Early Summer Wedding at Peppermint Bay

Early Summer Wedding at Peppermint Bay

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An early summer wedding at Peppermint Bay south of Hobart called for red and white, with eucalyptus foliage.  Many of our spring blooms were still available in early December due to weather conditions, so the waratah was the red flower of choice.   

While picking some Tasmanian Waratahs (Telopea Truncata) to include for this wedding, I found some beautiful Isopogon still flowering, also known as the Cone Flower.  These are an unusual Australian native that flowers in spring.  We grow a fresh pinky purple variety called Ispogon Formosus, but they come in a range of colours with a great variation in the leaves as well.  They're gorgeous, little known Aussie wonders.    The basket full of bright red and purple really inspired the colour mix for this wedding.  

For the bouquets I used Telopea Speciosissima, the New South Wales Waratah, as the main flower.  They are large, showy and gorgeous!  I teamed them up with the smaller Tasmanian Waratah and Protea Pink Ice.

For whites, I used the gorgeous Berzelia which in early summer is covered in tiny white flowers so that it looks like clusters of fluffy white balls.  I also used Leucadenderon Lemon Spice in its creamy white phase.  It has a pink blush on the tips of the bracts, and the central cones have a pink blush too.  For the bride's bouquet I also used a Protea White Ice and a Protea White Cream, a warm pink protea with a creamy centre. 

You can see the purple Isopogon peeping out from amongst the rich pinks and reds.  I also added some darker purple Hebe flowers.  Just a few dark red Safari Sunset Leucos create some depth of colour.  And of course, there are the gumnuts - perfect for a Australian native bouquet.  

The foliage used is mostly Eucalyptus Cordata, with some Ridson Peppermint added here and there.

For the bridesmaid, the same but slightly smaller, with less of the large waratahs.  

Such a pretty, colourful combination of colours!

For the groom the colours were pared back a little.  A gumnut, Leucadendron Discolour, Leucadendron Safari Sunset, Berzelia, Ispogon and Cordata foliage.

Other buttonholes were the same, minus the purple Isopogon.  

Corsages for the mums were brighter, using a Tasmanian Waratah as the focal flower.  They also use Leucadendron Discolour, Isopogon, Berzelia and Cordata foliage.  

For the bride and her bridesmaid, there were floral combs.  Tasmanian Waratahs surrounded by Berzelia, Leucadendron Discolour,  Isopogon, Cordata foliage, and some rosy Jubilee Crown cones.  Red is a great colour for a brunette bride!    

To decorate the reception room at Peppermint Bay, the bride chose a collection of different vases and vessels filled with colour.  Her mum had collected jars of all different sizes which looked great en masse.

You can see Waratah, Tasmanian Waratah, and early flowering Scarlet Ribbons Pincushions. The red of the Tasmanian Waratahs is such an intense colour!

You can also see some White Ice Proteas, Hebe in purple, and the creamy Leucadendron Discolour.

I used Protea Pink Ice, and Safari Sunset Leucos too.  

Such a joyful combination of colours!  

Jars of more colour on the chairs for the ceremony.  What a great spot to say "I do"!  Tassie, you are so beautiful!

The cake was simply decorated with more of the same combination of flowers.  The wonderful cake was made by Natasha from Lily May Cake Design.  

Such a great venue in a wonderful location.  And early summer is a great time for a wedding, flower-wise too.  

I will remember this wedding for the intense joyful colours and of course, the lovely couple who were married.  It was such a pleasure to be involved in creating flowers for this day.  

Cradle Mountain Wedding in December

Cradle Mountain Wedding in December

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Photography by Michelle Dupont

Cradle Mountain is one of Tasmania's iconic natural beauties.  Its no surprise then, that some couples choose to tie the knot in this remarkable location.  In December 2016, I provided flowers for a summer wedding at Cradle Mountain on what proved to be a very wintery day.  It's not unusual for Cradle Mountain to be dusted in snow, even during the summer months.  The weekend chosen for this wedding was cold one with some wild weather but I think you'll agree from the gorgeous wedding photos, that the weather added to the atmosphere in this extraordinary place.

The bride wanted natives in red, green and white.  For the green, I used Tasmanian Myrtle-beech foliage.  Myrtle-beech is the dominant tree in Tasmania's cool temperate rain forests.  Its fresh new growth is a rich green and perfect for bouquets.  For the red, I used Waratahs.  The Tasmanian Waratah (Telopea Truncata) flowers mostly in November, but because of the mild spring weather, there were still plenty of flowers available in mid December.  Their rich vibrant pinky red seems to glow.

For the 'white', I used Berzelia Lanuguinosa, a white flowering fynbos plant that has lots of little balls of tightly packed flower heads. When the Berzelia flowers, the balls look fluffy and white - so pretty in bouquets.  The Berzelia at Swallows Nest Farm flowered right up til the end of December which is later than usual, but it was a treat to have them flowering so plentifully for so long. 

For the Bride's bouquet, I also used a larger, NSW Waratah (Telopea Speciosissima) and a Protea White Ice. 

The bride and the four bridesmaids also had some Scarlet Ribbons pincushions in their dark red phase, with orangey styles and deep red "ribbons".  The rich burgundy of Safari Sunset Leucadenrons was a great addition too.

I also added gum nuts and Leucadendron Jubilee Crown which are a rich red leucadendron cone.

Red, green and white, without being too christmassy - always important in December.

For the groom and the groomsmen, more myrtle, Tasmanian waratah's and Berzelia.  The groom also had a Jubilee Crown cone.

Photography by Michelle Dupont

The breathtaking photos by Tasmanian photographer Michelle Dupont were just perfect.  

Photography by Michelle Dupont

Beautiful landscape, beautiful light, beautiful bride! 

Photography by Michelle Dupont

As always, it was a privilege to be involved in this beautiful wedding!

Saving Seeds - Telopea Truncata

Saving Seeds - Telopea Truncata

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I just love Waratahs, and being Tasmanian, I'm particularly fond of Telopea Truncata the Tasmanian Waratah.  They flower in October/November and their vibrant colour has to be seen to be appreciated.  It's one of those colours that's difficult to photograph.

After the recent flowering season, I decided to have a go at some serious seed collection, so I left some flowers on the bushes and allowed them to form pods.  The waratah 'flower' is actually a group of flowers all arranged for maximum impact.  Each individual stamen represents a flower that will potentially be fertilised.   

This diagramatic illustration of the Telopea Speciosissima shows the structure, similar to the Tassie Waratah.  You can see at the bottom centre the progression of the individual flowers that make up what we call the Waratah.  

The seed pods are a bean-like shape.  They hang down from the position of the original flowers in groups, the number depending on how many flowers have been pollinated.  They are firstly green, and as they mature they turn brown and become more woody.

If left on the tree, they ripen and the warm autumn and winter sun splits them, causing them to reveal their seeds.  Ideally, it is best to pick the pods as they are maturing and becoming a woody brown, but before they split.  The structure of the seeds is such that they are easily knocked out of the pod and dispersed, and this can be frustrating if you are collecting. 

Its far better to bring them inside as they mature and allow them to sit on a warm windowsill in a container the catch the seeds.  Alternatively, place them in a paper bag and sit them somewhere warm where they can ripen fully.

When they do, the seeds are easily shaken or lifted out, revealing a pod that shows indentations where the seeds have been.  

The seeds are winged with a papery appendage that is veined like an insects wing, presumably to aid dispersal in the wind.  Quite beautiful!

I planted some seeds in Autumn, in a free draining mix in an open tray.  They sat inside on a warm windowsill and I misted them daily.  Around 3 weeks later, green shoots emerged!  

Such an exciting and rewarding little exercise!  The initial leaves were unlike the typical waratah leaf, of course, but then appeared the second set of leaves with a more familiar shape.  

As they grew I potted them on, and I'm now looking forward to seeing them mature enough to plant out in the field.

If you'd like to have a go at growing your own Tasmanian Waratah seedlings, I have plenty of seeds available in the Swallows Nest Farm online shop (click on link to take a peek)

Telopea Truncata - the Tassie Waratah

Telopea Truncata - the Tassie Waratah

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Telopea Truncata is the botanical name for the Tasmanian Waratah, a wonderful wild flower that blooms in spring.  I've begun picking these beauties for the season with one of my bushes, a rather large and productive one, flowering weeks before the rest.  It's a joy to grow these special flowers!

Telopea Truncata is a many-branched shrub up to 3 m tall.

The plant can grow to 3 metres with long stems reaching for the sky.  It can take you by surprise, flowering all of a sudden.  The buds, often covered with fine brown hairs,  swell within a few days given the right conditions, and then emerge with red folded blooms.  

Flowers look smaller and less bright when they are just beginning to open.

 What we call the "flower" is actually a cluster of up to 20 individual flowers.  These "unfold" and assemble themselves roughly facing the centre of a circle.  Each individual little flower then begins to unfold freeing their styles with the effect that the flower gets larger and more sculptural.  It also gets more intensely pinky red.  

I pick the waratah early,  before the first "unfolding", which gives them maximum vase life.  They are smaller and less brightly coloured at this stage, but they will continue to unfold naturally and brighten in colour even after being picked.  

The "flowers" have arranged themselves and are beginning to open.

Some of the styles are beginning to emerge from these flowers.  Intense colour and bent styles are typical of Telopea Truncata

The brighter flowers are the more mature flowers.

More mature plants will produce hundreds of blooms each season.  All these are from one of my bushes which flowers 2 weeks earlier than all the rest every year.  It is only about 15% of the flowers this bush produces.  

Telopea Truncata makes a fabulous garden plant too.  

Honeyeaters love these beautiful blooms, which develop droplets of sugary syrup as the flowers reach their peak.  

I know I'm biased, but I have a soft spot for these lovely little waratahs!