Hunter and Gatherer

I visit most of our local farms to learn how our flowers grow and discover any other secrets that farm has on offer (sometimes there are small philodendron leaves the right size for a bridal bouquet or tiny, guinea fowl feathers around the dam). Talking to the grower is always a learning experience. Creating floral arrangements is art and understanding the materials that produce the piece of art is essential. It is wonderful to be able to walk through the Tropical flower farm and choose just the right colour crab claw heliconia, the best tuberose, tropical foliage, different varieties of gingers and then bring these together to inspire our creations.

The cymbidium Orchid farm located in Maleny has a stunning range of colours – we go to the farm to choose the perfect colour for bridal bouquets or for major events - whether it be the palest pink, oyster grey with a pink stripe or chocolate browns. To walk through the farm with Merilyn is wonderful, discovering the latest colours coming into season, the best quality blooms and such a stunning glasshouse filled with orchids – every orchid lovers paradise!

Lotus and water lily wedding 9th January 2010. I spent the first part of the afternoon at the waterlily farm, 30 minutes south of the shop. We went from dam to dam, greenhouse to greenhouse collecting just the right coloured water lilies at just the right stage of opening. Water lilies must be cut on their second day of opening, third day is the wedding and they don’t open on the fourth day. It is fun to learn the different stages of opening of a particular water lily and then to predict how the actual variety will last for the entire afternoon of the wedding. The amazing thing is that water lilies open and close at different times of the day depending on their colour!

Picking water lilies is a precarious occupation – between dodging grass snakes and knee deep in mud. Eventually I delivered the water lilies to the shop and then proceeded to the tropical flower farm (to the west of the shop) to collect lotus lilies. These need to be cut late afternoon before the wedding (often we do it the day of the wedding). First the grower and I clambered into the tinny – all set for the adventure! Here another person is involved because the boat needs to be dragged from the other side of the dam with a rope to get the boat through the mass of lotus lily leaves - so exotic - like being in country Thailand. All I needed was a Thai parasol and I would have been picking flowers for the markets or to take to the temples. Small green frogs jump all over us and their croaking creates music while our boat plows through the mass of lotus leaves. We collect the flowers with bamboo branches and cut the flowers open at the perfect stage as they only last three days, creating a pile in the boat just like a fisherman. Lotus pods are also discovered and gathered for the table centres. What an experience – and our Bride and Groom have received the perfect flowers for their wedding.

Water lilies close around 4 – 5 pm so they are best used in January for a lunch time wedding. Platinum restaurant has the advantage that the sunshine floats above the tables allowing the flowers to stay open longer – stunning and so worth the effort. Our Bride and Groom happened to drop into the shop the day before the wedding and saw me in my best form - gum boots covered in mud. Did they love their day – YES! The result...