We’ve seen it all since we launched Little Flowers a decade ago. In a burst of nostalgia, we’ve pulled together a few of the best things that a decade in flower land has taught us.

 

Sleep vs Shower

At the Sydney flower market, there are two types of Florist. Those who rise at 4am, to preen and prep themselves to feel good and look great when they arrive calmly at the market at 5am. And then there are those who sleep in their clothes and roll out of bed 3 minutes before jetting off. Both are viable options, but for Little Flowers, particularly when we were in start-up mode, sleep trumped shower. And sometimes… it still does. You gotta do what you gotta do to spread the smiles across Sydney

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Part time Weatherwomen

When you’re looking for the best nature can offer and prefer locally grown, seasonal blooms, you become addicted to the weather forecast. You need to know when it’s gumboots and brolly weather, when there’s punishing heat on the horizon, and when there will be wild winds, hard hail and unrelenting rain. Because the weather is integral to everything we do. It affects the planting, the growing and the harvest it also affects the prices, which fluctuate like the weather on a spring day in Melbourne. Knowing the weather is knowing your product. And if you can begin to predict trends and patterns in the unpredictable, you’re ahead of the game and you’re going to deliver the best flowers Sydney has to offer. 

 

Nimble fingers and buns of steel

One of the biggest surprises about being a Florist is the hardcore physicality of the job. Sure, you need strong, flexible fingers to strip, chop, twist and position the flowers… but what we didn’t expect was the pain in the butt. The golden rule is to lift with your legs and butt to protect your back. It often feels like we lift a billion buckets a week, heavy with water and flower bunches. Jane Fonda has nothing on the Little Flowers team’s weekly workouts. Then there is the flower delivery – Sydney has LOTS of hills when you’re on a bike. And, on top of that, there’s also scaling walls, jumping fences and out-running scary cats and dogs all so the precious posies arrive safely at their destination. 

 

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It pays to go out of your way

The Sydney flower markets are one hell of an experience. A thriving metropolis where nature meets concrete, flowers meet forklifts and coffee warms the hands of all who are there. It is a convenient place to get everything you need and a one stop shop for all things beautiful and practical in flower land. But when you prefer locally grown like we do, sometimes it pays to go out of your way and visit the growers, their dogs and see the set up and farm for yourself. Calm hits you like a semi-trailer. You hear birdsong instead of the beep beep of traffic horns. And of course you get to stop at one of the best bakeries in NSW, Glenorie Bakehouse. We recommend the Florentines, the coffee and any pie in pastry. 

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Be the Bunny Bear

When you work for yourself, you can make up the rules and break conventions. Sure, we’re all about delivering flowers in Sydney. But our guiding principle is to make Sydney smile. Which is why one Easter we unleashed the Bunny Bear. A half bunny, half bear that was not only good at hopping about delivering chocolate and bouquets, it had the power of the bear hug to boot. Bunny Bear was a crowd pleaser, and our favouite piece of theatre for spreading the smiles and love to date. 

 

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What goes on tour, stays on tour

We are always in for some mystery and mystique, and happily partner up with you to surprise and delight all who receive our little bunches of beautiful flowers. But what we didn’t expect was the weirdness, wackiness and raunchiness that our riders are exposed to when they’re delivering flowers across Sydney. Like the thousands of people over the years who have been off sick when they receive birthday flowers… Or the amount of people who work from home with other people and wear towels when they open the door and don’t brush their hair… weird.

 

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Search for silver linings

In the world of Little Flowers we have come to believe in the duality of life, because sometimes the best things that have happened to us… have happened when we just experienced one of the worst things. Like when one of our delivery wizards fell from his bike in the city, only to be helped by a beautiful young office worker who took our beat-up bike courier on a lunch date and kissed his knee better. Or that time when we had three rotting bags of compost in the van on a 50 degree day and a magazine called and asked us to be in an article where we drove around a journalist and talked about the power of flowers… Such is the way in Little Flowers land. 

 

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The gesture is as important as the flowers

When you can send flowers in Sydney that don’t break the bank, wonderful things happen. People send for the silliest reasons, and they send just because they can – like one man who sent flowers to his wife for literally the first time in 30 years. We have had adults send to their toddlers, just to see their reaction; dogs send to cats for eating their food and people pretend to be Burt Reynolds or Ryan Gosling to give their BFF a giggle. And sometimes…just sometimes, people send to themselves to celebrate a week going ‘dickhead free’ or to make a work crush jealous. 

 

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Nature is genius

Did you know that it is not only werewolves and lunatics that are affected by the full moon? Flowers grow faster. And flowers grow bigger. Sometimes flowers even change colour. Like the coral Peonies that turn white overnight as they open. Our favourite bit of genius from nature though concerns Bruce. Bruce is a frog we rescued from a bunch of sunflowers who is now looked after by a veterinary nurse. Bruce loves RnB and croaks to the beat. The nurse does not like RnB, but she loves Bruce and is warming up to P-diddy and Ja-rule. 

 

A bike full of flowers can cause a pileup

Over the years people have done strange and wonderful things when they have seen our couriers peddling around the city, bikes packed to the rafters with beautiful blooms. We’ve seen selfies, videos, people have posed with and without the courier. Some look on with longing in their eyes, while others are reminded to send flowers to their lover and occasionally, very occasionally…people are so drawn to the beauty of the bouquets they just have to have them and take them. Well, steal them really. But if it puts a smile on a face, we suppose can almost excuse it…

Would you like to send someone in Sydney flowers? Just click here to order