irene, that is an awesome story! now your wedding bouquet can live on and on!! and i agree with joepyeweed about the paints - I don't think it should be any problem. ~ Christine :)

Hi Linda, Might I offer a hearty congratulations on your upcomming wedding! I have some suggestions on species, but am not at familiar with florists in NSW, unfortunately. Perhapse contact your local ASGAP people on this link: http://www.austplants-nsw.org.au/index.htm Species (all should be available with a Google Image Search): Keep in mind the availability of these depend very much on the time of year you're getting hitched (sp. = various species, lots of different colours in most cases). Banksia coccinea (stunning dep red/scarlet colour, smaller inflorescence compared to most Banskia sp.) Goodia sp. Kennedia sp. Darwinia sp. Arthropodium strictum (Chocolate Lily) Hakea sp. Indigofera australis Callistemon (of course!) Grevillea (of course!) Eucalyptus caesia Eucalyptus macrocarpa (pretty hard to come by, very limited season, but brilliant flower) Corymbia ficifolia (they finished flowering about a month ago, so won't be available until the start of next year) Acacia sp. (hundreds, something should be in flower no matter what time of year) Tetratheca sp. Correa sp. Xerochrysum sp. (paper daisies) Eremophilla sp. Anigozanthos sp. (kangaroo paws) Scaevola aemula Dampiera sp. Doryanthes excelsa (Gymea Lily, huge flower, but would make a great centre piece for the boquet or table) Macropidia (more kangaroo paws) Haemodorum (kanga paws, again) Telopea sp. Good luck, Linda! I hope all goes well on the day. Don't forget the, "I do," bit! Regards, Jim

It is a lovely idea, to have home grown roses used in your daughter's wedding. Not to be discouraging, but I would hesitate to grow my own, just in case. You are at the mercy of weather, insects, disease, etc and it is hard to predict if you will have enough of them. You will need more bushes than you think, and growing them in pots, they may not be as vigorous as they would in the ground. If I were you, I would grow one type that you love, and purchase the rest. I am planning on doing the flower arrangements for my son's reception, its a small wedding so I think its manageable. Even so, I plan to buy roses in bulk online. I've had too many roses fall victim to aphids, japanese beetles, drought, too much rain, cane borers, black spot, and of course the many deer who find my rosebuds to be a culinary delight.

For a similar sentiment, but one less fraught with disappointment would be to plant some roses that do well as garden roses and then add any flowers they produce at the time of the wedding to the wedding bouquet. Although it is possible to root florist or grocery store roses, your chances of success are far from 100% especially if it is a rose used in the bouquet which would stress the stem used as a cutting. I did root a 'Freedom' rose from a Valentine's day gift, but it didn't like my garden. Instead of being a joy, it became a burden and painful to throw away. Although some florist roses have turned out to be good garden roses, it is more likely that they are prone to disease and don't have a good garden presence (they are bred, after all, for performance in the rarified environment of a greenhouse, with lots of pesticides and nutrients, and intended to grow long cutting stems which are gangly in the garden). Who would want to remove the bush even though it is an eyesore (i.e. mildew, blackspot and long bare stems with flowers if any perched on top) when it has such sentimental attachment? IMHO it would be better to increase your chances of success and happiness by reverse engineering the process: plant something that will bring years of happiness to the garden and that will also contribute to the wedding bouquet. Don't expect to grow all the roses for the wedding bouquet, but even adding one or two stems of something you've grown yourself adds special meaning. My own wedding was 3 weeks ago, and although my garden was in full bloom, I didn't use a single rose from my garden in the bouquets. Why not? First of all, they weren't the right color (deep burgundy burns in the sun here, and our colors were grey and burgundy). Then, florist roses are conditioned are more durable and reliable for the bouquets. I ended up with over 14 dozen roses among all the other flowers. At the head table: Getting them ready: