February Wedding at Steeles Island

February Wedding at Steeles Island

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February is a busy month for weddings in Tasmania and the dates book out early.   The bride for this February Wedding was super organised and had planned everything well ahead.   But a last minute change to the bridesmaid dresses changed the flower colours and we ended up with the combination of peach and plum.  

Pincushion Fountain was the main flower that I used.  Grouped together the orange makes a bold statement.  The bridesmaid dresses were covered in a very large floral print in orange, purple and green - so a bold statement was called for.  

Acacia Bailyana, or Cootamundra Wattle, is a gorgeous native foliage that is wonderful to use in bouquets.  It comes in two colours, a beautiful eucalyptusy blue-green, and a purple.  I was able to use the purple foliage for these bouquets which give a wonderful misty purple texture. 

The brides bouquet included some Protea Pink Ice.  I love the way the purple centres of the Pink Ice are brought out with the purple surrounding them. 

Poppy pods peep out from amongst the flowers.  I love them!

Other foliage used is the Leucadendron Silver Tree.  Each bouquet also had Brunia Albiflora and some large native fern leaves.  

The brides bouquet also included some clusters of berries.  Such a beautiful colour!

The lovely bride was so organised she had purchased her vases almost a year before the wedding.  The copper colour of the geometric vases went well with the orange, purple and silvery blue green of the flowers.  

I grow Brunia Albiflora sourced from two different nurseries here at Swallows Nest Farm, and have ended up with 2 slightly different colours.  For this wedding, I used the more browny purple Brunia.  

More native ferns, purple Acacia Bailyana, Pincushion Fountains, some rosy Jubilee Crown Leucadendron cones, Silver Tree foliage, Risdon Peppermint foliage, and light purple Caspia.

For the cake 'topper' this arrangement was to sit against the base of the larger bottom tier of the cake.  I love the fern leaf in this design.  

This little mini-bouquet was laid on the top tier of the cake.

It was a pleasure to play with such beautiful bold colours and to be involved in this couple's happy day.   

I wish them all the best for their future together. 

Colourful Summer Backyard Wedding

Colourful Summer Backyard Wedding

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This January it was my pleasure to create some flowers for a simple backyard wedding in Hobart.  The weather was warm and the yard had been planted out with lots of colour to create a gorgeous environment for the ceremony.

"Rich native colours" was the request, so I knew I'd be using the Safari Sunset Leucadendrons in the mix.  Their rich burgundy colour in summer is always a great addition to a bouquet.

The focal flowers were rich pink-red Protea Compacta and apricot-orange Leucospermum Fountain.  There were other leucadendrons in the mix - some Leucadendron Pisa with their yellow-green bracts and silvery cones, and some Inca Gold which in summer are a rich jungle green with red tips.  

The yellow flowers are a plant from the daisy family, known commonly as the Curry Bush.  The flowers are long lasting and dry well.  There's some Brunia Albiflora in the bouquet too.  The foliage used is Risdon Peppermint, a native tasmanian eucalyptus.  There is also some wax flower and some myrtle foliage.  

I used some fresh poppy pods in both the bouquet and the boutonniere.  I love the shape and that gorgeous matte green!  

Such a gorgeous colour palette!

For the reception, there were little pots of colour to brighten up the local restaurant, a short walk down the road.  Rich green ceramic pots exploded with summer cheeriness!

You can see wax flower, Leucospermum Fountain, Safari Sunset, curry plant, foliage and brunia.  

Two larger pots sat along the large restaurant windows.

Rich summer colours to celebrate a relaxed summer wedding - perfect!

Pincushion Proteas

Pincushion Proteas

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Spring and early summer are so busy here!  Every year I lament the fact that Christmas falls in our busy season in the Southern Hemisphere.  How nice it must be to have Christmas in the quieter months!  There are definitely some benefits of a summer Christmas though - fresh berries and stone fruit and summery tropical fruits - pavlova drenched with summer berries, long days (with daylight savings) and the long relaxing twilight, trips the beach …. ok, I take it back.  I love Christmas in summer!  But it sure is a busy time of year.  

 I can't imagine Christmas time without flowers either.  Leucospermums, commonly called Pincushions are in full bloom here in late spring and into summer.  They have become synonymous with summer for me.  I am picking trailer-loads of them at the moment and so I thought I'd show off a few. 

   Leucospermums are from the Protea family.  They are a South African plant, as many proteas are, but are closely related to many Australian native plants.  The variety above is a hybrid called Mardi Gras.  The buds are silvery and hairy and are actually a composite of many tiny flowers seeming to create a single flower head.

L. Mardi Gras

As they open the colour is revealed.

L. Mardi Gras

The "pins" from which they get their common name, "pincushion",  are yellow in the Mardi Gras variety.  They emerge from the the special petal called a tepal.  When the style pops out the tepal curls inward revealing another colour, in this case bright red.  The pins begin to emerge from the outer edge of the bloom first and work their way in to the centre until all the pins are sitting out.

Pincushions flower over a relatively short period, but it is quite intense, with the bushes being covered with flowers.  

Fully grown Mardi Gras bushes are laden with flowers in early December.  

The Mardi Gras are usually the first variety to flower at Swallows Nest Farm.  They are closely followed by these gorgeous red Pincushions called Scarlet Ribbons.  I love the colouring of these flowers.

When they first begin to open, the pins are a salmon pink and the hairy tepals give a purplish tinge to the overall look of the flower.  

But as they open more, it becomes obvious why the variety was named "Scarlet Ribbons" as the inside of the tepals is a rich scarlet red.  

Fresh Wreath by Swalllows Nest Farm with Scarlet Ribbons Pincushions

Of course, this is great for Christmas time!  Leucaspermums are great in fresh wreaths.

Mixed Pincusion bunches for Christmas

Christmas bunches often look like this!  Bright summery colours.  

The next Pincushion to flower here is the orange Leucospermum Cordifolium,  with bright orange flowers and long slender stems.  

Leucospermum Cordifolium

This variety tend to flower over a more extended period of time so we get to enjoy them for longer.  I love the little yellow stigma on the end of each style, glowing like little lights.  

The Cordifolium isn't hairy like the other varieties I've mentioned, and the overall shape is more rounded.  You can see from the photo above how the Leucospermum is clearly related to some of our Australian plants from the protea family.  Grevilleas flower in much the same way, with bundles of small "flowers" arranged to create what we call the flowerhead.  And the styles and tepals are similar too.  

Grevillea

Cordifoliums are such a happy flower! Those bright yellow stigma at the end of the pins really glow don't they!

Fresh Christmas Wreath with Cordifolium, Wax Flower, Gum Nuts and Leucodendrons

I love the citrusy colour combinations that you can create with Pincushions - so fresh and summery.

Leucospermum Fountain

Our last variety to flower, beginning towards the end of December and continuing into January, is the gorgeous Leucospermum Fountain.  It's a different shape to the others, being more flattened and open.  It has a softer, subtle orange colouring but with the purplish tinge to the tepals, like the Scarlet Ribbon variety. 

Leucospermum Fountain

You can see the difference in colouring here, between the Fountain on the left, and the Cordifolium on the right (theres a Mardi Gras in the middle there too).  The softer apricot of the Fountain is really appealing and great to mix with purples, pinks and soft blue green eucalyptus foliage.  

The colour of Fountain gets richer as they age.  

Fountain can continue to flower even into February here.  I used it in a February wedding this year.  The bridesmaids were wearing apricot and the Fountains really looked great!

Pincushions, or Leucospermums are a great summer flower, and really create a summery Christmas feel.  Enjoy them when they're available!