and at that like .. find my link to an old post ...

do it for fun.. BUT do NOT rely on yourself... one mid summer hail storm.. and you are wiped out ....

otherwise.. good luck with the nuptials..

ken

I see you just joined GardenWeb just today. Welcome to the party. I guess if you have that hailstorm that Ken mentioned, you could consider that as "a sign" and call the wedding off. Just kidding.

If you consider a variety of seed sources, there are some ornamental peppers that are bright red and some that are almost black, like the variety Black Pearl, which has very dark foliage and peppers. The "white ones" like the undeveloped Prairie Fires, might be a little "iffy". They would be in your container category, and not cut flowers.

For cutflowers, you might consider celosia, or cockscombs. They have some good reds in a variety of forms and sizes. Once again, their "whites" are pretty lame.

On the red and white zinnias, their colors can be good, including the whites, and they could have varieties that are good cut flowers and smaller varieties that could be considered for containers. You might want to try more than one variety of red zinnia and white zinnia, and include the varieties that are bred specifically to be cut flowers, like Benary's Giants and Oklahoma.

I have never raised sunflowers for cutflowers (I have raised some for edible seed), but Johnny's Selected Seeds has some cutflower sunflowers that might interest you. The ProCut Red is red after a fashion, and the ProCut Red/Lemon Bicolor has an almost red-black and white look. There are no truly black sunflowers, but the Chocolate variety and the Moulin Rouge variety are pretty dark. I am not connected with Johnny's, except as a satisfied customer, but I recommend you get the Johnny's catalog and/or browse the website for cutflower ideas. Johnny's caters to cutflower growers and market gardeners, as well as home gardeners. Scabiosa Black Knight is almost black. There used to be a zinnia called Black Ruby that was almost black, but it has been unavailable for many decades. I keep hoping to find that color in my zinnia breeding hobby, but so far, no luck.

ZM