Wedding flowers...again

16 years ago

Hey guys,

Well, the wedding that I am growing the flowers for is at the end of the month, and I still don't have a ton of blooms. The pansies and alyssum are all blooming; the dwarf zinnias have tons of buds and several open blooms, and I feel pretty sure that if/when the rain stops and sun comes out, they will be blooming in time. The stragglers are my dwarf sunflowers and dwarf snaps. Several of the sunflowers appear to be starting to form buds, and several of the snaps have buds and even a bloom or two at the very top. Are there any tips/tricks/hints from you folks out there with more experience than I as far as helping them to set buds and blossom as quickly as possible?

I have been feeding them with Fox Farm's Tiger Bloom liquid fert (2-8-4) about twice a week, and that has seemed to help. I have not pinched back the snaps at all, and in hindsight, maybe I should have. At this point, I'm more worried about encouraging blooming than making them bushier; should I pinch them now, or is it too close to the wedding to make a difference? Wedding is the 29th.

Also, it has been raining here for about 2 weeks straight, and very little sunshine. I had considered bringing some of the containers in and putting them under lights for a few hours in the evenings; I have read that sunflowers set flowers on a longer day length schedule. Snaps I think prefer a shorter day, but maybe just the increased UV rays would help? Maybe I should try bringing a container of them in under lights all day, as long as it's raining and yucky out anyway. Thoughts? Appreciate any info and advice that will keep me from having to buy some substitutes at the garden center :).

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Comments (3)

oilpainter
16 years ago
Don't pinch the snaps now or they won't have any bloom. Snaps unless pinched back on top tend to have that spike of flowers and when it's pinched back the side spikes come. Pinch them back now and they won't be formed enough for the wedding. Let them grow and you will have at least one long spike of flowers and greenery below. If you bought a few blooming ones you could put 1 or 2 staggered in front of the ones you grew and have that 1 spike and greenery below. That way you wouldn't have to buy many.

Yes I think everything could benifit from drying out. so I would bring them in and put them under lights.

I wish we could get some of that rain. Our soil is bone dry.

Strange--the 29th is our wedding anniversity.
sleepy33
Original Author
16 years ago
What a coincidence! It's going to be a hectic weekend; my birthday is the 30th, and that's also my parents wedding anniversary. This year is their 40th, and they are having a big party, for which I am making 9 dozen cupcakes. Can you say stress?? :)

I was thinking the same thing, too, that it can't be good for all of the containers to be so wet for this long, but I didn't want to put them under the overhang and limit their sun even more. I'll bring in what I can fit under my basement light setup tonight; it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow (knock wood PLEASE don't jinx it) so I can stick them back outside in the morning.

I would gladly send you some of this rain, I have never seen it rain this much for this many days in a row. We had a terrible winter, too, with several snowstorms that left feet of snow behind- not typical at ALL.
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oilpainter
16 years ago
Sleepy:

Make your cupcakes now and freeze them uniced. Then the day before the wedding or even the day of the Anniversary, bring them up and ice them frozen. They are much easier to ice when they are frozen. I'd use the canned icing too. I find it just as good as home made and a heck of a lot less bother--especially the cream cheese one.

May is a big month in my family too. My husband's birthday is the 21st, our Anniversary the 29th and my son's birthday the 31st. Add in Mother's and Father's days and it is a pretty packed month.