How to Grow a Wheatgrass Centerpiece

One of the very first things I picked when I started wedding planning were the centerpieces. I knew I wanted to use wheatgrass! I loved the fresh, vibrant look of it and I also loved that I could grow it myself—cheap. I had a hard time finding info on exactly how to grow wheatgrass for a centerpiece, rather than to eat, so I wanted to give you girls some tips. I’m going to go into depth, but I want to assure you that this is EASY! I didn’t want to be stressed right before my wedding with a doubt of whether of not my centerpieces would look good. Trust me, you can do it! But be sure you do a few practice runs so you’re confident. (Isn't this an awesome pic? Thanks to our best man!)

I did several trial runs a few months before the wedding so I knew I wasn’t getting in over my head. I’ve got a pretty green thumb, but I’m pretty sure that even if you don’t, you could grow awesome wheatgrass centerpieces. So here’s where I began:

I bought wheatgrass seed from Amazon (Wheat Grass Grow Kits) based on some good reviews I saw. I bought 5 lbs. for about $15 and that was enough for all 28-30 of my 4-7 in. diameter centerpieces, with a little seed leftover. Through trial and error, I found that the length I wanted my wheatgrass took about 6 days to grow from the time I planted it.

What kind of container do you need? Something deep enough to allow at least 1 ½ inches of soil (in my experience) with another inch to 1 ½ inches to the rim—so about 3 inches total. You can do it in a container that’s only 1 in. high, but the roots from the wheatgrass get so big they push the soil up about an inch by the time the grass is 6 in. high, so it’s kind of ugly.  In case you’re wondering, I got my pots at JoAnn Fabrics. They were 50% off so they were about $2.50-$4 each depending on the size/shape. It’s not necessary that the containers have drain holes, but you’ve got to be kind of careful not to overwater. If you do overwater, you can tip your pots to the side and drain some of the water out.

12-24 hours before you want to plant the seeds, put them in a bowl, cover with water til it’s about an inch over the top of the seeds, and let them soak. Fill you containers with potting soil about one inch from the top of the container and level off, without packing down the soil too much. I tried several different kinds of potting soil with no difference in the results; I used Miracle Grow potting soil for my wedding.

About 1-2 hours before you want to plant your pots, remove the seeds from water and put them in a colander to drain. Sprinkle your seeds on top of the soil so that they completely cover the soil with no bare spots—but not so many that seeds are laying on top of each other. You can let the seeds overlap, but it doesn’t make the finished product noticeable fuller, so save your seeds! No need to pat down the seeds. Now, take paper towel squares, get them damp, and place one on top of the seeds in each of your pots. That’s right—you don’t need to put dirt on top of the seeds!

Place a plastic bag loosely over each of your pots (I used white plastic grocery bags). By loose, I mean they should completely cover the pot, but leave a little space so that the air can circulate—otherwise mold can grow. Put in a sunny window if you have one. If you don’t, try a shady window and see what happens!

For the first 2-3 days, keep your pots covered. Uncover and water with a watering can (not a hose) once a day, making sure the soil stays evenly moist. After 3 days, remove the plastic bags and water once a day.

When your grass pops up, it will be in little translucent sheaths. On day 3-4, the blades will pop out of the sheaths and start looking like real grass! You’ll be amazed at how fast this stuff grows.

For my centerpieces, I didn’t want to do the standard gerbera daisy flowers I’d seen everywhere. Instead, I used irises and simply popped off the heads and set them in/on top of the wheat grass. It was super cute! I tried setting a couple different kinds of flowers on top of the wheatgrass and it worked great. To make sure the flowers stayed looking fresh, I had some of my aunts and cousins pop the heads off and place the flowers right before the ceremony started, so they were out of water about 8 hours total during the reception. And they looked great, even by the end of the night! Do a test run with the flowers you’re planning on using for your centerpieces to see what time from works. If you’re doing gerberas and want the tall stem look—buy water picks from a florist or online, fill them with water, put one flower in each, then stick them in the dirt. My florist recommended I not go this route with irises because the stems are too “floppy.”

I got a little scared the week before the wedding (my mom kept saying, “shouldn’t you have those growing by now???”) so I ended up planting my seeds a week before my wedding instead of 6 days. My centerpieces ended up looking a little more overgrown/shaggy than I would have liked… But they were still cute! I got a lot of compliments. If your grass gets too long, you can trim it with scissors and the tips don’t get brown, however I didn’t really like this look so I just left my grass shaggy.

So that’s all there is to it! I wish I had a close up of the centerpieces finished (besides for the first pic which doesn't really give you an idea of the whole centerpiece...) But when I get back my pics from my photographer, I'll put another one up!

LOVE IT!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for the post!!!

Thank you so uch for sharing! I was wondering how this could be done!

I see that you grew your grass in many different pots. Was it hard to move it into the containers you wanted to use for the centerpieces?

How much did you pay for the 5 lbs?  Do you have the info for the vendor you bought it from on amazon?

thanks!

Do you have seeds left over that you would be willing to sell?

Thanks!

Do you have pictures of your guest tables? I'd love to see how the centerpieces looked/were set up :)