A unique business in full wild bloom

A riot of wildflowers in front of the Connings sign in Appleby is the latest showcase of Deidre Stewart’s new business venture, Bees Needs.

After much trial and error, Deidre has created a ready-lawn product that utilises flowers instead of grass. She seeds the flowers on a thick mat made of hemp and wool, which does the dual jobs of holding moisture and keeping the seeds warm.

They are covered until germination, and when the plants reach about 15cm high, the matting is carefully rolled and taken to its new home – such as the Connings intersection.

Deidre retired from her nursing career after 40 years in the job and was looking another income source in a less stressful environment.

She is passionate about bees and wildlife, but she had struggled to grow wildflowers in the past because they like sparse conditions with no competition.

“That’s why you see them at beaches and the side of the road – they hate everything,” she laughs.

She had seen wildflower turf in the United Kingdom but couldn’t find anyone else offering the product in New Zealand, so thought she would try her hand at creating something that would work for New Zealand conditions.

“The biggest thing is, it is regenerating our wildlife. If we don’t have bees, we don’t have food,” Deidre says.

She buys the seeds in from the North Island and offers her turf with a variety of colour themes, as well as flower heights, depending on whether customers want a low-growing garden or a lofty patch of fluttering flowers.

“I’ve taken all the hard work out for people,” she says. “They can just roll it out and they’ve got it there forever then.”

If customers have any trouble with the product, Deidre is there regularly checking it out and offering advice.

Her business operates from her home on Harley Rd near Tasman, where she has plenty of space to plant swarths of flowers in their various themes.

She is hoping to get some stretches of pink-and-white candy stripes up the hillside near her home.

The flowers form a net of roots though the cloth, which naturally biodegrades over about two years.

The product costs $95 per square metre, and all the sowing and rolling is done by hand, “for quality,” Deidre says.

“It’s a premium product and it takes time.”

Autumn is a good time for planting, she reckons, as it gives the plants plenty of time to establish before going dormant in the winter, which gives them a good base in springtime.

For more information, Deidre can be contacted at [email protected]