The Flower Farmers

Adrienne Matthews speaks to eight people who have turned their love of growing flowers into a business.

Flower growing has changed considerably in Nelson since I first started Eyebright in the 1980s with my partner at the time, Peter Owen. Like all the flower growers I have met, we all start with a love of beautiful blooms. Sometimes small beginnings grow into much larger businesses as was the case with us. Like many local flower growers today, I had experimented with growing flowers in our family’s home garden and when I met Peter, I twisted his arm to try it on a larger scale.

We were one of the first in New Zealand to grow flowers outdoors and the process involved endless trial and error. Most flower growers can empathise with the experience of being at the mercy of the weather and it was not unusual to spend Christmas Day picking flowers if there was rain on the horizon.

There is hardly a flower grower who isn’t familiar with the comment from customers that “growing flowers must be the best job in the world.” This makes me smile, thinking they might not enjoy twelve hours on hot stony soil in thirty-degree heat picking hundreds of bunches at their peak of readiness.

The world of flower growing in New Zealand has changed since those early days and many larger flower growers no longer exist due to their growing lands and glasshouses being replaced by urban development. Increasingly, small growers are taking up the slack; enthusiasts who love flowers and are planting small cutting gardens, some of them calling themselves “urban gardeners”.

Some larger growers remain however, including local rose queen Viv Wilson of The Flower Farm. She couldn’t be more excited about the developments she and husband Sean are making at their property in Appleby. They grow a wide variety of flowers but roses are Viv’s first love. “We are really excited about a range of stunning new rose varieties,” she says. “They will produce big, luscious flower heads with seventy petals per flower. We have also put in a selection of spray roses which are exquisite. There is nothing quite like an armful of roses. They are my favourite flowers to pick. They are also the only cut flower to qualify for emission credits.”

Shelley Bergman of Country Blooms in Hope is another established local grower, having first grown flowers with her sister Helen 30 years ago. “We grew for the national market for around six years and exported one variety to Japan until it became uneconomic,” she explains. Fifteen years ago, on her property in Eden’s Road, she planted hydrangeas and peonies. “I was working full-time and soon realised the difficulties of growing outdoors where everything was at the mercy of the wind and rain,” she says.

“Fortunately, the opportunity came to purchase a second-hand greenhouse and I was able to start growing lisianthus and stock.” Shelley gradually added old-fashioned favourites such as dahlias, garden roses, ranunculas, anemones, sweet
peas, snapdragons, queen annes lace and scabiosa.

“People love coming here and being able to buy garden gathered, unstructured bouquets,” she says. Country Blooms has branched out to offer floral-arranging
workshops. “I still love growing flowers despite the hard work and injuries inflicted by farm life. It is very satisfying to see people getting such joy from the effort I and my two part-time staff put in,” she says. Country Blooms’ Tiny Flower Studio on the farm opens Fridays and Saturdays for general public flower sales.

It is not hard to miss Deidre Stewart-Hendrickson’s inspirational business, Bees Needs Wildflower Turf, on the corner of Harley Road and the Coastal Highway. She is the first person in New Zealand to create a wildflower ready carpet. “I had been trying to sow wildflowers for five years on my property with little success,” she says. “I started to see what was being done overseas and adapted that to our growing conditions here with lots of experimentation.”

The result is a celebration of radiant, joyful colour and a haven for bees and butterflies. “Many of our bees are hungry and this is a way to make sure they have plenty of food when they need it,” says Deidre, who makes up a range of different mixes from a hundred varieties of flowers.

Once the successive species of flowers in each piece of turf have flowered, their seeds ensure an ongoing supply of blooms for years to come. “I’ve even had some flowering right through winter,” she says. “It is an absolute pleasure to see the joy this brings to people and the environment.”

21-year-old Leah Harvey fell in love with dahlias at the age of 16 when her mother bought her a bunch from an elderly Stoke gentleman. He inspired her to start growing them herself and became her mentor. “He has been wonderful and taught me everything I know about them,” she says.

The dahlias are grown on her family’s section in Richmond and she has around 75 varieties including balls, pompom, decoratives and waterlily types. “Autumn is a busy time when I have to lift and divide each one before storing them until spring when they are replanted,” she says. They bloom from mid-December until the first frost. “Working in nature is when I’m my happiest,” says Leah, “the blooms are irresistible.”

The Nelson region has some well-established paeony growers including Emily Smith who has recently taken over a paeony growing family business that began in West Otago in the 1990s. “At that time sheep and beef weren’t doing so well and an aunt and uncle wanted to diversify. Together with my parents they established a peony growing enterprise now called Jo Smith Paeonies, named after my mother,” says Emily. Consecutive seasons of bad weather contributed to the decision to shift the business to Nelson. “I was at university and would sometimes come for the harvest and found that I really enjoyed the work. Needing a break from my studies, I took the plunge and here I am with 14 varieties of paeonies that cover almost five hectares,” she says. Most of the flowers are sold to florists from Whangarei to Invercargill.

“I’m absolutely addicted to the scented varieties, especially Festiva Maxima,” Emily says. She is working hard to capture the scent in a perfume, starting with a floral water and soap made using the distilled fragrance. “We have had it tested and there are some wonderful compounds that boost dopamine and serotonin which is really exciting.”

In addition to the paeonies, Emily is into her third year of growing saffron which is supplied to restaurants. “It is a very complementary crop because it flowers at a completely different time of the year,” she says.

In Full Bloom’s owner Kim Perks is thoroughly enjoying the flower growing business she has established on her and husband James’ rural property. “After spending nearly 20 years dedicated to homeschooling our six children, the garden became a place to get a clearer perspective,” she says. “I found the best way to clear my head and refocus was spending time outside amongst the flowers and gradually a new life’s season began. Word got around and I found myself asked to provide bouquets and flowers for events and special occasions. I realised that if I was going to be able to do that on an ongoing basis, I would need a larger variety of flowers and that’s when the flower patches started to spread across the property.”

“I just love it,” she says. “Each season is different and the flowers form glorious tapestries. They have become all-consuming, taking over the house and the sheds,” she says, laughing. Kim grows flowers for local flower lovers by the bunch, bouquets or a bucketful for people who order directly from the farm, while also supplying retail stores in the area.

Green Square owners Sarah and Richard Mangin in Hope are one of the region’s few protea, nerine and hellebore growers. They have been growing the premium blooms for 23 years having first been inspired by seeing flower sellers in a town square in Antwerp. Both had years of horticultural experience behind them and they found the Waimea Plains an ideal place to establish a flower farm. The blooms they produce are mostly exported to Europe, Asia and the USA with some sold direct to florists. The couple use natural pest control developed in the fruit industry to encourage natural predators like ladybirds and praying mantis.

Urban flower grower of Enner Glynn, Gina Chalmers, started growing flowers for fun but says it “soon got out of hand.” Spending a lot of time in the garden with her mum when she was young had given her an enthusiasm for growing plants. “The garden is my happy place where I can come home from work and relax,” she says.

“What started as making bouquets for friends and family has now progressed to gate sales, and fortunately I have kind neighbours who have let me expand my flower beds onto their property too.” She has even produced a publication on growing summer cut flowers which can be found on her Gina’s Garden website.

Flower growers are now found all over the Nelson region and, whether large or small, are making the most our mostly favourable climate to provide an abundance of glorious blooms.