Wedding Flowers for Less than $50: A Do-It-Yourself Project

Since eco-friendly is the theme these days, let's make some floral decorations for your wedding day. That said, free is also good, and these can be made for next to nothing. If you have a summer wedding you're not going to have wilting bouquets of expensive roses and exotic orchids dying right as you get to the church. The process of organizing flowers for such an occasion is a nightmare for most people, and transporting them to and from your venue can be an adventure all by itself. If your florist delivers, you won't need to worry they will be on time or get lost either...you know it does happen.

We're going to use Shasta Daisies. These little old fashioned gems are the perfect choice since the plants can tolerate heat, and they flower best right in the summer months. It will take a little work ahead of time, so a wedding which is planned for the summer of the following year would be great, if not you may need to make some compromises.

If you don't have Shasta daisies in your own yard, find a nearby home who does. They will be happy to help out, but maybe you can offer them a few dollars since you will need to ask them to allow their daisy bushes to keep growing wild after summer and not trim them back.

Propagating Your Daisies:

-In the middle month of winter, take some cuttings from these larger daisies bushes. By now they'll have craggy long arms sprawling out everywhere which will be top heavy with foliage. Reach all the way in toward the center of the plant and remove the branch from as close to the main stalk as possible. The longer they are the better. Lay them on the ground side by side and cut them to 2ft. 6in.lengths. Bundle them up and take them home.

Don't forget to pay your neighbor and clean up your mess!

-Once home, trim the lean greener tips of them back to where it turns to wood so they end up becoming about 1ft. 8in. long. Cut the other ends on an angle as you would before placing cut flowers into a vase - then put them all into a large tub of water. The best way is to lay them down in water if you can as this will keep the stems straighter. Maybe an old bathtub could be recycled for this purpose. It also promotes new bud growth along the stems earlier when the weather begins to warm up.

-You will need to buy some plastic pots. Black plastic, cheap pots are best since you will be painting them. They need to be only 1 gallon capacity and will cost around 0.40 c each.

-Buy a few cans of white spray paint too, how many will of course depend on how many pots you have. Paint your pots before you plant your daisy cuttings.

-Fill the pots with compost or potting soil, making sure it at least has some manure in it. If you don't have any of this material get some liquid plant food suitable for flowering plants. Cost: Around $5. Poke the cuttings into the dirt, one per pot.

-Now, you will need to put wooden stakes into the pots but do this after you plant your cuttings so you can get them as close as possible to the plant. Right now they can't do damage since there is no root system developed yet. Tie the plant to the stake in three places. Begin very close to the dirt, in the middle, and then 3/4 of the way up the stake. Use tiny strips of pantyhose. It will be hardly visible and its very strong. You can replace it later with white tape.

*You may also want to paint your wood stakes beforehand, but it's not necessary.

-Set the plants into an area where there will be full sun. If frosts have not passed, leave them under a tree for now.

- As you see your plants beginning to sprout tiny new buds of green growth along and up the stems, remove them right away, leaving only the buds from 2/3 of the way up, all the way to the top intact. Check them every second day since they will appear quickly once the days get longer. Fertilize every 2 weeks.

-In no time you will see flower buds starting to form. If it's not quite time for the wedding, just keep pinching the bloom heads off as they pop open to encourage further flowering. You will also need to use some garden shears or old, but sharp scissor to trim the foliage head into a ball shape. Stop picking the flower buds off 4 or 5 days before the wedding and just trim any dead ones as you see them.

Preparing For The Wedding Day:

-The day before the wedding, run by the florist or gardening center and purchase a few sheets of fresh moss. If you can't find any just buy fake or use curly wood straw. Cut it with the shears and lay it in the top of the pot around the plant and tuck the edges in neatly. Fasten with toothpicks or bobby pins.

-One the big day, get your plants to church early in the morning if possible. If the church is pre-booked for another function you may place them out back and spray them down with cool water from a household pump spray bottle. But don't panic, they will handle the heat.

-When placing them into the church, you may want to hang some short lengths of tulle or satin around the pots. Just drape it loosely and fasten with a small safety pin or a piece of tape.

After their wedding, the newlyweds can plant these into the garden to enjoy as they grow.

*Don't allow your plants to become too big or they will become top heavy and will fall over. You could use bigger pots but they are harder to transport and cumbersome when trying to place them in the church.