I'm hoping to grow the Sea Lavender. That is lovely.

Verbena bonairensis is something you should have growing somewhere in the garden -- it blooms all Summer, and the flowers are on long, thin stems. They're great for breaking up a solid ball of roses in a vase. And its shade of purple seems to go with just about any rose in my garden, though perhaps it may contrast too strongly with something orange-red. But I don't have any roses of that color.

Oh, and for foliage, you can't go wrong with ferns. If you have a very shady area in the garden, tuck some ferns in so you can have fronds-a-plenty.

:-)

~Christopher

Ferns and tropical foliage i.e. Phillo selloum (baby leaves) and a. Cucullata. The only problem is the additions may fade faster than roses so I replace--have plenty so not a prob. I've even used citrus foliage and ligustrum. Wax leaf and chinese

For bridal bouquets, Nandina fronds. They hold up really well without water and have that deep green look.

I have never heard of Verbena bonariensis until now but yes it looks like a very good flower for any bouquets. I must try that one.

SoFL I think we are on the same page here. I try to use colours that the roses don't have like the purple in sea lavender. I wish I can grow Delphinum but it is too hot and dry here and they don't do well.

Great bouquets y'all!!! Soooooo pretty! I use anything that's in my yard. Lol. Phlox, hydrangeas of all kinds, lilies, different annuals, glads, etc.... Always looking for spiky things to add to my yard for bouquets. Judy

Like your sea lavender, Fragrancenutter- have to try growing that. And is that Garlic chives for the alliums?

Love your snapdragons Sofl- I try growing them off and on but mine tend to rust out after a season. Rather fond of Gerberas too, but never thought of putting them with roses before.

I tend to just jam everything in together with a bit of blue if I have it for contrast

I tend to raid the herb garden a bit.. rosemary and rocket thats bolted, chives... I tried some nasturtiums once; they were pretty but barely lasted a day.

Gorgeous, Curdle.

All such stunning bouquets--I'm getting some great ideas here. I haven't been open enough to trying something different as a filler. I usually just stuff a bunch of roses in a vase. I occasionally use ivy, more rarely snapdragons or hollyhocks (double). When the peonies are in bloom, I love to add Sarah Bernhardt peony to the roses. I need to check my files a little later today, but I'm not sure my bouquets can measure up to the beauties posted so far. You are a bunch of pros! Diane

Curdle, I love the naturalness of your bouquets. Would you happen to know the names of the pretty pink roses in your first and third bouquets? Everyone's flowers are absolutely beautiful.

My bouquets are very unimaginative. They all contain a few sprigs of butterfly bush leaves and that's it.

These were all taken some years ago so I don't recall many names. I recognize Burgundy Iceberg, Charles Darwin, Mrs. Dudley Cross, Cels Multiflora, Miss Atwood and Rosette Delizy.

Abelia 'Kaleidescope' makes an excellent foliage filler for yellow, apricot, and orange roses. A great no-fuss shrub. I have it planted at the base of my 'Brass Band' rose and they look great together.

A kaleidoscope is on my want list

Not a rose bouquet but I take the opportunity to show the Easter tree I took in from the garden today. Not the best bunch of birch twigs I've had for Lent but I couldn't reach any better. I hope the twigs will leaf out in time. Originally the master of the house used twigs to beat his servants and children as a penance and in remembrance of the suffering of Christ. I hope someone got to beat him too. But they have also been used as decorative heralds of spring since pre-Christian times. Some magical thinking was involved too, to help spring along.

I guess his penance was having a sore arm?

Thank you Ingrid :) Your bouquets look lovely tho- the roses look all big and fluffy -the cream and pink roses in the top pic look good enough to eat and remind me of some gorgeous dessert. I feel bad for the poor jaguar who only has an alligator to chow down on.

I'd love a rose Delizy, but don't have the space. My Charles Darwin doesn't look anywhere as good as yours (I don't really have the room for him either, and it shows).

I cant really remember the pink on the left (Princess Alexandra of Kent?) but the little pale pink one is Redoute, and the big purply pink one is Charteuse de Parme.

for the second pink pic, they are L-R Frederic Mistral, PAoK, and two Chartreuse de Parmes.

All are very pretty. When I cut bouquets, I didn't want to deal with how all the "fillers" went slimy faster than the roses, so I would put sprays of Viridiflora, The Green Rose, in them to fill in holes, add more green, texture and its peppery scent.

Of course I do have the viridiflora in the garden as well but I keep forgetting to use it in my bouquets!

Sea lavender lasts for months in the vase so will definitely outlive the roses.

Anyone have experience growing sea lavender from seed? I've tried a few times with no success and I'd love to grow it as a companion for my roses.

I have grown many sea lavender from seed. I only bought one plant to begin with and after that I cut the spent blooms and used them as mulch on the garden bed and boom I got hundreds of seedlings!! I ended up selecting the best coloured ones to keep and chucked out all the rest. Now I have a garden full of them and they are much deeper in colour than the average ones from the shops.

Sea lavender seed is for sale at Swallowtail Garden Seeds online. Diane

I tried germinating some, but had no success. Some seeds like to be outdoors and need temp fluctuation (night/day) so I was wondering if anyone had luck germinating them indoors. I start most of my seeds indoors under lights as I have better success rates and less leggy seeds, but some seeds are only happy if started outside.

I used to make bouquets for my mother and never remembered to take a picture:-(
These are lovely.

Several of us may remember Thedarklady (Marina Parr) posted drop dead gorgeous bouquets 5 yrs. ago. She used interesting containers. Lots of Austins and as these bouquets were for church they did not need to last. Often the roses varied in size as well as petal count. I noticed her fillers were mainly lavender, green or white.

Ageratum - lavender tall one
Campanula Sarastro - deep deep lavender with mauve roses
Caryopteris flowers
clematis Comtesse de Bouchard (pastel bluey-pink)
Echanacea - white or green single
Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost'
Gladiolus 'Green Star'
Heliotrope - purple
Hydrangea - 'Limelight' and 'Annabelle'
Salvia farinacea - purple
single Shasta daisies
Statice - white
Valerian officinalis - white

Thedarklady's photobucket has changed. Here's one I saved.

Bouquet by Marina Parr

Here is one I did today with rosa viridiflora as suggested: