Growing Wedding Flowers in Your Garden

Growing your own wedding flowers is a really special project. The flowers are fresher than anything bought in, they carry your own story, and they cost far less than a florist. The catch is time. You’ll need to plan and grow for a year or more before the big day.

Here’s what to grow for each wedding month, how to plan a cutting garden that gives lots of stems, and how to keep flowers fresh without a florist’s cold store.

A cutting garden in full summer bloom, with sweet peas up an obelisk and dahlias and roses along the path.

When to start planning your wedding flower garden

Start 12 to 18 months before the wedding. Roses and peonies need a full season to settle in before they give plenty of stems. A rose planted in November will give you decent flowers the following June. One planted in March of the wedding year will only manage a few.

Your timeline depends on the month. For a June wedding, sow sweet peas the October before and order bare-root roses. For an August wedding, you have more breathing space, as dahlias planted out in late May will be flowering by late summer.

• 18 months before: Get beds ready with plenty of compost. Order bare-root roses and peony roots for winter planting
• 12 months before: Plant roses and peonies in autumn. Sow sweet peas in October and keep them in a cold frame over winter
• 8 months before: Order dahlia tubers and annual seeds in January
• 5 months before: Start dahlias in pots under cover in April. Sow cornflowers and annual gypsophila outdoors
• 2 months before: Tie in sweet peas. Stake dahlias as they grow
• 1 month before: Do a practice cut and make a test bouquet to check how much you’ve got

Best wedding flowers by month

Late May and June: peony season. Coral Charm is one of the earlier ones. Sarah Bernhardt (pale pink) and Duchesse de Nemours (white) follow in June and are very reliable. Peonies take a couple of years to get going, so plan ahead.

June and July: sweet peas take over. Autumn-sown plants are stronger and flower earlier than spring-sown ones. Pick every couple of days to keep them coming.

Freshly cut sweet peas in soft pastel shades. The more you pick, the more they flower.

August onwards: dahlias are hard to beat. A single tuber of Cafe au Lait gives lots of big blush flowers through to the frosts. Add dark burgundy Arabian Night and coral Labyrinth for depth and contrast.

How to lay out a cutting garden for wedding flowers

You don’t need loads of room. A patch about 3m by 4m is enough for a small wedding. For a bigger do, go larger, or follow our cutting garden layout with dedicated rows.

A few tips:

Plant in rows, not borders. Rows make picking quicker, and you can walk between them without trampling stems. Leave about 45cm between rows, or 60cm for dahlias.

Use netting for straight stems. Stretch flower netting flat over the rows at about knee and thigh height. Stems grow up through the squares and stay straight without staking each one.

Give each flower its own row. It keeps sowing simple and groups plants with similar needs. Sweet peas and roses like steady moisture, while cornflowers and cosmos cope with drier soil.

Grow plenty of foliage. Arrangements need lots of greenery. Grow eucalyptus, pittosporum and ferns. A eucalyptus in a large pot, cut back hard each spring, gives masses of the round, silvery young leaves florists love.

Essential varieties for a wedding cutting garden

Sweet peas

Choose scented varieties such as Jilly, Mollie Rilstone and Anniversary. Sow in October in deep pots or root trainers and keep them in an unheated cold frame over winter. Plant out in March. Pinch out the tips when they have two or three pairs of leaves for bushier plants.

Roses

David Austin bred some roses specially for cutting, and they last well in a vase. Keira (soft peach), Juliet (apricot) and Patience (white) are lovely wedding choices. Plant bare-root roses in November and feed with rose feed through spring and summer.

Dahlias

Cafe au Lait (blush), Arabian Night (dark burgundy) and Labyrinth (coral) cover most wedding colours. Start tubers in pots in April and plant out after the last frost, usually mid to late May. Pinch out the top when plants are about 30cm tall to get more stems.

A row of dahlias in a cutting patch, with Cafe au Lait, burgundy and coral blooms.

Peonies

Plant bare-root peonies in October or November with the buds (eyes) no more than about 5cm below the surface. Too deep and they won’t flower. They take a couple of years to reach full strength. The RHS peony growing guide covers soil preparation. Good wedding choices: Sarah Bernhardt (pale pink, fragrant), Bowl of Beauty (pink with a cream centre) and Duchesse de Nemours (white).

Supporting flowers and fillers

Sow cornflowers straight outdoors in March or September. Annual gypsophila is quick and easy from seed. Ammi majus gives a cow parsley look without the floppiness, and scabious adds lovely texture. These fillers cost very little and stretch your star flowers across many more arrangements.

Growing from seed versus buying plants

Seed is the cheapest way to go. A packet of sweet peas costs a fraction of the same number of young plants. The catch is time, as seeds need sowing many months ahead. Young plug plants give you a head start of a few weeks.

Our flower planting calendar has sowing dates. Northern gardens usually run a couple of weeks behind the south.

Conditioning and arranging your wedding flowers

Conditioning just means giving cut flowers a long drink before you arrange them. It makes a huge difference to how long they last.

Pick early in the morning. Stems are full of water then. Cut at an angle with sharp secateurs and pop them straight into a bucket of cool water.

Strip the lower leaves straight away. Any leaves under the water rot and make the water go off, which shortens vase life.

Give them a night in water. Stand stems in clean buckets of cool water, with flower food if you have it, somewhere cool like a garage or utility room. Arrange them the next day.

Tips for each flower:

• Sweet peas: pick when the bottom flower is open and the top bud is still closed.
• Roses: pick when the bud feels soft but hasn’t opened. Strip off the thorns.
• Dahlias: pick fully open flowers, as buds won’t open once cut. Many growers dip the stem ends in very hot water for a few seconds, then move them into cool water. Take care with the kettle.
• Peonies: pick in tight bud with colour showing. They open over a few days. Keep them in the fridge in bud if you need to hold them back.

Making a bridal bouquet from home-grown peonies, roses, eucalyptus and gypsophila.

Foliage plants for wedding arrangements

Florists spend as much on greenery as on flowers. At home, foliage is the secret that makes a handful of blooms look generous.

Eucalyptus gunnii is the most useful. Grow it in a large pot and cut it right back each March. It sends up lots of the round, silvery-blue young leaves that look so good in bouquets.

Pittosporum tenuifolium gives glossy green sprays. ‘Silver Queen’ (cream-edged) and ‘Tom Thumb’ (deep purple) add a bit of contrast.

Ferns. Soft shield fern (Polystichum setiferum) has elegant, arching fronds. Cut them the day before and stand them in water overnight.

Rosemary and mint. Both add texture and scent. Rosemary holds its shape well. Mint wilts sooner, but the smell in a bouquet is lovely.

The best cutting flowers for UK gardens

Fancy growing more than wedding flowers? Our guide to the best flowers for cutting has lots more ideas for every season.

What to do in the week before the wedding

• 7 days before: Walk round the cutting patch and count what’s coming. If there are gaps, order extra from a local flower farm.
• 3 days before: Cut roses and peonies. Stand them in water overnight, then keep them somewhere cool.
• 2 days before: Cut the foliage and stand it in buckets. Get vases, ribbon and any floral foam ready.
• 1 day before: Cut sweet peas, dahlias and fillers early in the morning. Let them drink for a few hours, then start arranging in the afternoon. Keep finished arrangements in the coolest room overnight.
• Wedding morning: Final touches and a light mist of water. Carry flowers upright in buckets, not laid flat.

Frequently asked questions

When should I start growing flowers for my wedding?

Start 12 to 18 months before the big day. Roses and peonies need a full season to settle in before they give plenty of stems. Sweet peas sown the October before do better than spring-sown ones for a June wedding. Dahlias can wait, as tubers planted out in late May flower from late summer.

What are the easiest wedding flowers to grow in the UK?

Sweet peas and cornflowers are the easiest. Both can be sown straight outdoors and need little more than watering. Cornflowers come up quickly and flower within a few months of sowing. Sweet peas need something to climb but give you months of scented flowers through summer.

Can I grow enough flowers for a full wedding in a small garden?

Yes, for a small wedding. A patch about 3m by 4m can hold a good number of dahlias and sweet peas, enough for a bouquet, some table flowers and buttonholes. Add foliage from a eucalyptus in a pot and a row of gypsophila along the edge.

How do I keep cut wedding flowers fresh without a florist?

Pick early in the morning, while stems are full of water. Strip off the lower leaves straight away and stand the stems in a clean bucket of cool water, with flower food if you have it. Leave them overnight in a cool room or garage before arranging.

Which flowers work for a May wedding in the UK?

Late May is the start of peony season. Early varieties like Coral Charm often open then in southern England, with Sarah Bernhardt following in June. Add lily of the valley, ranunculus, late tulips and early foxgloves. May is too early for dahlias and most sweet peas.

How much money can I save by growing my own wedding flowers?

Often quite a lot, as seeds and tubers cost far less than florist flowers. Your main cost is time, with a few hours a week through the growing season for watering, feeding and tying in. Keep a little budget aside for buying in extra stems if you need them.

What if my wedding flowers are not ready in time?

Have a backup plan for every variety. Grow early and late types of each flower. If dahlias are slow, cornflowers and sweet peas can fill in. Gypsophila and foliage stretch a few flowers a long way. And local flower farms sell lovely seasonal bunches if you’re short.