It’s difficult to explain…but it’s almost like there’s just a little bit more magic to them somehow.

You see, when you’ve seen the land where the flowers are grown, and you know the person who planted the seeds, they become much more than just pretty Roses, or beautiful Sweet Peas. They have associations. Of history, of community, of family. And of hard graft.

Because many of the growers we buy from are from a family of farmers. And over the years we’ve heard some of their stories. Mothers and fathers who emigrated to Australia and did the hard yards, learning how to grow flowers from scratch, toiling the land, and supporting one another as they did it. We are lucky enough to have met a few of these elder statesmen and women of the flower world. Many of them have kept working the farm into what would be other people’s retirement years. Their sixties, seventies and sometimes even their eighties.

But mostly, we got to know their grown up children. The men and women who they passed their knowledge down to, who work the farm but also get up in the middle of the night to deliver the freshest of produce to Sydney’s flower market. These are the farmers we’ve been working with for almost a decade. Who now bring their own children to the market, showing them the ropes, and getting an occasional well earned sleep in for their trouble.

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We’ve been lucky enough to learn a thing or two from these hard working men and women. And we continue to learn. About when crops are flushing and the flowers are at their best. About how we can care for their flowers, so they last as long as possible. And about what they’re planting for next season, so we can be first in line for the new crops, and deliver the best flowers for our customers. Sometimes we even get to hear sweet little stories about wallabies nibbling on Dahlias, or how flowers open up more quickly when there’s a full moon.

We now consider many of these lovely farmers friends. And of course that means we know where to get the best flowers and who will tell us to hold off buying a certain crop if they know there’s something better at the market. We can sneak in special orders, and sometimes farmers even send their kids out foraging for us, because we want some special foliage, and their kids want extra pocket money. We consider these growers part of our flower family.

You feel part of a community and close to the land when you know the person who grew your flowers. When you’ve stood by each other through fires and floods and hailstorms. When crops have been lost, feet have been muddy, and bodies have been tired. You see the hard work, and you also see pride that goes with creating the best produce nature will allow. These are people we want to support. These are the flowers we prefer to buy. And these are the flowers we want to deliver across Sydney for our customers.

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