Design and Thoughts

Today I picked a beautiful picture from provenwinners.com to be my background. I LOVE their stuff.

WEDDING TIP- LIVING COLOR

Containers of Color:
Plant up your own floral masterpiece! Save money on floral designs for the wedding and reception venue and have your bridesmaids (or some other friends who want to help) get together for an afternoon and get creative. Visit a local nursery and let a garden expert know what time of year you'll be getting married. They can suggest different plants and colors that will be available and sometimes you can special order plants in advance!

Some nurseries even deliver, so you can choose your materials, have them delivered within the next two weeks, and plant it up!

MATERIALS:
POTTING SOIL
CLAY POTS- buy two or three 6in pots (they are cheap) and break them into pieces that are large enough to arch over the drainage holes in the pots you select. This will keep the dirt in and still let the water out.
POTTERY
PLANTS-
GLOVES
SHOVELS- you'll probably just need a couple of hand trowels

I recommend setting up a long, sturdy folding table, a large bucket to hold the potting soil, and getting cute gloves for your helpers!

If you want to put more than one type of plant in your pot, then I suggest you follow these 3 simple rules:
1- Thriller- pick something tall like a pretty grass or if it's a tiny pot, as simple as a gerber daisy

2-Spiller- this would be some type of trailing plant that comes over the edge of the pot like an ivy, alyssum, some herbs, etc.

3- Frills- this is where you get most of your color- make sure these plants are an inch (or more) taller than your spiller plant, but shorter than your thriller.

For more ideas, visit: http://www.provenwinners.com/ and check out their online catalogues!
Or visit a library and check out some books on container gardening! (You can also head to Barnes & Noble for some coffee and a quick peek into some of the container gardening books they carry.)

A favorite container gardening book: http://www.amazon.com/Container-Gardening-Step-Step-Techniques/dp/1600850804

Lastly, the reason I would make these planted containers is not only to have a relaxing and fun DIY activity, but you can keep a couple of the large ones on your porch or back patio after your honeymoon- or give them to your parents or in-laws (if you are going to do this, you might want to let them know in advance.)
They make great gifts!

Places to go:
For Houston Brides: Cornelius Nursery - They not only have plants and pottery, they also have a gift shop where they create wreaths (get all your wedding decor but the bouquets done in one stop!)

For Dallas Area Brides: Calloways Nursery- Owned by the same company as Cornelius, they unfortunately do not have the gift shop. Still, you can't find more beautiful pottery or plants!