The Floral Microseasons Summary That Absolutely Nobody Asked For
The Flowers of Early Spring, Late Spring, High Summer, Late Summer, and Early Fall
Before I start rambling about one of my favorite flower-focused topics, I want to first acknowledge that I was never once asked about the floral microseasons. It’s a topic that gets overlooked and probably will woefully underperform with views and shares here, I’m sure, but I can’t help myself because I think it is really (really) important to better understanding the garden, the seasons, and - ultimately - growing gorgeous flowers in harmony with the seasons.
The flowers of Late Summer, captured by Ashley Meier Photography
Each year, the garden’s cut flowers bloom in a (somewhat) predictable rhythm. For the sake of simplicity, most gardeners categorize cut flowers by traditional seasons; tulips and peonies greet us each spring, zinnias and sunflowers open up every summer, and dahlias and marigolds return in the fall, for example.
While it’s a general way of looking at the floral year ahead, growers with a keen eye will notice that the blooming periods for their favorite varieties is far more nuanced. Because we custom-grow thousands of flowers each year for weddings, we are especially invested in understanding the patterns and harvest windows for our favorite luxury varieties, and we’ve learned that, for the majority of United States’ gardeners (Zones 4-8, for certain) it’s more helpful to break down the gardening year a bit further - specifically, into five floral microseasons.
These five floral microseasons consist of early spring, late spring, high summer, late summer, and early fall. Each of these periods offer flowers with their own distinct temperament, style, and traits. A few notes about each are below.
Early Spring
Whimsical, Delicate, Unexpected ~ Early April through mid-May in Greater Philadelphia
The cool, longer days of early spring usher in the very first locally-grown flowers of the year - and it brings with it flowers filled with playful personalities and dainty, pretty textures. Tulips take center stage this time of year, and we harvest our favorite fleeting perennials by the armfuls while we can - spirea, viburnum, lilac, and pieris all come and go in the matter of a couple of weeks, and we enjoy them while we can. Blossoming branches are also a staple in any larger floral installation work.
It’s an extraordinary time of year for soft pastel colors and bridal clients that gravitate towards airy, enchanting, and delicate accents.
From a custom-growing perspective, it’s notably one of the most difficult times of year to predict, as the bloom windows for most varieties are narrow and it is so inherently tied to that year’s weather patterns. We can’t manipulate the harvest period for these early spring flowers as well as we can for most other times of the year and, as a result, it’s arguably the most challenging periods to grow (though the plants themselves tend to be lower maintenance than most other microseasons!).
Late Spring
Lush, Ethereal, Romantic ~ Mid-May through Mid-Late June in Greater Philadelphia
I don’t have a favorite microseason for flowers but… if I did… it might be late spring. The tulips may have faded, but much of the garden comes into full bloom and everyone’s favorite showstopping varieties like peonies, garden roses, poppies, and ranunculus grace the garden, with the biennial favorites like delphinium and foxglove waking up for another season.
For bridal clients that are seeking high-impact, luxe flowers, or warm, citrus-y palettes, it doesn’t get better than late spring.
In terms of how they’re grown, it’s worth acknowledging that these varieties tend to be a little trickier than other times of the year - especially in our “blink and you miss it” spring here in Greater Philadelphia. Achieving a garden filled with these late spring varieties can be a little more complicated for a new gardener, as many of these flowers have to be started from seed or corm indoors or in a greenhouse over the winter, and lovingly nurtured before getting transferred outside. Others, like peonies and garden roses, are established and long-living perennials that are best started with bare roots (and patience).
High Summer
Colorful, Airy, Fresh ~ End of June through July in Greater Philadelphia
Around the end of June, the garden undergoes a big (!) transition. The cool-weather-loving spring flowers fade away as the summer temperatures arrive, and a bright and bold abundance of flowers is ushered in with the heat. Lisianthus takes center stage as the focal flower, as the dahlias aren’t quite ready and May and early June’s garden roses and peonies have faded away. Lisianthus, for what it’s worth, is possibly my single favorite wedding flower - it is versatile, luxurious, and has an extraordinary vase life of two weeks or so. They’re ridiculously slow to grow and pretty difficult to start from seed, but absolutely worth the effort.
For bridal clients that are seeking colorful, playful, and bright flowers - especially the coveted “rainbow” look - July is an excellent time of year for a wedding. That said, it’s a flexible time of year in the garden, and we can achieve nearly any color palette in the summer.
Late Summer
Texture, Warmth, Abundance ~ Early August through Mid-September in Greater Philadelphia
Gardeners use the term “August abundance” for good reason - it’s a time of year where even the smallest gardens can produce armfuls of fresh blooms. As the lisianthus fade away (they bloom for most of July here in Greater Philadelphia), our garden’s dahlias start to open up and bloom steadily until the first frost in October. Dahlias are a central component of nearly all late summer and early fall weddings that utilize local flowers - and it’s worth noting that they don’t travel well, so they almost always have to be sourced from local growers, like us.
Textural varieties like celosia and amaranthus (especially our favorite drippy, cascading variety “Emerald Tassels”) are popular choices for bridal work, as they infuse every arrangement with interest and warmth. It’s also an exceptional time of year for bridal clients who like fun, rich, and unexpected color combinations.
Early Fall
Vintage, Moody, Romantic ~ Mid-September through October in Greater Philadelphia
The transition from late summer to early fall is a subtle one at first, but observant growers will notice that many of the garden’s best flowers will fade from richer, brighter shades into more antique-colored hues as the days get shorter. Short-day flowers (that is, flowers with a photoperiod that favors blooming when the nights are long) hit their stride - dahlias, cosmos, many snapdragons, chrysanthemums, and marigolds are highly productive this time of year.
It’s an exceptional time of year for bridal clients who love rich, vintage, or earthy palettes, and abundant, lacy textures.
We enjoy most of the garden’s flowers up until the first frost of fall, which is typically in mid-late October here in Greater Philadelphia. Some hardy varieties will continue to bloom steadily through November, and even into December, though it’s less common to be able to harvest them abundantly once we dip into the Persephone period of short daylight hours (around mid November).
