A Garden Wedding, the Flowers, and the Deer

Celebrating a great day, despite challenges

Today we ’re in the Ozarks , visiting with Susan Esche .

A dear first cousin was having difficultness finding a wedding venue for former October this yr .

We have a beautiful pavilion suitable for hosting a crowd , but former October is not usually the good time of year for my garden . It is a fiddling other for the asters , a little tardily for the goldenrod , and the hydrangeas , like the gardener , are a moment threadbare . Determined to have the property pretty on the day , I started in May planting potful of little annuals , bulbs , and fern . It was a red-hot , dry summer , which brought the local cervid out in droves , and that perplex the plant life care .

We used a stack of ferns(Nephrolepisexaltata , Zones 9–11 or as an annual or houseplant ) . I bought the first hatful in May , intending to mature them to full , fluffy resplendence over the summer , but they were decimated by Florida fern caterpillars while I was aside on a light tripper , and so they had to be replaced .

The audacious garden mums(Chrysanthemum , hardiness differs by variety ) planted in - ground the year before were endearing , but the starting line that I purchased that spring to develop out for the wedding ceremony bloomed too late to be pretty on the Clarence Shepard Day Jr. , so I made several trips back to the garden center for livid Chrysanthemum morifolium as the event engagement spring up nigher .

The wedding ceremony colors were white-hot and spicy . Plumbago(Plumbago auriculata , Zones 8–11 or as an annual ) show to be a hardy and cervid - immune accession to the containers .

The whitened dahlias(Dahlia variabilis , Zones 8–10 or as sore bulbs ) were showy , but an absolute attracter to the deer . I preserve them inside the wall veg garden most of the summertime and then stack lawn chair around their flock until the morning of the wedding .

White lantana(Lantanacamara , Zones 8–11 or as an annual ) was a sprightliness - saver ! It grew full and lush over the raging summer and was ignore by the deer .

My fenced veggie garden is functional but not a matter of beauty in October . A draping of royal hyacinth bean(Lablabpurpureus , Zones 10–11 or as annual ) planted on the marquee side distracted from the tomato plant cages .

The Mary Jane were implant up for wedding interior decoration in early summer . Marigolds(Tagetes , annual)quickly knuckle under to mold , but thelantanaand artemisia(Artemisiastelleriana , Zones 5–10 , often grown as an annual ) saved the day .

Every inch of the garden was pressed into overhaul . Who know that big castor bean plant(Ricinuscommunis , Zones 9–11 or as an annual ) would come in handy to shade the Port - a - Gospel According to John ?

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