Here comes the bride!
Yes, we’re in wedding season again with sunny skies ahead and long balmy evenings just made for celebrating outdoors.
We get regular requests from the hassled bride’s mother about having the garden picture-perfect for the big day, or for the next day’s after-match function. So here are a few pointers to get the wedding look – easily.
First pointer, don’t let ‘garden stress’ spoil what should be a fun party for everyone, including the hosts. Everyone’s there to have a memorable time, not to pick over the garden looking for weeds. Talking loudly, laughing and inhaling your expensive bubbly will blur any detailed memories of the garden.
Green lawns, trimmed edges/hedges instantly give the garden a manicured look and mowing regularly for the three weeks prior avoids the ‘scalped’ look. Feed the lawn six weeks before the big day and water deeply if there’s no rain around. A final mow three days before the wedding gives the best look.
Focal points of massed colour are the easiest way to create the ‘wow!’ factor as guests arrive and mingle. Large tubs of a single colour of flower are the most eye-catching and place them where they’ll have the most effect. Make sure there’s enough room for two people to walk between them – very important for the bride and groom!
The front gate, the front door, entrances to pergolas or marquees, beside gaps through hedges and gates to pool areas are all focal points. The scale changes with large numbers of people, so large tubs have more impact.
Roses really set the scene and “How can I have the perfect roses just at the right time?” is probably the pre-wedding question we get asked the most. Water is the basic requirement of roses and it’s almost impossible to over-water them.
Trickling a hose steadily at the base is the best way to water, rather than on the foliage, but if you can’t avoid overhead watering do it first thing in the morning, rather than the evening.
Feeding six weeks before the required date promotes fresh, new, clean growth, and the period from pruning to flowering is around six weeks. Regular spraying halts pests and diseases – if you need any advice on roses just ring or call us.
Flower beds can easily be a riot of colour all through summer with a bit of TLC and the good old reliable varieties are still the way to go – white petunias, white alyssum, lobelia, blue cornflowers, cream marigolds, white cosmos, blue salvias, and white impatiens in shade.
Pockets of summer annuals will reinforce your colour schemes and larger numbers of less varieties will have maximum impact. Rows of geraniums in terracotta pots are simple and effective. Weddings can be a once-in-a-lifetime event – enjoy the fun!
