You have a great set up. I would concentrate on growing things that are simply not seen in your area. Do you belong to an orchid society? You have a good start with Disa, Pterostylis, Diuris and Ophrys. To me Kingianum is next to Dandelions, when they get too big here, the gardeners trim them with the weed whacker. Add a swamp cooler and a humidifier and you can dive into the wonderful world of 'Cloud Forest' species. Keep humidity at 80%, summer temps below 80F daytime, 55F night time and you can grow Dracula, Pleurothallis, Masdevallia (many of the Masdies which will grow in your current set-up), Stelis, Dryadella Scaphsepalum and many more. Odontoglossums are fabulous, will survive in your current set-up but not bloom properly, in cloud forest conditions they are spectacular. Many of the Cloud Forrest plants do not have spectacular flowers, some are not practicable because you cannot share them. Dracula will not survive a trip to your society unless you bring them in an ice cooler, the flowers will wilt otherwise. To do something different and spectacular I would gather a collection of outstanding Masdevallia coccinea and Odontoglossum. If you should be able to go to the San Francisco show in Feb, the displays will blow you away. With your set-up, you can duplicate this with a little effort. Just a thought. I also noticed the large aisle you have, with a wide house like yours optimum bench area is achieved by imaginative arrangement. 2 benches result in wasted center space, not enough room for 3 benches. One straight bench and one zipper like bench with protruding islands gives you maximum use of available square footage. A bench should be across the end. That fern uses up the space of 100 orchids and causes a lot of shade.

Yes, knowing the timing of the wedding would help greatly .... "So, her picks are Orchids, Lilies, Lily of the valley, tulips, snapdragons and bleeding hearts." ... As others have said, forget about thinking about orchids as something you'd be able to grow in your garden. ... Lilies are a great idea, though tough being able to get the timing right, and also you'd need to plant LOTS of bulbs, and HOPE they'd bloom the first year! Also, this would not be an inexpensive option. ... Lily of the valley, forget about these, unless you know someone who has an established patch ... a new planting would not likely even flower the first season! ... Tulips, sounds like a good idea if you have a spring wedding and the timing is correct. Otherwise, just takes a few days of extreme heat and they'd be toast! ... Bleeding hearts, now these bloom over a longer period, though would be finished flowering in early mid summer or so .... UNLESS, you have some of the smaller flowered fern leaf types that bloom their heads off till frost? ... Snapdragons are likely the best choice of all things you've listed, though not so great if the wedding is early in the season. I'm sorry if I sound rather negative on many of the above selections, though I'd hate to see you do a ton of planting only to be disappointed! ... BUT, BUT, BUT, there's MANY very good ANNUALS you could look into! Asters Ageratum "Lielani Blue" in particular Amaranthus Bachelor Buttons Calendulas Cosmos Rudbeckias Zinnias Sunflowers ... small flowered types ... As with any of the above, select varieties with long stems suitable for cutting. Also, cut some of each as a test to see how individual types hold up without wilting. You don't want a few wilted flowers to spoil the look of your bouquets! HAPPY GROWING! Terry

Received my Cedar Hollow order of three roses on Friday. They were polestar, Dr. Merckley and what was supposed to be lambert Closse but instead was polareis. I must say that the customer service at Cedar Hollow is wonderful because I was not going to worry about it but was contacted by Cedar Hollow and asked if the right rose was sent out and if not they would send it out at no charge. Now I have to find a spot for lambert closse as I put the polareis in the spot that I had for it.

Irina The Chrysothemis was a plant my wife brought home because she thought it was "cute"lol The label just said Chrysothemis "Black Flamingo" i put it on the seep wall and was glad when it died as it was crowding the Phal orchids. Anyway it came back from death and is certainly a gorgeous plant lol. My shadehouse is only 12x25 so have limited room. i keep it mainly for epiphytes and they always get priority. Funny that I have kept plants for many years but never a gesneriad ,not even an AV lol Guess I'll have to squeeze them in somewhere. They are the happiest looking plants in the whole SHlol After doing some reseach on the family I can see I could fill the whole yard with them.lol. I'm hoping to expand the SH but there are at least 10,000 orchid I've never kept lol Thanks for the info, gary