Stephanotis, the Wedding Plant
I have always wanted to grow stephanotis ever since I was first introduced to this amazing plant many years ago. I was running my catering business in Westport, Connecticut and one of my wholesale flower suppliers was Greens Farms Flowers, also located at the time in Westport. I was wandering through their extensive greenhouses when I came upon a massive stephanotis plant in full glorious bloom. I used those flowers to design a very special wedding bouquet. I threaded the deliciously fragrant flowers onto white satin ribbons, creating floral streamers trailing from the bouquet. It was a very beautiful effect and the bride was thrilled. When I moved to my farm in Bedford, I planted stephanotis in my greenhouse and who knew these plants would grow so well and bloom so prolifically! They’re doing so well, in fact, that it was time to move them into larger pots. I hope you enjoy this posting about stephanotis and to see more beautiful stephanotis bridal bouquets, click here.
1 Here's an example of a fabulous wedding bouquet woven from phalaenopsis orchids and trimmed with stephanotis that flow to the ground. From Martha Stewart Weddings, Fall 2002
2 From my original Weddings book, published in 1987, this green glass ring holds fragrant stephanotis blooms as an elegant table decoration.
3 This is one of four stephanotis plants that grow in pots year round in my greenhouse. They are trained to grow upright on a long bamboo pole. During the warm months, they are brought outdoors, where they thrive in full sun.
4 A member of the milkweed family, stephanotis is native to Madagascar.
5 They are woody twining vines that have dark green, waxy foliage. Under ideal conditions, they produce waxy white flowers.
6 The starry white blooms are highly fragrant and are often used by florists in bridal bouquets, thus its nickname 'the wedding plant.'
7 Stephanotis vines also produce an inedible fruit, which looks much like a mango. When ripe, the fruit splits apart and releases masses of seeds attached to silky filament-like hairs that are broadcast by the wind.
8 The plants had outgrown their pots and it was time to repot them into larger ones. This new pot is made of plastic, which we painted Bedford Gray. Pots like these are available at The Home Depot.
9 Wilmer first added several inches of potting soil mixed with gravel. The gravel provides more bottom weight, helping the pots to stay upright in the wind.
10 Ryan loosened and lifted one stephanotis out of its original pot.
11 You can see how root-bound it became.
12 When repotting large plants, it's really helpful to have a second set of hands.
13 While Wilmer supports the plant, Ryan uses a garden knife to cut through the surface of the roots, which stimulates new root growth.
14 He then sets the root mass upon the soil/gravel mixture.
15 We purchase growing mix in bulk and always have plenty of this Metro-Mix Professional Growing Mix on hand.
16 Ryan then fills in around the roots with the soil.
17 To shore up the center bamboo pole, Ryan placed some gravel around it, tamping it down around the pole with his fingers.
18 He then trimmed any errant shoots, growing in a haphazard fashion.
19 You want to keep most of the long shoots because they will produce more of those heavenly flowers.
20 For tying plants to supports, we like to use these raffia covered floral wires. They really blend in and don't damage the plants.
21 Here is Ryan, tying and neatening up the first stephanotis plant.
22 The next repot was a bit more challenging, as two stephanotis plants had become intertwined and needed to be untangled.
23 The vines were quite twisted but because they are woody, they are not easily damaged.
24 Wilmer and Ryan worked diligently together.
25 You may wonder why Ryan simply didn't cut them apart, but that would result in the cut off ends turning brown and that tangle would be unsightly.
26 Patience!
27 At last! The wedding plants were separated!
28 When repotting, it's a very good idea to feed the plant with some fertilizer. I happen to love Osmocote, which is a slow release, general purpose plant food, suitable for both indoor and outdoor plants.
29 Ryan sprinkled the surface of the soil generously with the Osmocote and now the stephanotis have some new room to grow with plenty of nutrients.
30 Knowing how much I love stephanotis, my good friend, Susan Warburg, gave me two small plants for my birthday. Under Ryan and Wilmer's supervision, I'm sure they will grow beautifully, as well!
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
What a beautiful plant!! And, what a beautiful gorgeous Bridal Bouquet.
In photo 27, since the plants are now separated, does that mean a divorce is in the future? That would be a shame since they're called Wedding Plants.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | August 8th, 2012 at 12:12 am
Great photos of lovely plant. Tried to raise it once, but find mandevilla is enough of a challenge for me, it is just now budding after spending winter in house, Dakota summer is so short and fall is in air with shorter daylight hours already here. So love this plant and flowers as ny niece Stephanie must be named for it.. Susan is indeed a good friend and wish someone would gift me in similar manner. Mebbe not-as can just enjoy beauty without raising it.
Posted by: ann | August 8th, 2012 at 5:42 am
I've never heard of Stephanotis, what an interesting plant. I'm very curious to find out what it smells like! How funny to watch Ryan and Wilmer intangle the two Stephanotis plants, patience indeed! Thanks for sharing Martha! By the way, the first picture of the wedding bouquet is beautiful!
Posted by: Cindy F | August 8th, 2012 at 6:38 am
Great work Ryan & Wilmer !! love to see men at work, O, and the plants are beautiful too.
Posted by: Mairead Doria | August 8th, 2012 at 7:43 am
My family has a Hoya plant that my grandmother got in 1947! The leaves are very similar to your Stephanotis.
Posted by: homer | August 8th, 2012 at 8:32 am
I am so excited to see you painted the exact same pots I purchased & painted from Home Depot! I own several of these pots & some larger & when they started to fade after years of sitting in the sun I purchased plastic primer & painted them. I've encouraged all my friends to paint their pots...now I can actually say I did something BEFORE Martha Stewart!
Posted by: Julie P | August 8th, 2012 at 9:27 am
Hi Martha, WOW! How fun it is to learn something new today about those gorgeous wedding plants, stephanotis! How great that you saved those original plants that you had many years ago at your Westport farm in Connecticut! They certainly did grow well in your greenhouse at your Bedford farm and Ryan and Wilmer did a fabulous job separating and repotting those beautiful wedding plants! It is so great to watch them in action and to see the complete procedure that they produced for you-they are two super guys who keep Bedford in great shape!! Your photos today are absolutely stunning and the information you provided is awesome! The beautiful stephanotis bridal bouquets you shared in that wonderful website are absolutely charming and so beautiful! How thoughtful of your good friend, Susan Warburg, to give you those two beautiful plants on your birthday and I'm sure Ryan and Wilmer will take great care of those, also! Thanks so much for sharing this beautiful blog today! Sure hope you have another great day! Off to see The Daily Wag about " Browning the Donkey Paddock"! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | August 8th, 2012 at 9:29 am
Another reason to build a greenhouse!
Thanks, Martha
Posted by: Sharon | August 8th, 2012 at 9:50 am
Hi Martha,
Picture #1 is gorgeous - that plant looks lovely flowing down the bride's dress. I wasn't familiar with it before except to hear the name and no doubt I heard it from you in one of your garden segments. I sure would love to grow something like that but I would probably over water it and that would be the end of it. My patio is blistering hot in the summer and I'm always worried that my plants aren't getting enough water. I have to force myself to slack off with the watering can but I'm learning to just let them be. Thanks for the tutorial on transplanting Stephanotis. If I should ever need to make use of, I'll try to remember to untangle and not cut. Thanks Martha. Trish
Posted by: Trish | August 8th, 2012 at 10:15 am
Martha,
Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | August 8th, 2012 at 10:26 am
The Bedford plants are not the only things being trimmed - check out Ryan's haircut!
Posted by: Mike | August 8th, 2012 at 11:45 am
Hello Martha
I love this wedding plant which we call here in Brazil May Flower. The bouquets are really wonderful.
Thank you for sharing.
Malú
Posted by: Maria Lúcia | August 8th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Hi Martha,
Beautiful plant, I love its flowers and the fragrance is amazing.
I downloaded your September issue of Living, it is beautiful and very interesting. I love Kevin's article and his choices of design shops, and I love Alexis's apt it is gorgeous, love the decor. I love Jude's pics with you on the front cover looks amazing.
Best wishes
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | August 8th, 2012 at 4:51 pm
"Stephano" is the Greek word for wreath , and, in Greek Orthodox weddings the bride and groom, during the ceremony, are "crowned" with wreaths. What a better flower for weddings indeed!
Posted by: Eleni M. | August 8th, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Martha,
16 years ago last month I married my wonderful husband. I couldn't find a dress I liked and my mom picked up the Martha Stewart Wedding's guide...on the cover was the most AMAZING stephanotis bouquet in a ball of white - close up with three strands, strung down from it. I loved it. We tried to get that look but yours was just simply perfection!! - and as luck would have it, the dress of my dreams ended up being in that very issue as well.....
Our house flooded last year and the magazine was lost...I'm still going to search for an archive of it simply for memories sake; the boquet that caught my eye; the dress I wore to catch his that special day when I walked down the aisle. The issue that I think I'll say might have been my 'favorite!!
Thank you - !!!
Marie
Capitola, California
Posted by: Marie Martorella | August 9th, 2012 at 12:11 am
Love stephanotis...for my own simple wedding bouquet 44 years ago stephanotis was incorporated onto white streamer ribbons surrounding a single mauve orchid. Interestingly, while my daughter didn't choose the same flowers in her bouquet...her color scheme was the same.
Posted by: Sherey | August 10th, 2012 at 12:45 pm
I was married the year after Princess Diana. I asked my florist to create a massive bouquet ala Diana with plenty of trailing stephanotis. I wanted it to be very big because I'm tall and wanted a bouquet that was proportionate. It was so beautiful. My father had already died by then, so I had the florist mount the bouquet on the Bible he used to be sworn in as a State Senator. In this way, his presence was with me as I walked down the aisle. How I loved that bouquet!
Posted by: Karen | August 10th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
What a gorgeous plant...the flowers are amazing. Bookmarking this to my wedding folder : ) xx
Posted by: Kelly | August 14th, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Such a gorgeous plant, I would have loved to have used these in my bridal bouquet when I got married, but I'm not sure if they are available here in Australia. I will have to check it out for when my daughter gets married.
Posted by: Digital images | August 26th, 2012 at 3:16 am
I find it hard to get my steph to rebloom
Posted by: marlene assennato | February 25th, 2013 at 10:10 am