together when I'm doing spring wedding flowers!   Early this spring,  I did flowers for a lovely Hobart bride who wanted bouquets with highlights and pops of colour. 


The bride's bouquet combined the creamy white of Maui Sunset Leucadendrons, a late-winter or early-spring flowering leuco, with one of the first of flowers from a newly planted Protea called White Ice.  White highlights were added with Bushman's Bootlace, a local native Pimelea.  


Providing pops of colour were early flowering Waratahs in rich deep pinky red, Protea Satin Mink in pink with black fringing, and the startling pink of Boronia which also smells fantastic, which made working with the bouquet all the more enjoyable.  


Dryandra Formosa, with its glowing golden flowers and beautiful leaves provides texture, as does the fabulous Berzelia.  It's green in early spring and is such a great texture plant right through the season until it bursts into fluffy white flowers just before summer.  I also used some native Tasmanian Richea Dracophylla flowers which you can just see poking out on the left at the rear of the bouquet.  


The grooms boutonniere combined all the colours and textures of the bouquets in a tiny package.  I love the colour combination of the dryandra and boronia.  That pink really packs a punch!


Groomsmen's boutonnieres were a simple combination of the golden dryandra, some berzelia and pimelea.  


I really enjoyed the opportunity to play with these early spring flowers.  I hope the bride and groom had a brilliant day.


Foraging Fun - Forest Candles

I have developed a love of foraging!  Often, I'll be driving along the road and a plant will catch my eye but I'm usually on my way somewhere with a car full of kids,  and can't stop.   So reecently I went for a drive with the intention of wandering and discovering,  and was rewarded by finding this gorgeous flower.  It really caught my eye, being so bright among the other native shrubs growing beside the road.  

Forest Candles - Stackhousia Monogyna
 Closer inspection revealed a plant that grows from a central mass with many stems, all tipped with clusters of flowers.  I cut a generous bunch to bring home!


My trusty "Flowers and Plants of Tasmania" tells me this beauty is Stackhousia Monogyna or Forest Candles, a perenial herb.  It grows in heaths and open forests from sea level to alpine regions.  These were found in heath beside a country road near the coast here on the Tasman Peninsula.  They grow up to 60cm and have a pretty perfume as night falls.

Further research reveals that Forest Candles, whilst widespread across all states of Australia except the Northern Territory, is not well known and rarely cultivated.  It flowers in spring and summer when, as its name suggests, it stands out brightly amongst the other vegetation.  


I am really quite blown away by the beauty of these "Forest Candles".  And it has certainly encouraged my foraging tendencies.  Prepare for future foraging finds!!


Life on the Farm


Banksia Coccinea bud
Spring is a productive time on a flower farm.  There are signs of life everywhere.  I thought I'd share some of the things that have been going on here at Swallows Nest over the last week or so.  I'm pretty excited about this little bud - its the first of my Banksia Coccinea's to flower.  They were planted around 3 years ago and I've been eagerly awaiting the first flower.  I check the buds almost every day.  Cant wait!

Banksia Ericifolia
Some Banksia Ericifolia that I planted as a windbreak are all flowering too.  I am surprised by the intensity of colour in these blooms.  Such handsome flowers!

Bansia Ericifolia
I love the purple centre contrasting with the yellow and orange.  

Before!
We've been reclaiming territory here.  Blackberry weeds have been slowly invading some large Richea Dracophylla.  I've been panicking about loosing them so this week we attacked the blackberry and set them free.  After only a day we had them back under control, pruned and mulched, and wow!  I can tell they're happy!  

After!
The after shot!  


Richea Dracophylla are a plant endemic to Tasmania.  Their flowers are just coming on now and are really special.  I cant wait to see how well they perform next year, now that we've given them some love.

Richea Dracophylla
Lots of flower spikes almost ready to pick.

Richea Dracophylla
Such a special flower!  


Pruning always uncovers little treasures.  We found 4 abandoned nests in one day - adding to my already large collection.  This little one is lined with fur!

Leucospermum Scarlet Ribbons
One of the jobs I really enjoy at this time of the year is checking the buds on the Pincushions or Leucospermums.  These are a summer crop for us in Tasmania, generally starting in November and with different varieties the flowering continues through to February.  This little bud is going to be a Scarlet Ribbons Pincushion.  The buds need to be checked because sometimes the plant makes 2 or more flower heads at the end of the stem. 

Pincushion Buds
We pick the extra buds off, making sure that one single bloom has enough room to open properly.  The little buds can be "popped" off with your fingers.  I just find it a relaxing thing to do, and it gets you out among your plants, keeping tabs on how they're going.  

Waratah!
Of course the big event of the last couple of weeks is the beginning of the waratah season.  We are looking forward to having these beautiful flowers for sale over the next few of months as we have different varieties with different flowering times.  

Waratah and Richea flowers in a "Get Well" bouquet
Waratahs and Richea flowers will feature in arrangements to say "Get Well", "Farewell" and  "Thank You".  They'll also feature in wedding bouquets and in flowers for a funeral over the next week or so.  It's all part of life as it rolls on into spring and summer for 2014. 

Spring Native Bouquet - Swallows Nest Farm




Thinking About Weddings - Boutonniere


 Boutonniere is a french word meaning 'button hole' and is the name for a flower or small bouquet worn on the lapel of a man's jacket.  Boutonniere have an interesting history, with some suggesting the practice started with flowers being worn by men going into battle.  The boutonniere was very popular in Victorian times. Suits were made with a special opening and loop on the lapel so as to accommodate a flower, usually a carnation.  More recently, the boutonniere has become something worn only on special occasions.  The button hole on the lapel has almost disappeared from modern suits and the boutonniere has evolved into a single flower or small bouquet that is wired, taped and pinned to the left jacket lapel.

Natives are brilliant flowers for weddings, and in the case of boutonniere they really shine.  If natives are well prepared,  they can last really well removing worry about wilting which can be a problem for boutonnieres.  With an increasing focus on locally and sustainably grown seasonal produce, native flowers are becoming much more popular as wedding flowers.

I've spent a lot of time on the internet, trawling through wedding blogs and sites and found there was a lack of inspiring native boutonniere collections, so I thought I'd make one!  Some of these are my own work, and some are ideas that I've found on my "travels".  I hope you find some inspiration here.


These buttonholes feature the intensely coloured Tasmanian Waratah.  A November wedding was perfect as these natives are at their best in late spring.  The bride themed her wedding colours around these beautiful Tassie blooms with ivory, red and grey.  The grooms buttonhole stands out using a larger specimen and adding a red leucadendron.  The foliage is Agonis Flexuosa and the white Berzelia or Button Bush adds the gorgeous ivory highlight to make these bouttoniere really special.   





Dryandra are an Australian native from the protea family.  They are wonderful long lasting flowers with leaves that have a lovely texture and growth habit.  This early spring boutonniere utilises the Dryandra Formosa flower and highlights the zig zag foliage.  The golden Dryandra is teamed with early season Berzelia or Button Bush, still fresh green before the white flowers emerge, and a glossy gum leaf.  


This groom's boutonniere was from a January wedding with an Australian Native theme.  A large gum nut foraged in spring and dried with the seeds removed is the main "flower".  It is teamed with a Leucadendron Pisa, picked late so its central cone glows silvery green.  Some Berzelia Button Bush adds creamy white.  The background foliage is the lovely Nothofagus Cunninghamii or Myrtle - glossy green dainty leaves bely the sturdiness of this fabulous foliage.  There is also a Leucadendron Christmas Cone giving a touch of red.


A summer boutonniere using an orange Grevillea flower and foliage, teamed with some cyprus foliage. The addition of dried summer grasses adds texture for a rustic, country wedding.  

This larger style boutonniere uses the ever popular Safari Sunset Leucadendron and teams it with some lovely textured foliage.  I love the colour of the leucadendron against the suit fabric.  The green really makes it pop.

These gorgeous boutonniere are fun and light.  They use Leucadendron Pisa, Flannel Flowers and Serruria or Blushing Bride, and team them with some light native foliage.  The two attendants buttonholes are smaller and utilise one main flower.  The grooms buttonhole is distinguished by being larger, and incorporating all of the blooms used.  This is a great way of getting variety and making sure the most important boutonniere stands out.

I love this buttonhole using eucalyptus buds with feathers.  I think they work really well with the fabric of the suit.  The colour of the twine used to wrap the stems really makes the buttonhole work too.

These boutonniere are a great example of how "mismatched" can really work!  They are all different, but the rustic, textured style ties them all together.  As long as the groom stands out in the crowd, theres no reason why all the buttonholes need to be the same.


These late summer boutonniere are "mismatched" again.  Working on a theme using pink and orange they use lots of different natives.  They are tied together by the common use of twine and the foliage - zig zag Banksia foliage and cyprus.  Some of the flowers used are Geraldton Wax, Grevillea, Kangaroo Paw, Boronia, Summer Grass, and dried Leucadendron Cones.  


This is the grooms boutonniere from the same wedding as the picture above.  It uses a selection of the other flowers but adds Brunia, tying it in with the brides bouquet.  It is also bigger overall, making sure the groom is the star of the show!

Hopefully, you've found some inspiration for a native flower wedding here.
For more boutonniere ideas, see my Swallows Nest Farm Pinterest board or the Martha Stewart Weddings list of Boutonniere

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