Flower Power

After a long, snowy winter, Milwaukee finally saw some weather worth kicking off the shoes for last week! Today, I'm back in my favorite oversized sweater in the back of the house (which is warmer than the front, since that's the side the wind's been blowing all week), sipping coffee to keep from shivering anymore. But the point is that spring has finally decided to fight for his right to claim April as his own, and winter is loosening her grip as May begins to make it's presence known.

So, as I ran around barefoot last weekend, I decided to conduct an experiment with the intention of replicating it next year if all goes well. I planted calla lilies. At a springy price of 3 bulbs for $12.99 at Steins, I figured that growing my own flowers would be much more cost effective than having a florist cover the arrangements. We're still 14 months out from the big day, so I haven't even begun to look into floral pricing, but I'm pretty confident that callas are on the higher end of the budget.

The nice thing about callas is that they look beautiful in a bunch, or as a single stalk, which leaves a lot of flexibility for determining how to use them without blowing the budget. They also come in a vast array of colors and sizes, leaving room for personalization and creativity, and there's no end to passable silk immitations out there. With their symbolic meaning of "majestic beauty", callas reign as a wedding favorite. After all, what's more majestic and beautiful than love?!

Carlos was actually the one who picked this flower out for our wedding, and I've been quite proud of him for making such a perfect selection ever since! That man's got extraordinary taste in just about everything but women's shoes, so I've gotten used to deferring to him for any sort of style decisions I need a second opinion on, and have had great success thus far. But back to my experiment . . .

As I said, $12.99 will be an excellent price, assuming that this thing goes through. But before any of you hands-on budget-savvy brides follow my lead, let me remind you that this is still an experiment! In order to plant the bulbs, I actually spent upwards of $40 on planters (three 9-inch plastic ones with built-in drainage), soil (a 20-pound bag, which is all my little muscles could carry), peat moss (for better drainage, as suggested on the calla lily package), and the bulbs themselves. I'm writing off everything but the bulbs as non-wedding expense, since I'll continue to use those items in future gardening endeavors.

In addition to the start-up gardening costs, I still have some research to do, since the planting information on the bulb packages was minimal. For example, I bought two bulbs that are supposed to grow small callas and one bulb for the larger variety, but I have no idea how many flowers the bulbs actually produce. The pictures show a bunch of flowers, so I'm guessing 4-8 flowers per bulb, which may or may not cover my wedding party (5 bridesmaids/groomsmen plus flower girl and parental corsages, etc.). So, it's possible I'll need to purchase another bulb or two.

Also, I think the bulbs are perennial, which means that they'll grow back again next year, but I'm really not sure how that works, and if they'll grow differently the second time around. Some plants do that, after all. Finally, I really need to check up on the details of how to nurture my plantlings. I put them into the dirt and drenched them, according to the instructions on the package, but that's about as far as that info took me. It mentions having excellent drainage and removing the bulbs from the soil after the first frost (which is why I think they're perennial), and keeping them in full sun/partial shade, but aside from that, I'm not sure. Do these pretties need constant attention or is it more of a leave-them-alone-and-they'll-come-home type of deal?

I should really look into some of this stuff. After all, I planted them a week ago, and we've had thunderstorms and snow flurries in the forecast since! What can I say, though? I was excited both about the weather and the concept of saving money/growing pretty flowers for my big day. So, dear readers of mine, I fully encourage you to experiment, but maybe do a little more research than I did, first! I'll keep you posted on anything I find out regarding my own questions, along with updates on my little callettes' growth! Happy spring!