Buy bulk mixes of asiatic lilies and trumpet lilies and get them in the ground this year, and you'll have tons of lilies to work with next year. I don't know where you are exactly, but late June is usually the asiatic and trumpet season here in MN.

Other perennials/biennials that are out in late June for me are iris, Siberian iris, roses, alchemilla, sweet william, old-fashioned bleeding heart, oriental poppies, lunaria, foxglove, dame's rocket, soapwort, (maybe) hollyhocks, delphiniums, lupines and shasta daisies. Sweet william and lupines can be wintersown in bulk now, and you will have lots and lots of flowers for early summer 2009. Foxglove too, but they can be tricky about coming back.

Annuals that are reliable and should be gorgeous that early in teh summer include shirley poppies, california poppies, alyssum, annual phlox, calendula, snapdragons and pansies.

Also, don't be fussed about wintersowing v purchasing annuals for pots if you need the pots to look lush by the end of June. I buy a couple flats of pansies in early April here in MN to plant my entryway pots becuase there's no way that i'd get wsown seedlings that early and don't have the patience to start them inside. For $20-40, I have lush pots of pansies, alyssum and snapdragons until mid-JUly when I replace them with coleus and impatiens and whatever else strikes my fancy. ALso, don't be shy about planting really close together so that they are lush.

One last idea that might give a really different look and would be possible to start from seed in early-mid May in your zone. I've seen pots that use leaf lettuces and herbs as the bulk of the arrangement taht are really elegant. Leaf lettuces come in all shades from bright red to teh palest green and often have very ornamental leaves and head shapes. Herbs like rosemary or lavendar or basil give a dramatic contrast, and flowers like calendula, pansies, or nasturtiums are all cool weather flowers that can be really well set off by the veggies.

Thank you for your great suggestions. I am in Ohio Zone 6 surrounded by Zone 5, I go by 5 to be safe, but Am a zone 6.
Lupines, foxgloves and delphinium will be beautiful. I had just ws all, I do have sweet william in the garden and are a great cut flower. Anyone have a name for baby breath that is used in floral arrangements, is it as annual or perennial.
I would not of thought of lettuces and herbs, I have tons of pots that I picked up at the year end sales, nice urns and larger deco pots. Can't wait to try filling these this year and trying to get the right look for her wedding.
Any other input is welcomed. I am going to put in a large cut flower garden to prepare for her wedding. Anyone know of database of when perennials and annuals blooms in the season.
Thanks for all the help
Tammy

You should grow several early blooming annuals too, like corn flowers, shirley poppies, mountain garland, annual chysanthemums, and alyssum.
T

Hi I just saw that they are growing ornamental cabbage and using them in wedding bouquets...they are sooo pretty...try to google it, i was surprised ....

I would suggest growing cannas as they are a HUGE hit for weddings...you can grow them in pots and bring them inside for the winter or grow them as an annual, but I would say they are a must for a wedding...what about sea lavender..or bear grass for a filler...we use to use both of them in floral arrangements.

hydrangeas, would look amazing in center peices, Im not sure of the bloom time, I know they are all a bit different..there is a new annual called diamond frost, from proven winners, that would make a great filler inside of your pots...

I would suggest getting her to pick out her colors, and do all the pots to coordinate, than do the gardens all in cottage flowers...

Ill try to think of more...

Hi:

I agree that cannas may serve you well. They could be the tall element in your pots. (blooming or not) I'm not sure how fast they grow, as I grew them indoors last year during the winter. This year I'll find out, as I stored the bulbs this time. My garden center sold very inexpesive little "bulbs" for cannas, if you found those you could grow them this year and have bigger plants next year. The bulbs (3 for $1.00?) grew plants that were 3' tall by the end of summer.

I think the lily idea sounds very good, too.

I looked at my photos, and this is what I came up with for blooms in my garden, which I think may be slower than where you live.
mid-late june:

hollyhocks
ladybells
poppies (somniferum)
spike speedwell (not really obvious flowers, though)
german chamomile (small daisy-looking flowers)
feverfew (2nd year) and
shasta daisies (? cultivar, 3rd year)

I think my foxgloves bloomed before then, as they are not in the photos from the beginning of June forward. Maybe if you pinch the foxgloves back once as they start their flower spike, the delay will be just right.

Because you're in zone 6, your garden may have the above plants blooming earleier than mine. The following plants were growing in part shade, and direct-sown. So, my later stuff might be what you'll see at the end of June. Blooming on 7/21:
larkspur
zinnias (you could do so much with zinnias!)
orange cosmos
some poppies. (somniferum and shirley)

My Malva sylvestris seedlings began blooming shortly after that, and as 2nd-year plants I think they'll bloom earlier. I think they'll be a safe bet for you to start a lot this year, to be ready for next.

Do you know the flowering times for anything in your garden? That would help us figure out how your yard's progress compares to mine or others'. With your wintersown annuals, this year you'll get a really good idea of what will be well-developed by late June. So, be sure to try a lot of different ones! It's great that you have until 2009 to work this out.

I only have one little thing to add, since I haven't seen it yet - sweet peas. I'm not exactly sure of bloom time in your climate, though, but it might be worth checking into.

I never thought of canna I have an huge box of them, I have a lot of the asiatic lilies and trumpet lilies I will really get into them and scale them and plant out the bulblets this year, I did this last year and could believe how many babies bloomed. I triied Calla lilies in pots and they were about 4 inches high and most didn't bloom, I am not sure what I did wrong. I am so excited, as I think I have the seed for most of the ideas listed, people have been so generous with seeding me seeds for postage. This will be first year WS, so that is fun, but I really have some great goals for them. I am not good at record keeping, so one problem is I don't really know what bloom when. So glad we have time and they didn't plan for this summer. The kale is a great one, I have seen them in arrangements, will need to ck for bloom time, I will get some seed this year and watch it. I think I will have a garden journal going, I have a good amount of roses, unsure of when they bloom, seems they kinda stop when it gets hot out, but end of June here is not to bad, so they are a maybe. I really think hydrangeas would be great, I am very experienced in propagation but cuttings, I think I will be busy this summer, it will be so fun. I was honored they wanted their reception at the house.

Mint makes a great filler also. Plus it smells good.

Congratulations on your daughter's engagement. How fun. Come May, 2009, how stressful, but we will ignore that for now. Thoughts I have...
- Save flower petals from this summer to line the bridal path or to toss after the ceremony. In the days before the wedding, you may not have time to save fresh petals. Larkspur, Hydrangeas, and Roses hold color well. I'm sure many others do as well.
- Create trial arrangements this year with the flowers that bloom the two weeks before, during and after the ceremony date.
- Consider fragrant herbs for filler greens.
- Highlight one garden as a photo op location.
- VINES - maybe for an arbor, or trailing greenery, or cut and swagged across fence lines.
- Find a floral cooler to use the night before the wedding. Try county highschool vocational centers, community colleges, and universities. If you get desperate, the boquets could go in an invited neighbor's extra refrigerator at an elevated temperature.
-Edible flowers to decorate the buffet table. Pansies come in so many colors and can be timed reliably by sheering 8-10 days prior.

Enjoy the excuse to spend more time in the garden.

Squirrel Girl

-

Ohio is of course further ahead than MN, but I don't think that cannas will be ready for the end of June unless you're forcing the plants inside early (I would suggest starting in April). Cannas here are typically late July-early August, and the plants aren't even that large in late June if started in the garden.

Hydrangeas are also typically a July thing in my garden, but I can't grow most of teh macrophylla "mophead" varieties. OTOH, I think they're showing buds by the end of June, so you could incorporate some limegreen heads of buds into table arrangements if they were available.

Sweetpeas are an excellent suggestion, and make gorgeous bouquets.

Scaled lily bulblets will need a couple of years to establish and won't be ready for 2009, most likely. I'd recommend buying the bulb bag mixes from one of the box stores and getting them established this spring so that they bloom well and more heavily in 2009. (Don't cut the flowers this year, fertilize with bone meal when you plant them, and definitely don't let them go to seed so you have nice robust flowers for 2009.) You should be able to find asiatic lilies for at least as low as $1/bulb - your local big box store may be able to beat that.

Another option that comes to mind that blooms in that same time period are the tall varieties of campanulas. Telham's Beauty and the white variety of same are tall showy flowers that would likely look good in table arrangements.

Ornamental cabbage/kale might work - the one time I've done it from seed it required several months to develop a head shape unlike the lettuce. I'd recommend definitely wintersowing that because it's a cold season crop. With the lettuce, you can sow some every week and then transplant the plants that have the right head shape into your pots immediately before the wedding so that you don't need to worry about bolting.

Zinnias don't fully bloom for me until the latter part of July, but if you want to try them, I'd recommend either starting them inside or starting them outside in the sunniest, warmest spots in your garden. They really take off in warm soil - vented cloches might even speed things up for you.

Wsown larkspur also shows up about mid-July for me.

Also, if you buy mature clematis this year and get them established, you stand a good chance of having them in full bloom in June. Roses and clematis tend to bloom heavily together.

Another idea that is really neat are the living wreaths made of hens-and-chicks (or groundcovers - maybe creeping thyme and delosperma?). Martha Stewart had an article about it with the h&c and they were gorgeous centerpieces. Bluestone Perennials has a bunch of them that i'm considering for my own order this spring.

Here is a link that might be useful: Asiatics for $1/bulb

This thread made me go looking for last year's dates, and I found that I didn't keep as good of records as I thought I did, LOL! I have germination dates, but not bloom dates. Something to correct for this year. Anyway, this is from memory, but I believe the first annuals that bloomed for me last year were the African daisies (Osteospermum or Dimorphotheca), Helichrysum bracteatum (Strawflower), and Calendula.

It should be a fun summer for you, an excuse to play in the garden.

Bonnie

I've never grown in zone 5 - so can't help you there, but thinking that columbines are easy from seed and usually an "early" flower. Foxy foxglove - though short - is usually reliable first year from seed.

MarthaStewart.com has a Gardening tab that has Browse Plants and under that you can choose to browse plants by bloom time (you may want to browse spring and summer). I'd definately check before you count on her list (they have a dahlia as spring - unless it's greenhouse grown wouldn't even be blooming for me in zone 9 in spring ..). List a tad tedious as lists different varieties - say of tulips in spring - but an easy enough browse. Keep a notepad and pen in the car and make notes this year of things you see in others gardens/parks in bloom in June that you like.

Another GREAT resource is a book Container Gardening by Paul Williams - browse it at a borders or barnes. If you're into Netflix get Rebecca's gardening Container Gardening volume - really fantastic ideas from different places (denver botanic garden, this grower/designer/that one..). You may want to plan more textures/colors from leaves and such than flowers to have good looking containers no matter what. (see next comment). Consider using a lot of "house plants" in your containers as you can grow them larger indoors over the winter and June should be fine - coleus is one I wouldn't winter sow for the event (unless you're doing it now) - take cuttings to grow inside over the winter of 2008/2009. Easy plants like "wandering jew" can give you good greens for arrangements - you could give them a big cutback 6 weeks before - stick stems in water (they'll root - that easy) them trim the rooted water cuttings for table arrangements. Also for arrangements - think greens. Note what trees have leafed out that you can insert small branches of, which shrubs - which are variegated or have different colors. There's a variegated leaf weigela that should be "in leaf" if not bloom at that time that would be lovely.

Go through a "what's the worst that could happen" exercise (this will help you approach the day more calmly - you DO want to enjoy it - as you'll have reconciled yourself to the thought that things may not go perfectly). Say Rain that day - then you have tents if needed. Crushing rain within the week prior - then you have torn up flowers of the ones that were in bloom - so plan that you can trim and - worst case - spread lots of bark mulch for a very neat look (know where's the best place for mulch ahead of time). Totally different winter next year than this - say it's much warmer earlier or very late cold snaps - all your timing's off. You've already figured out the best places you can pick up flats of annuals and bark mulch. And so forth. Have some $$ in the budget for last minute fixes.

Trim all flowering buds off your plants through mid-late May (say roses I'd go to about 5 weeks before the date) - push the plant to bloom when you want where it's possible. Fertilize roses around 2nd/3RD week of May.

Every now and again remind yourself you're not superwoman. Coordinating the reception will be huge - the garden only a piece of it. And, you want to have enough energy left to enjoy the day itself. Don't plan on too much last detail stuff for the garden (you mention this is your oldest daughter - siblings and friends of siblings who'd be cheap labor you can train this year on how to spread mulch? plant a flat of annuals? You WILL be busy!

Keep us informed and in the loop as you go through your planning this summer (we all love this kind of post - it's so much fun!)

Really enjoy peaking in on this thread and all the ideas. *BUMP*

Just ordered Verbascum Southern Charm and noticed Swallowtail seeds says "late spring/early summer" - this would be perfect timing for you and it's a lovely plant. Someone has posted a picture of their young one in another post.

Faerygardener, that may be my photo your referring to. Late spring/early summer may be the normal bloom time, but my first year blooms for 'Southern Charm' weren't until Sept. Since Tammy has until '09, it would work for her, IF she WS them this year.

Bonnie

Bonnie - Thanks!! That was yours - I didn't have time to go back through all the posts and find your picture. But the fact that you did have such a good experience winter sowing it did give me the extra nudge I didn't need to place yet another seed order (recently moved, so didn't save seed last season, & thus not trading this year - but am just ordering and ordering seeds ...). Your photo was great.

Thanks, Faerygardener! I was very pleased with 'Southern Charm'. I would like to try 'Honey Dijon' or 'Copper Rose' too, but the seeds are kind of pricey, so I'm trying to restrain myself.

You'll be posting pictures of your own lovely 'Southern Charm'ers by this time next year : )

Bonnie

So, question...I just found this thread, and now too have my youngest daughter wanting to get married end of June...I begged for 2nd week of July when the Hydrangeas would be in force, but airfares are almost 1/3rd more by then. How did the garden come out? what worked the best. I am in the mountains of NC and zn 5 mostly. Thanks!