Allergy-free Wedding Flowers
By Thomas Ogren, Sat Dec 10th

Allergy-free Wedding Flowers Thomas Ogren

I get quite a few emails from brides-to-be, asking me whichflowers would be good to use at their weddings, flowers thatwon’t make them or their bridesmaids start sneezing andsniffling right in the middle of the wedding. I get enough ofthese requests that I thought that the subject warranted its ownarticle. Wedding flowers First, flowers for a wedding ought tobe bright, fun, cheerful, festive flowers. For example, I like“glads,” gladiolas, but I see them used at funerals all toooften, so they seem out of place at a fun affair like a wedding.The one thing you don’t want with wedding flowers is pollen!With wedding flowers very little pollen is good, and no pollenat all is by far the best. Daises: For starters I would avoidusing most of the daisy-related type flowers, daisies, gerbera,chrysanthemums, asters, dahlias, and sunflowers unless you knowthey're pollen-free ones. There actually are quite a fewchrysanthemums, dahlias and asters that are called formaldoubles and that have no pollen. All of these formal doubledflowers will be ones with a very high number of petals perflower. What has happened with these flowers is that they havebeen hybridized so often that the pollen parts (the stamens)have turned into parts that now look more like petals(staminoids). All true formal double flowers will be pollenfree. Goldenrod flowers (bright yellow) are often used asfillers in arrangements and goldenrod is a daisy-ragweedrelative and will shed plenty of allergenic pollen. Don’t usegoldenrod! Baby’s breath is a popular wedding flower, again,often used as filler between other larger flowers. Baby’s breathis grown and sold as single or double flowered. If you usebaby's breath, use only the doubled flowered types. Roses:Florist type hybrid tea roses that are still in a closed budstage and that are not especially fragrant are excellent choicesand will shed no pollen. If using roses picked from the garden,choose only those roses with healthy green leaves, and pickroses that are still in the bud to half-open stages. Somefree-flowering garden roses, such as the beautiful pale pink‘Cecile Brunner’ roses, are always allergy-free and produce nopollen at all. The Banksia roses, which will be either yellow orwhite, are small, cute, come in dense sprays, and are alsopollen free. Pots of blooming hydrangeas, especially of theold-fashioned Hydrangea macrophylla type, are mostly pollen-freeand are good choices to use. Pots of blooming double tuberousbegonias, especially all the erect type cultivars, almost all ofthese are great, very large, colorful flowers and pollen-free.The fancy flowered begonias called ‘Reigers’ begonias are alsopollen free and come in bright colors or white, yellow, red,salmon, and pink. Lilies of all types can often now be purchasedthat are either simply pollen-free flowers, or else someone (whodoesn't have allergies), can carefully remove the brownpollen-bearing anthers on the tip of each of

the six stamens ineach regular lily.... watch this pollen as it will also easilystain your wedding clothes, especially anything white. Liliesthat have had the anthers removed will be completely pollenfree. ** A caution here though: sap from any and all kinds oflilies can cause a very nasty, long-lasting itchy skinrash…certainly nothing any bride would want on her honeymoon!With this in mind, watch out for the sap of all lilies and ofAlstromeria too. Also, it would not be a good idea for a brideto even carry a bouquet of lilies, certainly not if she has skinthat is in the least bit sensitive. Anyone helping with thewedding would be wise not to stick their hands into the water inwhich the lilies have been standing, as this water will have thesap in it. Camellias: Camellias come in bright white, red, orpink colors and few flowers are more beautiful than nicecamellias, however they are not easy to buy from florists.Still, a gardener friend may have some you could use if theseason is right…spring and fall. If you can find them, there aremany nice fully doubled, formal double type camellias that arepollen-free. These camellias will look fabulous floating insmall bowls of water on tables. Orchids: Very few orchids causeany pollen allergies and it is now possible to buy small pots ofbeautiful blooming orchids at quite reasonable prices.Occasionally there is some skin rash associated with orchids, sowatch any and all sap from cut flowers. Individual orchidsshould have their stems in small tubes of water. Althoughcertainly not indoor plants, pots of growing pansy, viola, andimpatiens also can look terrific and they are all very lowallergy potential flowering plants. In California or Florida itmight be possible to get large sprays of bougainvillea flowers.These now come in many colors, including bright white. Doublebougainvillea flowers will have no pollen at all, and even themore typical types of bougainvillea will shed next to no pollen.Bougainvillea flowers are good too for using around perfumesensitive people, as they have next to no smell. Lawns: If thewedding is to be held on a lawn, or if the reception afterwardsis, I'd suggest that the lawn be mowed two to three days aheadof time, and that a lawn mower with a really good grass catcherbe used.

Thomas Ogren is the author of Allergy-Free Gardening, and alsoof, Safe Sex in the Garden. His work has been featured onNational Public Radio, on CBS Evening News, on NBC, Fox, and onHGTV. For more detail on free or causing plantsand flowers, look up free gardening on www.Allegra.comTom Ogren’s own website is www.allergyfree-gardening.com

About the author:For more detail on free or causing plants andflowers, look up free gardening on www.Allegra.com TomOgren’s own website is www.allergyfree-gardening.com