Dryandra Formosa

Dryandra Formosa

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Dryandra Formosa is a beautiful Australian Native Flower that I've begun to grow at Swallows Nest Farm.  It is an unusual flower that is from the Proteaceae family, as are many other well known Australian Native flowers.  As recently as 2007 it has been re-classified at a Banksia, so is now known as Banksia Formosa.  Its common name is Showy Dryandra, and it is!

The flowers are golden and at once furry and bristly - a strange combination which makes sense when you see them begin to open more.  The bristles are very firm, almost plastic-like.   A fibrous golden top, when all clumped together, forms the "furry" look.  It has the appearance of velvet and catches the sunlight in a similar way.   

The colour is difficult to describe too - golden orange, or old gold would be my best words to describe it. 

Another feature of this unusual flower is that the leaves almost become part of the flower.  The leaves grow immediately below the flower and are long and deeply zig-zagged.  They are beautiful to use as a cut foliage.

Like most proteaceae plants, what we call the "flowers" are actually many small individual flowers clumped together.  The diagram above shows that each bristle is an individual flower.

With so many flowers in each flower head, there are many opportunities for seeds.  When you look at the seed heads of the Dryandra Formosa you can see why they've been re-classified as Banksias.  The seed heads are very banksia-like, as are the seeds which are very dark and attached to a papery film, just like banksia seeds.  Showy Dryandra grow well from seed.  

Dryandra or Banksia Formosa are a great flower to use for weddings.  You can see how the leaves are put to good use in the boutonnieres above.  I love the way the leaves sit haphazardly.  

The young flowers really catch the light because of the velvety texture.  They look great in corsages too. Here, the young flowers are teamed with Pimelea Nivea or Bushman's Bootlace, Lipstick Boronia, Berzelia buttons and Grevillea.

The effect is different when the flower is more mature and the velvety texture is replaced with the tips of the bristles.  Still lovely, just different.  In this boutonniere, it is teamed with a Blusing Bride Serruria flower, Berzelia buttons, and flowering gum.  

I really love the colour of this flower!  It's not a "hit you in the eye" colour but it just provides so much depth.  There are times when the colour combinations just sing!  I think the wreath above would be a bit bland without the Showy Dryandra.

Again, in a brides bouquet, the Showy Dryandra really makes the colour palette.  There's nothing else that adds the colour and texture quite like these amazing Australian Native blooms.  

Red and Gold Summer Natives for a December Wedding

Red and Gold Summer Natives for a December Wedding

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Photography by Rosie Hastie

An intimate wedding in December at Stewarts Bay Lodge on the Tasman Peninsula called for red and gold, and seasonal natives.   "I just want something colourful and simple to hold", said the bride.  

 Banksia Coccinea were my inspiration for the "red".  For the "gold",  I used Dryandra Formosa.  I teamed it with some Leucospermum Scarlet Ribbons, fully flowering with their rich red ribbons exposed, and Protea Compacta in pink with a rich red centre.  I also used some rich orange Banksia Ericifolia.   

Photography by Rosie Hastie

Such beautiful photos by Tasmanian Photographer Rosie Hastie!  I love the glow of the red Banksia against that gorgeous wedding dress!

Other flowers I used were Leucadendron Safari Sunset which are deep maroon in summer, before they start their growth phase.  I also used some Leucadendron Jubilee Crown with their ruby cones.   Some grevilea foliage, and gum foliage gave some texture.  I also added some smoke bush foliage with some of the wispy feathery red flowers.  Such vibrant warm summer colours!

For the groom, who was wearing a burgundy red and gold tie, I used myrtle and grevillea foliage, Leucadendron Safari Sunset, Leucadendron Jubilee Crown, and for the gold, the Dryandra Formosa.  

Aisle decorations for the ceremony were hung and then brought inside for the reception.  

Photography by Rosie Hastie

Leucospermum Scarlet Ribbons, Kangaroo Paw in burnt orange, Leucadendrons Safari Sunset, Pisa and Jubilee Crown, and Agonis Flexuosa foliage,  all combined to create a vibrant splash of colour for both outside and inside.

Photography by Rosie Hastie

I think it was a great idea that worked really well to provide decoration for both the ceremony and reception whilst keeping costs down.  

A simple arch framed the spot for the ceremony.

Photography by Rosie Hastie

Perfect for a summer bush wedding.

Photography by Rosie Hastie

Gorgeous!

Photography by Rosie Hastie

The red and gold theme really added an intense splash of colour.  

Photography by Rosie Hastie

The cake topper used a Banksia Coccinea too, with some Leucadendron Safari Sunset and Dryandra again.  I think it was a beautiful fresh look for a small, intimate wedding. 

The bride's bouquet was paired with a little bouquet for the flower girl, using the same combination of flowers on a smaller scale.

Photography by Rosie Hastie

So sweet!

Photography by Rosie Hastie

I really enjoyed creating the flowers for this gorgeous wedding, so it was lovely to see some photos of the day.  A good photographer just captures the details so brilliantly!

Photography by Rosie Hastie

I love this shot of the bride and groom with Tasman Island in the background.  The gorgeous blue of the sea and sky really make the flower colours sing!  

Native November Wedding in Soft Blush Colours

Native November Wedding in Soft Blush Colours

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Mid November I did a wedding with a gorgeous colour scheme.  The bride sent me a little colour board that showed the colour and feel she planned for the day.  The suits were blue (a current personal favourite!), as were the bridesmaids, and the flower girls were in shades of blush.  

My Protea White Ice were just beginning to flower well for the first season and they gave me the inspiration for the flower combination that would suit the theme.

White Ice are a white protea with a soft blush colour in the central flower mass.

Other spring flowers that I teamed up with them were Protea Compacta in a rich pink with a central mass of bronzy red.

The  Scarlet Ribbon Pincushions were early and are a lovely soft colour when they just begin to flower.  They added to the colour combination.

The brides bouquet also had a white waratah - Shady Lady White.  My plants are still very young and flowering sporadically to it was great to have a couple to sprinkle through.  Other flowers that I added were the soft golden Dryandra Formosa.  I just love these for weddings!  You can also see some Berzelia. Another secondary flower that I think worked really well in this wedding was the Leucadendron Discolour which was in its creamy white phase, with a dusting of pink blush. 

An experimental planting of Serruria Blushing Bride provided a few blooms to add to the mix.  I used one here for the grooms boutonniere.  Some fluffy white flowering gum makes an appearance too.  Dryandra are great for boutonnieres, and just imagine these on a blue suit - great colour combination!

The foliage that I used throughout was a Tasmanian eucalyptus called Cordata.  It has lovely blue green juvenile leaves with a rounded shape.  

I really enjoyed the colour combinations in this wedding! 

Native Spring Wedding Flowers

Native Spring Wedding Flowers

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October is a brilliant month for native flowers.  A bride is spoilt for choice!  Last October I was privileged to be able to provide flowers for a wedding at MONA in Hobart.  The bride and groom were from Sydney so NSW Waratah's were a perfect choice.  My Telopea Speciosissima hybrids were just bursting with colour.  

The bride was wearing gold, so the red was really a standout colour.  I added Dryandra Formosa flowers to tie in the gold.  They are at their height in early to mid spring.  

The Dryandra leaves also add a  lovely textural quality to the bouquet.  They have a fine, zig-zag shape and fall at nice angles.

For the flower girl's bouquet, I chose some smaller waratahs to keep the size and weight manageable.   The bright pink is added by Boronia which not only creates a burst of colour, but smells divine, making it a pleasure to handle.  I used Leucadendron Lemon Spice, a selection of the female Leucadendron Discolour.  In spring its colour is spectacular, changing from a sage green to a gorgeous creamy ivory with a pink blush.  

Another ingredient I loved using for this wedding was some fresh green eucalyptus pods, immature and not ready to flower until summer.  In their immature state, they are bright green, and the textural quality adds another layer of interest to a bouquet bursting with spring goodness.  

In early October, the Berzelia or Button Bush is just ready to begin picking.  The "buttons" are green and they add another fresh textural layer to the spring native bouquet.  

One of the things I loved about this wedding was that the bride was particular about the boutonnieres.  The groom wanted white.  For the Fathers, I was given pictures of the suits and ties they were wearing, so I could create something that worked well.  It was a great way to work.  

White was a little tricky with so much colour available!  I used both wax flower and thryptomene (another duo that are fabulously perfumed) teamed with Berzelia and an immature Leucadendron Silver Tree cone.

The Silver Tree cone really glows. 

For the Fathers' boutonnieres, I used small waratahs.  I usually cull these smaller flowers, pruning them off the bushes and leaving them.  They are pretty but too small and often at odd angles so no good for selling wholesale.   I decided that they were perfect button holes for this spring wedding though - like a scaled down version of the main bouquet flowers. I like the way the red bracts surrounding the flower sit at interesting angles.

For the other boutonnieres, I used Dryandra.   These Australian Natives have a strong almost citrusy smell that can be a bit overpowering when they are first picked so I pick them a week early and sit them in the cold room till it fades a little.  They are teamed up with Lipstick Boronia and wax flower.  

Such a joyous combination of spring goodness! 

Natives are a vibrant and memorable choice for a spring wedding.