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Wedding Flowers Fresh Cut out of a Garden
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| A D V E R T I S E M E N T |
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Owner of Indian Hills Garden, Lin Donald and Celli Carlie Baker choosing flowers for her wedding bouquet.
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By Pam Jung, pamj@theunion.com
July 24, 2003
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They're free of chemicals, colorful, locally grown,
and gorgeous-all things that make the flowers from Indian Hill Gardens,
Nevada City, especially attractive for weddings.
Husband and
wife Tom Manuel and Lin Donald, both in their 50s, started their garden
business over 4 years ago, devoting 1/3 of the 3 1/2 acres under
cultivation to flowers. There was never any questions about whether to
go organic or not. They are passionate believers in living in harmony
with the earth, which means composting and never spraying anything
toxic on growing things.
"You wouldn't want to have sprayed flowers
on your table or on the cake," says the former landscape designer
rhetorically, "would you."
While the garden boasts of over 100
flower varieties, flowers blooming in late summer/early fall include
zinnias, cosmos, dahlia, phlox, painted tongue, and asters. They also
grow gourds, which can be used very effectively in a fall wedding.
You
can buy flowers by a colorful bucket for $35. In addition to flowers,
such a bucket might also include some ornamental grasses, such as
purple fountain grass, spikes of burgundy red amaranth, and a plethora
of fragrant flowering herbs. A bucket is enough to handle either two
tall alter arrangements or 6 short table bouquets.
Group
participation is encouraged at the gardens. For instance, a couple can
come a month ahead to do a walk-through of the acre plus of flower beds
to see what is and will be available. A week before the wedding, the
bride is invited to hand pick her bouquet, choosing the color and types
of blooms she wants. That bouquet gets put into the frig to serve as a
prototype for the actual bouquet that will be fashioned the day before
the event.
All of this can be done with as many or as few of
the family members as wanted. But Donald says the most fun she's ever
seen was when a family that was being blended by a second marriage got
everyone, from the mothers of the couple to the sisters, aunts, and
kids, together to arrange flowers and make bouquets.
"It gives
kids a feeling they're contributing. It gives joy to the family as they
work together. It makes my heart soar to see families having fun.
Flowers can be a hugely uniting force." That is, if the bride can let
go of the desire to control the process, she adds.
For example,
in one family group each kid made her own little bouquet. All these
bouquets were added together for the bride to carry. When she tossed
it, the bouquet separated into its components, and more than one woman
had the pleasure of catching the flowers.
Because the flowers
are not sprayed with anything toxic, kids can handle them, folks with
allergies can handle them, they can be put safely on the table, and
such blooms as violets, nasturtiums, and roses can even be eaten.
What's the most popular flower color? The blues, like periwinkle, and the burgundies, says Donald.
What's
the cost? "Much more affordable than a florist, that's for sure," she
says. "$700 might buy from the florist the bride's bouquet, some altar
flowers, some corsages and boutonnières. For that much money using our
flowers you could decorate the Miners Foundry from top to bottom."
Typical expenditures for her flowers usually range around $250 to $300.
Getting your flowers from Indian Hill Gardens can be an enjoyable, and affordable, family affair.
Call Indian Hill Gardens at 530-265-3334 for an appointment and directions, just 7 minutes from downtown Nevada City.
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