A late summer wedding

Flowers are incredibly symbolic and there's nothing more gratifying than sharing my love and adoration for them by creating something for an event that many will see and also remember for the rest of their lives.

During the first weekend of September, I was invited to my friend, Katharine's, wedding that took place at the scenic Washington coast and was asked if I was able to do the flowers for the event.

Normally, I would decline such requests as seasonal, informal bouquets from my garden and what's in season were one thing, but flowers for an event with a specific theme and color scheme were a whole other ball game. Hearing her ideas and offering some advice, I quickly began to see it coming together in my mind. With the help of her Pinterest page, it was obvious that she wanted to go a simple, almost country/rustic route that would be easy to pull off utilizing materials I had close at hand or could be sourced easily and locally!

Already inspired by my early spring trips to Jello Mold Farm and the book "The 50 Mile Bouquet" by my friends Debra Prinzing and photographer, David Perry, I've been on such a roll putting together abundant bouquets freshly picked from my garden and I figured I would have the same approach. It came together very well!
Dahlias were the flower of choice by the bride and I couldn't have been more thrilled. It could have been a total excuse to visit Dan's Dahlias in Oakville to see his remarkable farm!


Excited, yet also nervous, I agreed to create her bouquet and the bridesmaid's bouquets. And always wanting to go above and beyond, I said I could pull off corsages and boutonnieres for the parents, centerpieces for the reception, and arrangements for others areas of the venues.

Long story short, it came together so well. I was able to raid the future mother-in-law's home garden for some fabulous material to put together other arrangements for the event.

The aisle flanked with a pair of galvanized buckets filled with 'Limelight' Hydrangeas, Physocarpus, and plumes of Stipa gigantea. I bundled some fresh lavender, which the groom's family kindly helped me clean and prepare, to adorn the seats that defined the aisle.

The bride's view as she walks down the aisle to her groom under a simple arbor draped in red silk and the dramatic ocean view in the background.

The completed bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages.

The bride's bouquet composed of hand-tied dahlias, chrysanthemums, lavender and surrounded by the sweet scent of Clethera and various ornamental grasses.

The bridesmaids had white dahlias hand-tied with silvery blue Echinops, lavender, rosemary, and various ornamental grasses for a wild, meadow look. I threw in Hypericum berries to compliment the bride's warmer tones in her bouquet.

Witnessing moments like this when two join together as partners in life is something truly special, but to see that you played a part in that union by seeing a bride holding something you created, from the heart, makes what I do working with plants and flowers, so extraordinary.

So here I am with the bride during the reception after all the running around getting flowers and making sure everything looked beautiful.

I've known Katharine since middle school when we were in orchestra together! We both played violin and I think we were stand partners at one point. It was great to know that she continued with it and is now part of a band called Scarlett Virginia:

Congratulations, Katharine and Scott Houck!

R

Scenes of Summer

It's been hard to find time to post something. I'm sorry it's been awhile. I had this ultra-special post I was going to put up, but it got to a point where I was really stressing over it and questioning if I would be sharing too much of my personal life so I scrapped it....for now.

Instead, I'll just show you some images from my garden the past few weeks to give you a sense of my mostly beautiful surroundings.


Early in the morning at Landwave is something truly special that I don't get to experience often enough because I'm such a night owl. Midsummer mornings are like nothing else. Everything is so crisp, quiet, and every plant seems to just glow as the light slowly intensifies.











 Many of you know how fond of lilies I am. This is 'Scheherazade', a 5 year old clump that produces masses of gently fragrant blossoms full of nectar that the birds and the bees absolutely go crazy for and I love the airy Giant Feather Grass (Stipa gigantea) as a focal point in the garden.

















Foliage is equally as important as flowers in the summer border. Here, Rheum 'Ace of Hearts' and Cotinus 'Royal Purple' echo one another with a little Persicaria spike photo-bombing the composition. Back-lit by the setting sun, this composition is quite dramatic.











That little Persicaria is actually a wonderful "weaver" in a bed as it fills in between plants and they bloom continuously and can be kept tidy if you whack 'em back to the base following the first major flush of blooms for a fresh set of foliage and more flowers! Here the soft oranges and blue purples blend well together here. I love how the reverse of the lilies pick p the purple of the Penstemon 'Sour Grapes and the Clematis, which is 'Etoile de Violette', a vigorous viticella type.






Those soft blues carry through to another bed where Phlox 'Blue Paradise' is an absolute stand out and compliment a brand new lily called 'Blueberry Crush' and the wonderful Echinacea 'Hope'.












The dahlias typically begin in August for me, but a few blooming ones caught my eye at the nursery that I had to have so I added them into the main border and they worked so well with the soft pastel tones and texture of the pom pom Allium 'Summer Beauty'. The dahlia is 'Happy Single Wink'.  yeah...I know....ick.











Someday, I hope to have a garden where I can fully appreciate a gorgeous sunset. A view of the water would be amazing, but probably not necessary because I will never be able to afford it, but much like the early morning, it can be quite a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere as you're almost forced to slow down and relax as light becomes scarce.












Cheers,

Riz




 

Dahlia flowers with purpose and meaning

September is the month for DAHLIAS!! I've always LOVED them since I was first introduced to them as a pre-teen by my good friend and mentor, Cora Slecther, who gave me a raised bed in which to grow my plants and she guided me through cultivating them and even exhibiting them in competitions. I have such a fondness for dahlias for their extravagant colors, forms, and their use as a garden plant as I've leaned more towards "garden worthy" varieties versus the "show" dahlias I grew up tending and being in awe of.

After a site visit to check on a client's establishing garden last week, I drove by a gas station and noticed a tent surrounded by white buckets with bundles of dazzling cut dahlias. It had been a long week, I've had a lot on my mind and on my plate and I realized that my dahlias in the garden are nowhere near this abundant. So, I decided to splurge and buy a bouquet. Knowing off hand that these were locally grown and freshly cut that morning, I felt compelled to treat myself and support a fellow grower. So, I had this sweet young lady throw me a bouquet together for $10 using orange dahlias with some fabulous delphiniums and any other filler she felt like using. I handpicked a few individual stems for $1 a piece for a second bouquet and I was on my way.

Realizing that the cemetery was on the way home, I decided to bring the flowers to pay my respects to family and to Cora's late husband, Ken, who happens to also be buried in the same cemetery as my grandparents and uncle. I divided up the flowers and split them four ways.



I then headed home to work in the garden a bit and noticed that I did have a few dahlias in bloom so towards the end of the day, I gathered a few blooms and mixed in some wonderful blue Symphyotrichum novi-belgii and a few blades of grasses and Sedums. I placed them on my bed stand that seemed to create a theme with a candle, an iPod player and a copy of Dr. John Gottman's "The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work". The two dahlias I have in this vase are soft orange/yellow 'Camano Pet' and the fiery cactus 'Weston Spanish Dancer'!



Hmmmmm.....no, I'm still single. Don't ask.

Just enjoy the flowers!


R

5 Days to go.....planting like crazy!

With so many things sitting in pots, I've been trying to get things in the ground before I leave. The past few days, it's been dahlias!

I purchased a few dahlias from the Seattle Dahlia Society a few weeks ago and even with our almost non-existent spring temperatures, I figured that it'd be safe to plant them out right about now.

After all these years, I'm continually amazed at such a large plant and extravagant flowers come from a simple little tuber.

While it's getting kind of late to get tubers, dahlia plants become available at local nurseries later in the summer. However, they're often more expensive and the variety is usually poor.

So each spring I always look out for tubers, young plants, or pot roots.

TUBERS: These often come as a cluster of small, thin tubers packaged in sawdust or peat or a single plump tuber with at least one "eye" like the foreground of the photo above.

PLANTS: In late winter, dahlia growers force a few tubers indoors, underlights, to generate what are called "basal shoots" from the tubers. These young, tender shoots are allowed to develop until they're 3-4 inches tall and carefully cut off to create a little cutting, in which they place in media so it can root!! These basal cuttings bloom this summer and form tubers like all the other dahlias! Some varieties respond very well to this treatment and it's a great way of getting more plants as the tubers used to generate this cuttings can also be planted out and will also grow and flower!

POT ROOTS: A somewhat newer method of offering dahlias. These are basically cuttings that have been kept in containers all of last year (or cuttings taken in late summer) so you have this "block" of tubers you can plant out.

Now that they're all in, I need to make sure they're marked so I know where they are and I can place a taller and stronger stake if they need it without fear of spearing the tubers.

Just gotta get the slug bait out as those tender shoots coming up are tasty to slugs and snails.


This is one of my favorites called 'Pooh'

It's Dahlia Time!

The Winner's head table!