We are 100% on board with the sustainable wedding trend! And why not when it ensures your dollars are being spent locally and your eco footprint is being reduced? One of our favorite local florists is also diving headfirst into this eco-friendly trend, by fulfilling wedding floral arrangements with locally grown flowers straight from her garden! Robyn Dill from Robyn’s Flower Garden is sharing her story on how her local Oklahoma flower garden came to be and how she’s using her blooms to create sustainable options for couples’ wedding flowers. Read on!
(guest post by Robyn Dill of Robyn’s Flower Garden)
The Garden
I began my flower garden journey about 11 years ago when my daughter Jessy became engaged. At the time, I had a full service retail flower and gift shop. Jessy could choose any flower she wanted from anywhere in the world, and we could make it happen. No exotic orchids for her though! She wanted Indian paintbrush wildflowers for her May wedding. We had more than a year to plan, so we began watching for wherever wildflowers grew so we could pick them the following year. In the meantime, we ordered bulk wildflower seed for wedding favors, and I planted a 2’ x 30’ row so we could use some bachelor buttons for the wedding. The garden didn’t produce enough, and I depended on my flower farmer sources and picked flowers from all over the countryside! Practically nothing came from that first small row. But the next year, my garden increased to another row and the 3rd year, I just planted my whole vegetable garden with nothing but wildflowers – I was hooked!
Wildflowers in Oklahoma are abundant in spring, and I grow red corn poppies, larkspur, primrose, bachelor buttons. I do have a few roses, irises and peonies, and can also pick from flowering trees like dogwood, peach, plum, redbud and whatever else is blooming wild. Then spring gives way to summer, and it’s sunflowers, zinnias, celosia, amaranth, cosmos, lavender, scabiosa and honeysuckle for a greenery is abundant.
Growing flowers for weddings is hard work, and I keep trying to add more to my garden. The more I know, the more I know I don’t know! Truth! Every garden is different because of soil and climate conditions, so I try to stick with what works in my Oklahoma backyard. It’s a dance with Mother Nature.
The Eco-Friendly Wedding Trend
I think couples appreciate grown-not-flown flowers for their wedding. It helps our local economy and growers. The flower are fresher, and it makes a bride very happy to think her flowers were harvested close to home or better yet, from my garden, just for her wedding.
Seasonal Blooms
Spring is the absolute best season for wedding flowers – so many blooms become available as winter ends and spring makes its way into summer. Tulips, roses, peonies, sweetpeas, ranunculus, larkspur, flowering branches and trees… all the wildflowers are heaven sent!
Fall is when the zinnias become richer in color, and the dahlias start blooming and the roses really show off one more time before frost. All the grasses rise up and make wonderful seed heads to use for texture and fall color along with colorful leaves. Winter is all the evergreen… pine and cedar, holly, different berries and dried grasses.
Beyond the Garden
For wedding work, my garden is a great supplement for adding special blooms that don’t ship well, and I can always find some texture or flower to add to my wedding bouquets to make them more exciting and personal with added touches of Oklahoma! Fresh is best! I order my roses from the best growers – they ship from South America to Miami and then to me. It’s really amazing. One farm I have worked with for 15 or more years started small, just like me!
Thanks so much to Robyn for sharing all her insight on sustainable wedding flowers with us! To connect with Robyn’s Flower Garden directly, be sure to visit her Brides of Oklahoma vendor profile here!
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Robyn's Flower Garden
Other Local Vendors: Prescott Bridal, Lauren Beauregard Photography, Tease to Please Hair and Makeup