Seasonal flowers grown with love

 

What started out as a single 10m row of Sweet Peas in 2015 has bloomed into many varieties of glorious flowers growing at our two properties in Ararat, Western Victoria. I had an abundance of beautiful perfumed Sweet Peas. Too many to keep filling every room in the house!

I set up a table out on the main road into town and sold so many little jars of sweet peas to passers by! I kept refilling them and they would sell! The next week I found a note requesting several bunches the following weekend for a dinner party. The lady came to pick them up and we had a lovely conversation about the joy Sweet Peas gave her along with the knowledge of who was growing her flowers - and I was hooked!

I read everything I could find on growing cut flowers in a small plot. Each year I expanded my growing space and added more varieties to my flower beds. We sold bunches to local customers and had a flower stall at our monthly local farmer’s market.

In 2018, I turned our big vacant back yard at our BnB property, affectionately known as ‘The Cottage’ into another 12 rows of flower beds. I wanted to grow special flowers, the varieties that are less common and don’t travel well in a truck from a wholesalers to a florist. I discovered Dahlias, Tulips, fancy Daffodils, Foxgloves, Ranunculus, Peonies, Phlox and so much more. I started selling wholesale to florists and event designers.

Then in March 2020 when Covid lockdowns started, we couldn’t visit our friends and loved ones, the florists and designers closed their doors… but people still wanted to spread love and everyone wanted to send fresh, beautiful flowers! Whilst everyone was stuck in their home towns, a delivery of fresh flowers was used to put smiles on faces, spread love and show people there was hope. We were so busy delivering our fresh cut flowers we wished we had many acres more of them!

We now grow flowers on approx 1/3 acre which is combined from our two properties. We grow using organic methods and aim for our business to be as environmentally sustainable as possible.

Our season usually opens in mid October for Spring beauties and continues through until the first frost hits us in Autumn.

We love growing and providing our community with the freshest flowers available and are proud to be doing our part in the growing sustainable local flower movement. When we have large orders to fill we’ll often collaborate with other local growers.