I have no experience with zone 5 plantings, so cannot tell you what blooms in Indiana mid-June. I do have some general suggestions. Dead ferns and begonias will not return. Sad roses need pruning and fertilizing.

You have 12 weeks from Saturday. If you do not have a written plan, make one now. You also need a contingency plan in case your seedlings fail, as seedlings are prone to do in the best of gardens.

If time runs out, you can run to the garden center, get some pots of lilies and use them to make a focal point. A pretty table with your cake and refreshments will be festive, as would some bows with streamers, or colorful flags. The bride and groom should be the center of attention, not the yard.

Can you post some pictures of your yard?

Very best wishes to you, and congratulations to your sweetie for finding such a caring bride.

Nell

I live in zone 5 in Michigan and my daughter lives in Granger, Indiana, just outside of South Bend, so I know some of what to expect in June where you are. First of all, best wishes are in order for your upcoming wedding. I think most of what will be in bloom are roses and lillies and perhaps larkspur and delphs. I do agree with Nell regarding using your local garden center to help with the seasonal bloom and color. I know of a wonderful garden center in Granger but the name escapes me at the moment. Are you going to use a trellis or canopy...or do you have a spot picked out to use for your vows yet?

I think you are a brave and wonderful woman to plan your wedding in your garden.

Carol

Containers, I forgot about containers. A florist I once knew used to pot up boxes of soil with seedlings just starting to bloom, coleus and fern, for Mother's Day in Atlanta. They were beautiful.

Even little oblong containers from the Dollar Store will make a clutch of seedlings look important, filled with petunias, impatiens, celosia, marigolds and other seedlings that literally come up blooming. Tucked in together, they'll look lush and full, instead of forlornly small and alone spaced in a flower bed.

I once lent pots of caladiums to a neighbor for a back yard reception.

Nell

I think containers is a wonderful idea. So are many of the seeds you have to plant.

First, I would throw all the seeds of larkspur, poppies delphinium, and calendula. They should bloom, I am judging about the time of your wedding. I base this on the fact that I went to Denton, Texas in May, 2005 (or 2006), and I was astonished to see newly planted pansies! Our pansies had been gone, banished by our warm spring temps for months!

So, our poppies are not quite blooming here in zone 9. Take 3 weeks difference in each zone, and that puts you approximately 12 weeks behind us. Yep, you should have poppies about then! How exciting!

I think you can add snaps, lobelia, stock, nicotiana, and morning glory, too.

Like Nell said, prune and fertilize your roses, and groom your other plants and feed them. From now to the wedding, feed your plants every time you water them. Well, maybe wait until past your last frost date before you do all that feeding.....

But you can groom your yard, and be sure everything is clipped and edged nicely. A nice big fern (Macho fern?) would be lovely in a big pot, two would be better. You can always set these in the back of a flowerbed, or in a naked spot. Machos are very hardy, if you can find them, and they get huge!

I once did a garden for a lady who was hosting a 'do' for the symphony crowd. It was the end of January, and absolutely nothing was available. Nothing, except for some very pretty pyracantha. So we used them, and cut(from the side of the road, even!) holly and yaupon, wonderfully decorated with red berries. Stuck in big pots, nobody even realized these were just sticks! LOL, it was very effective.

Imagination goes a long way. We decorated a big hall with sunflowers cut from the side of the road once, for my BIL's birthday party. Used buckets and old teapots and such for containers. The decorations cost almost nothing.

Don't worry too much. You will be such a beautiful and radient bride that no flower could move you from the center of attention. Be most happy on this day, and we will all be happy for you!

Best of luck, and I wish you all the happiness in the world.

Janie

Oh thank you all! Nell, I will try to get some pics tomorrow to post, and although there's not much to look at, at least I have a fairly blank slate and not too much space to fill, and good idea on the containers, I thought containers would also fill up empty bed space. I hope I can find some neighbors as generous as you to lend pots if needed! Too bad you don't live closer;) Carol, you're probably fairly close to me! I bet I know the place in Granger, maybe Ginger Valley? I'll check it out, and our ceremony is at the Shoijiri Gardens, then the reception will follow at our house (our rental house, i might add). Our landlord has offered to replace the awful chain link fence if we do the work, so that's a plus! He might even throw in a few shrubs, any suggestions? I haven't figured out if I'm brave, stupid, or crazy, but I'll let you know :) I'm hoping to borrow/rent a tent, but barring that, I'll be praying for clear skies, cause my house is not that big! Janie, I love the teappot idea, how cute! That totally goes with a "garden party" theme. I think the not knowing exactly what will be blooming is the hardest part! I hope the weather stays nice so I can get outside and start working on this huge project! Should I wait until the fence is up, and then dig out the border or vice versa? Thanks for all the well wishes! Anyone see tonight's Grey's Anatomy with the Orchid club people and the face transplant guy? OMG I cried so hard! My sweetie even shed a tear or two, but shhh don't tell anyone :)

Congratulations on your wedding.

First, a lot of the seeds you have are either perennials or biennials. So you need to make other plans for blooms. The only ones that might be in bloom by then will be the Stock.

If you've got $100 to spend, head down to the garden center and pick up 6 packs of annuals. Add in some accent plants and plant them in containers really close together. You can use anything for containers, even tupperware and plastic shoeboxes. Just wrap the outside with foil gift wrap like they do with Easter lillies at the garden centers. You don't need to worry about the actual container. It's what you see that counts.

Then fertilize, fertilize, fertilize.

I will say, it has been my general experience that annuals from seed haven't bloomed until late July or even August. I tend to agree that you may need to supplement with 6 packs of annuals to get color. (I don't know if winter-sowing will help your odds.)

I definitely wish you luck in your endeavors!

Here is a link to a thread that you might find helpful on the New England gardening forum. A poster is looking for flower ideas for her daughter's wedding in june 2010.

Here is a link that might be useful: June wedding flowers from my garden?

You are absolutely right!! The garden center in Granger is Ginger Valley. I think their prices are good, plus if you talk to some of the knowledgeable people that work there & explain what you are trying to achieve I think they will be invaluable help to you. I'm so excited for you..keep up the good work.

Carol