Wedding Wire Brides Choice Award

Our Wedding Wire Award

Boone, NC – January 31, 2011 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Shady Grove Gardens & Nursery has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Florist!  Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients  are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest  wedding review site in the nation.  Shady Grove Gardens & Nursery stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service  excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding  professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding  photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year.  “WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice  Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize  the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud  Shady Grove Gardens & Nursery for their professionalism and dedication  to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.”  We are happy to announce that Shady Grove Gardens & Nursery is among the very best Florist within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading  wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project  Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011.

Growing Flowers for Summer Butterflies and Winter Birds

Here's a short list of easy to grow flowers for both butterflies in the summer and seed for the birds in the winter.

Sedum Autumn Joy and Fountain Grass

Coreopsis 'Brown Eyes'

Liatris or Gayfeather

Various Rudbeckias

Helianthus hirsutus  -Perennial Sunflower

Cosmos 

Sedums sp. great for bees, butterflies and later the birds

Rudbeckia- Black-Eyed- Susans -all varieties birds, bees and butterflies

Liatris- also called Blazing Star and Gayfeather

Coreopsis- is an excellent flower for both summer butterflies and winter seed sources

Cosmos- an easy to grow annual

Goldenrod- does not cause hayfever! A perfect flower for all winged animals and insects.

Coneflower or Echinacea

Sunflower - great to grow with kids

Butterfly Bush - a non-native species, still great for butterflies and winter birds

Perennial Asters of all types. Perfect food for the Juncos and sparrows that stay with us for the winter

Fountain Grass

Winterberry Holly

Snowberries - beneficial wasps pollinate and bird feed on the berries

Hellebores, the Winter Blooming Perennial, Will be Popping up Soon (2011-01-21)

KUNC: Hellebores, the Winter Blooming Perennial, Will be Popping up Soon (2011-01-21)

A brief article about our earliest flowering perennials.

Bridal bouquet with Hellebore and Mock Orange (Hellebore seedpods surrounded  by bracts in the center of the bouquet)

New Queen a double series

Hellebore from our garden

Wedding Flowers | Shady Grove Gardens

I've revised the wedding flower page on our web site. Included is information about how we sell flowers and designs to brides and a long list of suggested flower combinations for each week of the season.

What we offer our Wedding Clients:

Looking for 'Locally Grown' or 'Sustainably Grown'? We offer more than the usual florist affair. We are Specialty Cut Flower growers. We make individual designs to satisfy most any Bride. Bright colors, unique designs, personal service. "We are Your Local Flower Growers."Our wedding flower web page

Late August Cut Flower List

As the snow deepens into a full blown blizzard I'm working on my flower lists. I double checked all the bloom times and added the new flowers we grow. It's not nearly as fun as growing and arranging flowers but hopefully it will be of some help to those of you planning an event. We offer locally grown flowers arranged and by the bucketful.

Here's the late August list with a few photos.

LATE AUGUST FLOWERS;

• CLETHRA HUMMINGBIRD- GREEN SEED PODS
• NATIVE RED HONEYSUCKLE
• CHELONE = TURTLEHEAD PINK SNAPDRAGON-LIKE 8/15-9/5
• RED/BURGUNDY OR GREEN AMARANTH- SPIKES
• RED OR GREEN LOVE LIES BLEEDING = HANGING AMARANTHUS
• AMARANTH GREEN, GOLD, RED UPRIGHT
• ZINNIA - WHITE, PINK, ROSE, RED, ORANGE, PURPLE,YELLOW. LIME
• GREAT BLUE LOBELIA
• ASTER SERENADE -BLUE AND MIXED PINKS, WHITE
• ASTER STANDY -BLUES AND PINKS, REDS
• ASTER POMMAX-  MIXED COLORS CHINA ASTER
• CARYOPTERIS -SKY BLUE  WITH SILVER FOLIAGE 
• DIABLO  -COPPER BROWN FOLIAGE
• DUSTY MILLER - SILVER FOLIAGE
• RUDBECKIA INDIAN SUMMER - BLACK EYED SUSAN
• SNOWBERRIES - PINK, WHITE OR GREEN JUST BEGINNING
• GLADIOLUS - REDS, PINKS, ORANGE, PURPLES, BLUES,  
• WHITE HYDRANGEA -WHITE: LIMELIGHT, PEE GEE, UNIQUE, ANNABELLE- GREEN, PINK DIAMOND,  LITTLE LAMB
• MOUNTAIN MINT -SILVER AND GREEN FOLIAGE - SILVER AT  THE TOP, FRAGRANT
• CALLA - RED/ORANGE
• RIVER OATS= NORTHERN SEA OATS LOOKS LIKE SEA OATS -GREEN STAGE 
• TALL GARDEN PHLOX WHITE, PINK, PURPLE, DOUBLE WHITE
• SEDUM A.J. -GREEN STAGE USED AS FOLIAGE AND FILLER
• PURPLE LEAFED SEDUM
• ALSTROMERIA YELLOW OR DARK PINK
• BUTTERFLY BUSH PURPLES, BLUES, PINK AND WHITE
• DAHLIA - PURPLE, BURGUNDY, PINK, WHITE, ORANGE, YELLOW, REDS, FUCHSIA,
• SHASTA DAISY
• GOLD COIN MARIGOLD -LOOKS LIKE A BIG CLEAR YELLOW MUM
• MARIGOLD -LEMON GEM FOR EDIBLES
• COSMOS -PINKS AND WHITES
• ECHINOPS = GLOBE THISTLE STEEL BLUE BALLS - NOT REALLY SPINY -DRIED 
• PERENNIAL SUNFLOWERS - GOLD AND CLEAR LEMON YELLOW
• DECA -ANOTHER PERENNIAL SUNFLOWER -BIGGER CENTER LIKE TRADITIONAL ONES -SEE 7TH PHOTO
• ECHINACEA = PURPLE CONEFLOWER MORE PINK THAN PURPLE
• FOUNTAIN GRASS 8/5/-8/15
• GREEN AND WHITE VARIEGATED GRASS
• AUGUST LILY PURE WHITE - STRONG FRAGRANCE- SPIKE
• NICOTIANA -WHITE OR LIME
• AGERATUM PURPLE,  BLUE OR WHITE
• HYDRANGEA MACROPHYLLA - BLUE HYDRANGEA ONLY SOME YEARS
• SUNFLOWERS STANDARD WITH DARK CENTER- ORDER YELLOWS
• HELENIUM REDS AND YELLOWS
• CELOSIA - MOST ARE RED
• LINARIA -DELICATE LIGHT PINK SNAP DRAGON - LIKE FLOWER
• LISIANTHUS -WHITE, PURPLE, PINK, LIME
• MONGOLIAN ASTER -WHITE
• QUEEN ANNES LACE -WHITE
• STATICE -BLUES AND PURPLE SOME YELLOW AND PINK
• SOLIDAGO FIREWORKS -YELLOW
• BALLOON FLOWER -BLUE
• ARTEMNESIA - SILVER FOLIAGE
• LILIES- ORIENTAL -WHITE,  PINK
• CALENDULA -YELLOWS AND ORANGES FOR EDIBLES - SHORT
• NASTURTIUM -BRIGHT REDS, MOSTLY EDIBLES - SHORT
• GLOBE AMARANTH RED, ORANGE AND MIXED, PLUS PURPLE
• AMERICAN CRANBERRY VIBURNUM -RED BERRIES
• VIBURNUM -RED BERRIES
• VIBURNUM -YELLOW BERRIES
• EARLY IRONWEED -PURPLE
• GRASSES, GRAINS AND GREENERY, RIVER OATS,  MILLET
• SCABIOSA -MIX,  DARK MAROON, BLUES, LAVENDER
• BLACK-EYED SUSAN- DENVER DAISY WITH DARK CENTER
• BACHELOR BUTTON- BLUE OR WHITE
• BOLTONIA -WHITE
• SALVIA TURKENSTANCIA PINK, BLUE,WHITE ON THE SAME STEM, TALL SMELLS LIKE SAGE
• VERONICA SONJA - PURPLE
• VERONICA SIGHTSEEING MIX- BLUE
• PANICUM FROSTED EXPLOSION- AIR GRASS IN PHOTOS
• PURPLE HYACINTH BEAN- DEEP EGGPLANT PODS WITH PURPLE BLOOMS
• CLEMATIS - WHITE 
• LEMON MINT - BERGAMO