Nadine Brown: A Journey Through Floristry

In this inspiring episode, we sit down with Nadine Brown, a seasoned florist with over 30 years of experience, to talk about the evolving world of floristry. From starting her first flower shop at just 23 to becoming a leading voice in sustainable floristry, Nadine shares her journey, the lessons she’s learned, and the changes she hopes to see in the industry.

We dive into the importance of local flower sourcing, building strong grower-florist relationships, and why authenticity in design matters more than fleeting trends. Nadine also breaks down common mistakes flower farmers make, the challenges florists face in aligning their business models with their lifestyles, and simple sustainability swaps that can make a huge impact.

If you’re a florist, flower farmer, or just passionate about sustainable design, this episode is packed with valuable insights and expert advice.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

🌿 How Nadine transitioned from retail to education with a focus on sustainability
🌸 Why local flowers are crucial for quality, community, and sustainability
💡 The biggest mistakes flower farmers and florists make – and how to avoid them
🎨 Why authenticity in floral design matters more than following trends
🌎 Practical sustainability swaps that florists can implement today
🤝 How mentorship and education are shaping the future of floristry
🌟 Nadine’s vision for a more creative, sustainable, and supportive floristry industry

Connect with Nadine:

📍https://www.theivyinstitute.com.au/ or https://www.instagram.com/the_ivyinstitute

If you loved this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow flower lovers!

Make the most of your garden by visiting bramblecrest.com and use the code FIELDGATE at checkout. See website for full details.

• https://fieldgateflowers.kartra.com/page/newsletters
• A Cut Above Waitlist: https://fieldgateflowers.kartra.com/page/ACutAboveWaitlist
• The Growth Club: https://fieldgateflowers.kartra.com/page/thegrowthclub
• Lots of free resources on our website: https://thecutflowercollective.co.uk/cut-flower-resources/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fieldgateflowers
• Facebook Group 'Cut Flower Farming - Growth and Profit in your business' https://www.facebook.com/groups/449543639411874
• Facebook Group 'The Cut Flower Collection' https://www.facebook.com/groups/cutflowercollection

Transcript

Roz (00:00)
So thank you. I am so delighted to welcome Nadine Brown to our podcast today all the way over from Australia. Nadine is a florist, an educator and a mentor with a passion for sustainability. I've admired Nadine from afar. So please tell our listeners a little bit about you, your background and how you got to where you are today, your journey Nadine. That would be lovely.

Nadine (00:25)
thank you so much, Roz. It's a real pleasure to be here. So thank you for the invitation and looking forward to, you know, connecting virtually with all your beautiful UK, probably worldwide listenership with the podcast. Excuse the cockies or some random Aussie bird in the background as it's sunset here and it always gets a bit noisy out in the bush.

Roz (00:38)
It is, yeah.

Nice, we allow that, it's fine.

Nadine (00:54)
So 30 plus years, it's a long journey. I'll try to make it brief and short for you because it's a big story. But it just honestly still is passionate as ever about the industry for florists and for floral farmers and just the industry as a whole. I first began, well, I started my first shop, my retail shop, a flower shop.

when I was 23 back in 1993. Full of loads of enthusiasm and ready to work really hard and absolutely loved that business. I had that business for 10 years. We won lots of awards, we were doing 60 plus weddings a year and two shops later I sold that business when I had two kids. We live on a beautiful rural property here in Australia so I was looking after the farm.

And I'd started teaching by that stage as well as doing all the weddings. And it was definitely one of those burnout moments, which I'm sure, you know, everyone can relate to. And it was time for the shop to go. So I transitioned my wedding events business home to a home-based studio, big fancy website, all the things. And as I said, I'd started teaching. So that began a 17-year career as a floristry teacher.

Roz (02:01)
Yep.

Nadine (02:21)
over here in colleges TAFE and loved, I just still love education. I really love teaching, really helping this next generation come through the industry. And then over time it has transitioned, I guess my focus transitioned once I understood and was looking at the harmful processes and products I was taught to use.

when I first started out and I could see the damage they were doing to the very nature that I loved. I had to make a change and so that was the start of what's become the Ivy Institute now which is primarily an online education, a whole suite of courses as well as in-person courses, workshops and retreats.

And I also have a mentoring arm to that, so I really felt like I came out of teaching with students still calling me all the time, really needing support, and realised there wasn't really that mentorship or programs that were able to support florists coming through. And it's something I would have absolutely loved in different times for my own journey. And I also have a greenhouse membership, which is...

a huge library of beautiful tutorials and coaching and mentoring and resources. So that's the short version.

Roz (03:56)
greenhouse. I love the name, by the way. I saw the greenhouse membership and thought, wow, what a really clever name. Obviously, I would love it, wouldn't I? But it's kind of like, it's very clever. Your website's beautiful. And what you've done, yeah. And just trying to teach sustainability because like in colleges in the UK, we are still teaching with floral foam. We are still teaching. So you think, hold on a minute. I mean, I did my degree in environmental chemistry, oh God, 30 years ago, 40 years ago.

Nadine (04:06)
Thank you.

So, whey.

Roz (04:24)
And we knew then that it was a problem and we're still using it 40 years later. until it's banned, I'm not sure. know.

Nadine (04:29)
I know, it's a real shame, yeah.

And it'll happen, it'll happen for sure. guess I'm just, that wasn't something I was able to change within that sector, but I can change it, what and how I teach and the way I share, you know, knowledge and tips and tricks and techniques and mechanics now in a very sustainable way. And I'm still learning, we're all learning new things and new ideas all the time. Yeah.

Roz (04:40)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

So many of our listeners grow their own flowers, their flower farmers. What are your thoughts on usually locally grown flowers? mean, what's the market like in Australia versus imported? How does that work in floral design? What sort of market have you got?

Nadine (05:12)
For me, I'm a massive advocate for locally grown. I was buying from probably mostly all of my flowers from local farms when I first started the shop in, you know, as I said, 30 years ago. These days, the market as it is now had a huge influx of microflower farms and local farms really expanding after 2020. And obviously all our imports were cut here. So

That gave an opportunity for the local market to really rise and you know the quality and for the micro flower farm movement, I really feel like it's a movement has really taken off here. But in saying that, I still do see the role that imports play within the industry for mass, you know, mass production of

Roz (05:51)
Yeah. Yeah.

Nadine (06:09)
flowers for mass and large events and local farms just aren't capable of meeting that brief or being able to fill that space to that extent. I do, wherever I buy, I buy all mine local. Everything that's in my greenhouse or my tutorials, everything seasonal and local and I absolutely embrace seasonality because I just love the fact that

we know that there's a flower coming that's visiting like a long lost friend and we only have them for six weeks and eight weeks and then it's see ya. So I love that about it. I think it keeps us very fresh as designers and the way that I describe this or I promote conscious buying is

Roz (06:49)
Yeah.

Nadine (07:02)
if there is a carnation in the market that's from the US and there's one there from Australia, why wouldn't you be dying the Australian grown? you know, I think it's just the florists having enough, I guess enough care about the industry that they ask the question and make a discerning choice because, you know, there's always going to be imports, they're not going anywhere, but

Roz (07:23)
Yeah.

Nadine (07:31)
I think as a buyer, as a florist, we need to connect more deeply with our growers sector and we need to not buy with our eyes shut. We just need to buy in a conscious way. so that, yeah, that's kind of my view on it.

Roz (07:49)
But

that's definitely happening in the UK. I we have a big movement called Flowers from the Farm and it's an association. And I've been a member for many, many years, but you can see many, many more new people coming in who are starting to grow on my farms. It's great. And I think the biggest problem we have is getting our flowers in the hands of florists because it's about distribution, isn't it? And it's about quantity.

Nadine (08:00)
Great, it's really exciting, yeah.

Yep.

Roz (08:14)
And it's about if flower farmers collaborated and formed networks and could supply florists bigger amount, then that will be the future. And that started to work. We've got some hubs outside major cities, which are working together to try and push British flowers through it. But it's got a long way to go, long way to go.

Nadine (08:33)
Yeah,

think it's the convenience of buying at a market. That's what it is for us here in Australia. Australia is a huge place, as you know. Well, you may not have been here before, I don't know.

Roz (08:43)
Yeah, yes I do, have

been, yeah, a few times.

Nadine (08:49)
So, you know, it takes me an hour and a half to get to the flower market, but it takes me 15, 20 minutes to get to, you know, a little group of local growers. And so that's where I go. Or, you know, for me now, I'm not working in the retail space, so I'm not requiring those really large quantities of flowers. yeah, it's definitely the ease of buying for a florist. And so if a grower...

Like you're saying, local growers can get together and make a co-op or, you know, for me, way back when, the growers would deliver to me. And you know, know a lot of growers give you sort of pushback on that. I haven't got time, you know. I know they're busy on the farm. I totally get that. But honestly, he used to load up his van and this is, you know, pre-ordering online. I would just ring him and see what he had, put a semi-order in.

just so that he would bring me something. And I'd say to him, come to me first, come to my shop first before you go anywhere else. Because he knew that when I got into the back of that van, I was a kid in the candy store, and I would triple buy what I had ordered. And he would go home with an empty van. And I still think there's merit in that process because the florists really don't have time to go to the farm.

I know the grower, I get it, but I just think that's something to consider for a grower is to get your product into our hands because once we see it and touch it and there's one little special bucket of something that's only six bunches of something that you at the farm thought, oh, no one's going to want this, but anyway, I'll throw it in the van anyway. And then we go and pay a premium price for it. It's like, wouldn't you want to drive away with an empty van? You know?

So I don't know. It's a bit old school, but it works.

Roz (10:48)
I that. I drive into London. No, I still do it. It's

old school. I fill the van up twice a week. I drive into London. I have semi-orders, but I also fill the van up. you know, we grow 30,000 tulips here. So at certain times of the year, we've got an excess of tulips. And so I will fill the van and I will drive into London and I will be, you know, I will be Del Boy and I will be knocking on people's doors and I will be selling our product because...

There is still in the UK, there's still a bit like British flowers aren't as good as imported flowers. They don't last as long. There's still a perception of that. And maybe historically that was correct. And no, they're not heavily treated and no, haven't, they won't last two weeks in a vase. I get all that. You you'd be lucky if you got five to seven days would be fine. And we're very honest about that. But once they see them and once they're in the hands of the florist, then we can't do enough. So you're right. I think very old school, fill the van and go.

and sell it, don't leave it in the field. It's not going anywhere in a field except in the compost bin, unless you cut it and get it in the van. So I'm still old school, I still do that for sure.

Nadine (11:55)
Yeah,

yeah I think there's a real, there's the direct connection you get with the florist, there's the story that they can tell, then they can share that with their customers about roz's, tulips, that you know, blah blah blah. As soon as the general public are invested in the story they'll see the value and they'll see more value in the dollar spent and...

Roz (12:03)
Yeah.

Nadine (12:22)
the florist needs to learn that story to be able to share that story. And unfortunately, you know, they're either ordering online and it just gets delivered in a truck by a guy that hasn't really looked after them and then their flowers are broken and the wrong tone of color and all the things. There's so many, I don't know, there's so many things, key elements you miss out on when you're not.

connecting with the grower directly and for the grower to kind of step forward and introduce themselves and grow those relationships. know, your clients aren't going to want to buy their tulips from the market that have been stored for a week when they know they can get yours even if they do have to pay a bit more or whatever. yeah, relationships are key and I think the more online we become,

the rarer they are, it makes them even more precious.

Roz (13:21)
Yeah, definitely. Because you've got

to give something that for us, the Dutch importers don't do. So I mean, I can go online today and I can have a Dutch import delivered tomorrow. I know what I've got. know what all the stems are. I've got 10 of those, 15 of those, and I buy it and it's done. And tomorrow, at some unearthly hour in the morning, it will arrive on my doorstep. Easy peasy. If I'm a florist, that's easy. So if you're going to compete with that, you've got to actually do something that's different.

because there isn't, you aren't going to have 10 of those, 15 of those, 20 of those and deliver at five o'clock tomorrow morning and have an online account. And it's all going to be real. It's just not as simple as that. So it's, yeah, you've definitely got to, I mean, I fill my van up and I go in, I go really early, 5 a.m. in the morning, beat all the traffic, get down the motorway into London, sell everything in the van, come home. Simple as that. So.

Nadine (14:03)
Yep.

Great. Yep.

Roz (14:11)
So what are your favourite flowers to work with? What do you love? Obviously seasonality you've already mentioned.

Nadine (14:14)
Aww.

You can't even ask me that, Roz. Honestly. It's like asking...

Roz (14:21)
I've got one favourite.

Well actually I've got three. I start with one and it comes to three but yeah. Renunculus.

Nadine (14:26)
What is it?

Yeah, see, I love all the things. Rather than varieties, because that's just an impossibility for me to answer, it's the...

Definitely the seasonality of the, you know, the spring comes in and I can't wait to meet Ladybeard at Iris and I can't wait to meet the Renanx and right now the dahlias are just popping off and they're big and bossy and blousy and you know, but it's the, sometimes it's just the little sweet

If I was talking about a design element, it's the quirky stems, it's the flowers with movement, it's... I see that in a design sense, I see the flowers having a role to play within my design. So there's the focal flowers, the queens, the...

the bossy loud ones and then you know you've got your secondary flowers in your transitional and foliage and so it's those other gorgeous botanical elements that are surprising and usually something's a bit wild. I'm a bit of a kind of wild free designer so I can't even say because there would be like 20 every season that are my favorites.

then they're gone and then I'm like see ya see you next year and then hello

Roz (16:02)
Next year.

Yeah, agreed. Absolutely agree. I mean, I love an ammy. I love ammy. Still love it. Grow it. Love it. Feels in a gap. It's a bit quirky. It never grows completely straight. I don't want anything completely straight. But the fillers actually are very underestimated. So definitely. So what trends are you seeing in floristry in Australia right now? Which ones do you think are here to stay? What trends have you got? Color trends. We get color trends every year, but...

Nadine (16:08)
Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

Mmm.

Roz (16:35)
certainly in bridal.

Nadine (16:35)
Yeah,

we get colour trends. It's a design space, so it happens in fashion and it happens everywhere. It's just us going along the merry road of trends and when you've been like someone like probably you and me, you'd be here long enough to see it come around again for the second and third time around.

Roz (16:44)
Yeah. Yeah.

second time. Unfortunately,

yep.

Nadine (17:02)
There's, I guess there's a lot in design, there's a lot of flower abundant, less foliage, I feel, at the moment. There's leaning towards more artful design, which I really love, and I'm very much, I'm usually pretty anti-trend, because I feel that the next trend is

finding your own authenticity and your own creative voice. I really do feel that the trends per se are so quickly moving and new designers coming through are so bombarded with the screen, Instagram, all the things, Pinterest, showing them what the most popular thing is and they lose sense of their own creative voice and their own creative style. So,

In everything that I teach it's not a do as I do necessarily, it's the design fundamentals and really understanding those elements and principles and finding what lights you up and the way that it feels right for your hands and the way that you want to put something together. I feel like that should be the next trend. It should be authenticity. Yeah, yeah, rather than...

Roz (18:27)
Yeah, integrity, what's right. Yeah. Yeah, I mean,

we, we see, yeah. I mean, ours are always natural seasonal. I'd call it sort of romantic elegance, if you like, a bit wild, but colour, have, I have seen, you know, we did a lot of green and white in weddings. We did a lot of pastels and we do a lot of, but I've seen less foliage, which breaks my heart because I love foliage. I think it's got a really big part to play.

Nadine (18:31)
a look or a look that's going to be here five minutes.

Roz (18:55)
and I've seen going forward lots of apricot tones for this coming season with some plum in it. Have you? You've got brights.

Nadine (19:00)
We've actually had lots of brights. We've had lots of color. There has been.

which is good, which is great. Like it's just, yeah, I think it's a shame to, you know, look at a wedding designer's page. And although you want to see consistency in maybe a certain look and feel maybe, it's a shame just to see the same, you know, dirty blush and

Roz (19:10)
guys

Nadine (19:30)
pop of burgundy that's just like every wedding after every wedding and I think, you know, I think the couple need to have a look and feel that totally represents them so they can look back at their photos 20 years later and go, yep, that's so us. You know, it wasn't just a Pinterest trend that got loads of views, it's actually us and so that's the way I, don't, I pretty much shut my wedding books now but that was...

Roz (19:36)
Yeah.

That's right.

yeah.

Nadine (19:58)
That was the conversation I had right at the start with all of them and no two weddings I did were ever the same. In all the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds that I've done, they were never two the same.

Roz (20:10)
Yeah, agreed, absolutely agreed. I mean, I look back on my wedding flowers, which was 30 odd years ago, and I don't like them now because I don't think I really then had a really big choice. We had a brochure that we went through and we went, we'll have one of those and we'll have it like, Lila King. Yeah, absolutely, pick number five. So I'm with you. If I did my wedding flowers again, they definitely wouldn't be number five. So I think people really need to think about.

Nadine (20:23)
Yeah, pick number five.

Roz (20:36)
what's them and that would stand the test of time and that in 30 years time they'll look back and think, those wedding flowers were amazing. That's what I want people to think. Yeah. Yeah.

Nadine (20:43)
Yeah, and I think that's up to the florists to guide them down that way too. You know, be confident

in their own design skills so that they can lead them down a road that's authentically them.

Roz (20:54)
Yeah, 100%. You emphasise sustainable floresstery, which is obviously what we're in all in for because what is your grower, know, moving to sustainability is absolutely. What do you think are the easy swaps that florists and flower growers can make to be more eco-friendly? Where do they start with this whole journey of sustainability?

Nadine (21:12)
It's a lot. There's really three areas of sustainability and I know, you know, we'll talk about floral foam in a sec because that's just the go-to topic when you bring this up, there's economical sustainability which really does, you know, allow you to look at all areas of your business and make sure that they're actually sustainable moving forward because that's really important and to sustain you.

You've got the ethical side of sustainability. So who are you supporting? If you are supporting flowers from overseas, then can you look at the companies and the growers that you're buying from that they are ethical and they are not treating people in, as you've seen in the news I'm sure over there as well, the dirty side of imported flowers. But there is...

Roz (22:09)
Thank

Nadine (22:09)
companies over there that aren't doing those things and you can support a company that is doing, you know, having ethical practices. And then of course there's the environmental impact of the choices that you make. just having a look at every choice you make, is it a thoughtful one? Is it, you know, ethical over convenience? And is there a better alternative? And thinking about that circular economy, where it came from, who you're supporting, how you're using it.

and then how the end user, what happens to that product at the end. So it's, it cannot go back to the earth where it came from, really, is the ultimate goal. so understanding those three, I think is really important. There's actually, I've got a freebie on my website, if anyone wants to go download it, I'll put, I'll give you the link for it. It's making a sustainable difference and that helps people go through those processes, understand them a bit better and put together a checklist.

for a bit of an audit of their own business. Obviously floral foam, it's gotta go. It's a long time. And there's so many easy swaps for that. So probably the one that I found that was the most helpful for me has been bird wire, so not chicken wire. There's bird wire that is much softer, the holes are smaller.

It's much easier to cut and roll and manipulate. And of course the hole's being smaller, it's a lot easier to work with and it's a lot more stable. And branches and designing in a way that your stems actually support each other. And I remember designing in my way, way, way back when when I was doing loads of weddings. And foam wasn't the be all and end all then either.

And I remember colour and my design process is really important to me. And yet I would do a wedding and think to myself, wish I could use those sweet peas because they're just the perfect tone. But I can't use those in foam. And they weren't drinking foam. And the hyacinths weren't drinking foam. And neither were all the narcissus. And all of this whole range of flowers, which would have been amazing, I couldn't use because I knew they wouldn't drink.

Roz (24:33)
and you're the

Nadine (24:35)
And yet I can't believe now, in the mindset I have now, that I was allowing that man-made brick of toxic microplastic to define my artistry. That blows my mind. And so once that's flipped in your mind and you just learn to design in other ways, it's really just investing in your learning to learn a new way or to unlearn the old ways.

Roz (24:45)
Single use. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nadine (25:02)
Now I can use every flower I could ever dream up because they're drinking in water and I can make them three days before and there's so many benefits and the creative freedom that you find when you're not relying on that product is so far beyond. That's probably the other plus side that no one really talks about is the expansion of your own creativity when you're not relying on something like that.

So that's probably the easiest shift and just being conscious of everything that you buy. Like is there a more eco version? Is there use flora tape instead of parafilm? Just you know brown paper and yeah no plastic ribbons, use fabrics or you know I went to

Roz (25:46)
Yeah, whether that's wrapping or a tape. That's it.

Ribbons.

Nadine (26:00)
I saw this recently and I thought, if I still had a shop I would 100 % do this. you could see this girl had used like ripped fabrics that you would have got from the op shop. You know when you're just buying random little florally Liberty print fabrics and she just, you know, shredded up strips of them and that was used as the ribbon on the bouquet. And I just thought, that's brilliant. Like that's just...

Roz (26:27)
lovely.

Nadine (26:28)
taking something

out of landfill and reusing it in a really beautiful way and something that's quite unique. So they're just little things can make a massive difference. It's just your mindset that's got to switch first.

Roz (26:41)
Yeah, I believe so. And also there's a massive thing about education, because I still know how they're being taught, which is still, I find, unbelievable. And most florist shops are still taught like that. We still get, I get people ringing me for funeral arrangements and they want, you know, the letters, brother, mother, mum, and of course they're all Oasis. There's no way you can make those in a cost-effective way in Willow and still be able to do it. There is a way forward, but no one's found it yet.

Nadine (26:59)
Yep.

Roz (27:10)
It's a business to be made there, but I just can't bring myself and wouldn't do it. So it's about finding a way forward for that one. that's how they're taught. That's the first thing. And secondly, flowers in the UK aren't labelled. We haven't got nothing in a supermarket or any shop is labelled. So actually a consumer can't make a choice because they have no idea where they came from. So it's got a barcode on it with lots of numbers, but that doesn't really help anybody. So that's a massive thing that...

Nadine (27:26)
Hmm.

Roz (27:37)
that growers are pushing for is that flowers need to be labelled, food's labelled, so we need to have a choice. Everybody could have a choice then. But so there's still a massive amount of education to do. And people don't realise that on Valentine's Day on Friday that all their red roses will come from Kenya. They do not realise that, but they absolutely have and nobody knows. So there's a massive education to do. But it is happening, having been 15 years in flower farming.

Nadine (27:58)
Yep.

Roz (28:02)
In the early days, we were educating people. You know, we would say a lot, this is sustainable and this is what we're doing and we're growing and we're not bringing in from abroad. Now it's less so. People's knowledge is much higher and it's just about getting the message out there even bigger. So it's a long way to go. Yeah, long way. So what are the most common mistakes you see florists or flower growers making when they start a business?

Yep, there were lots.

Nadine (28:36)
Let's go with the flower, the farmer florists first. I feel like there's so many exciting ways to diversify your income now as a farmer florist, especially in Australia.

it's not just growing and selling to a retail florist anymore. You know, there's lots of other ways. And I think when they first, I hear this a lot, I'm great at growing, I'm just not good at designing with them. Or I'm not great at selling them. I'm great at growing, but I just don't, you know. And so, for the design side of things, I feel like there's a lot of over-stuffing, there's a lot of not understanding.

Roz (29:07)
Yeah. Don't know anything about laughing. Yep.

Nadine (29:19)
some techniques and mechanics of creating a really open bouquet that allows the flowers to breathe, that obviously allows you to have a represented bunch, so perceived value is higher, and understanding the pricing of their flowers in the industry so that they can be comparable with everything else that's out there. So there's that kind of design and pricing which is often a problem. Marketing.

their business in a way that shares the story that they think that no one cares about but we all do. And also just understanding the business model that they have that actually works for them. I feel like people step into the industry, especially from the florist's point of view, you know, working out of a home studio, doing someone's birthday, someone's anniversary, the odd wedding, but...

I call those sort of daily deliveries are really the worst business model for a home-based studio. Except that kind of accidentally happens that way. And so I'm really all about sitting down with my clients when I'm mentoring them, going through their values and their non-negotiables and how they live their life so that their business fits in like a beautiful piece to their puzzle, not...

Roz (30:24)
Yeah.

Nadine (30:47)
the other way around where they're actually running themselves ragged for a business that actually doesn't fit with their life. You'll do it for a while but you'll burn out so quickly and you'll end up resenting your business because of it. there's so many different ways that you can structure a business model to actually work for you and thinking about that beforehand before it accidentally gets on the go. There's no problem pivoting as you go down the road but

I think that's something that's not really thought about too much at the beginning and that's something I like to help people with.

Roz (31:20)
Yeah, think, yeah, definitely.

I think here, I think you've set up as a florist or a flower farmer so you make bouquets because that's what you do. But then you realize, and I realized very early on, there was no money in that. It's not commercially viable. And the reason it's not commercially viable as a grower is because you pick the blooms.

and lets say you only have two orders that day. So you go out and pick them, you cut and condition for two bouquets, you then make two bouquets, you then put them in your van, you then drive to deliver them. You then deliver them and you get back and you think that's taken me best part of three quarters of a day for two bouquets.

Nadine (31:52)
all day.

Roz (31:56)
and you haven't taken into account any of your labour costs or any of the growing costs. So we don't do that. It's not part of our business model. We don't do bouquets. It's not it. You know, we sell to florists, we sell retail wholesale, and then we sell buckets of flowers to consumers so they can make their own. They come and pick them up from the farm and we do weddings and funerals. That's our kind of business model. But I think you've got to... And also what I find is that lot of people go into this and they go, I'm going to do loads of weddings.

Nadine (31:56)
Yep.

Roz (32:24)
and then you realize they've got small children and they don't want to work weekends. Well, that's not going to work either. You know, how many Saturdays do you want to work that actually ruin your life because that actually gives you no life. So it's, yeah, it's quite interesting when you actually tackle it and think what is your business model? Like you say, there are loads of business models now, loads.

Nadine (32:45)
Yeah,

it wasn't like that when I first started and probably wasn't for you either, but it's exciting what's ahead, you know, and it's exciting all the different ways that you can diversify your income as a farmer florist and as a florist. I'll give you a link to another resource I have because I've got one that's 20 ways to grow your income as a farmer florist like this and they're all

Roz (32:49)
No.

Yeah.

Yeah, send it to me and I'll put it... Yeah.

Nadine (33:14)
strategies and ideas with growers I've worked with. it's whether it's workshops or pick your own days or selling to the florist wholesale or, it's so many different ways. I think sitting down right from the beginning and just starting somewhere that works and fits and is actually commercially viable for you.

Roz (33:18)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Nadine (33:38)
will allow you to kind of grow that confidence and that momentum to then maybe go down another little road or bring another revenue stream in when you feel ready and you know that that's that's what I feel like is the kind of the biggest hurdle right at the beginning.

Roz (33:53)
Yeah, it's exciting.

Yeah, I work with the Welsh government, have a Lantra it's called, it's like a Welsh, how to promote Welsh flower farming, because obviously in Wales it's very rural, and they're trying to encourage flower farmers to be more profitable and therefore employ more people, and that helps the local economy, I mean, it's amazing. And it's very well funded. And Welsh flower farmers get a lot of help.

But I do some one-to-one mentoring with Welsh flower farmers and they have so many different business models we're talking about, like you say. You know, I spoke to someone this week who had 200 acres, most of it.

a cereal crop or it's arable, it's not really flower farming but they have started some pick your owns because they don't want to have the resource of people employing people to have picking and all the rest of it so they say well go pick your own and then they've got a farm shop so it's how get the flowers into the farm shop and what resource that takes but they have a whole different business model to the flower farmer that's three miles down the road because a they've got masses of space they're highly mechanized they can get it and do volume but they only want to do pick your own but it's then how do they market pick your

own and that becomes a whole different issue. So, but pick your own for somebody else would be a disaster. Pick your own for us, for instance, would be a complete disaster because our farm is our home and so our people would have to drive past my front door in order to go and pick their own and it would be like a car park. My husband would go nuts and then they would probably pick my prize roses that I want to have for a wedding. it would destroy the whole thing.

Nadine (35:07)
yeah.

I'll destroy, yeah. No, you've definitely got

to have a dedicated row. That's the pick your own row. And one little jar to fill up, not a bucket. Yeah, there's lots of ways you can manage this so that it is manageable, but it's got to be worth your while too. And it does work for some and not for others, but yeah, just...

Roz (35:31)
Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Yep, a small chop.

Nadine (35:50)
Taking the time right at the start to explore all the avenues that are available to you and narrow down on that first one or two that can get you growing.

Roz (36:02)
Definitely. So if you're on a desert island, we have a radio program in England called Desert Island Discs and people say, well, I love this music and I take that with me. And then they normally say, so what would you take with you if you're on a desert island? What would you take if you were off to a desert island today? What books would you take? Items would you take? Let's say you could have three things. Let's be really, what would you take with you?

Nadine (36:23)
three things.

well I'd have to take a journal or something.

Roz (36:31)
Yeah, definitely.

Nadine (36:33)
I do like to write and obviously I have lots to talk about so I have to talk about to myself in a journal. I love Holly Ringland as an author. She's an Australian author. So any of her books I would take with me, I'd happily read those a couple of times. I guess I can't take my husband. Can I take my animals?

Roz (36:52)
Yeah.

He's on your list. You've done it. You've

done okay. You've done okay. If he's on your list, you've done okay. Now I think you could take him. Hopefully he's good at fishing and hunting and all of that because you might need to get

Nadine (37:04)
He's alright. Well he's pretty handy.

He's pretty handy. We've been together thirty, goodness thirty seven years or something now. So you know, I'd be a lonely without him.

Roz (37:18)
Yeah.

So going through what's been your biggest challenge in your business years then from going from retail shop to now mentoring and training, what's been your biggest challenge throughout the whole thing?

Nadine (37:35)
I've loved the diversity of it all to be really honest and some of those pivots were almost forced ones, especially the selling the shop, you that was just burnouts days back then and I just really wanted to be a mum, like I was missing out on that. So I think just being prepared to not be scared and move in a different direction if when you need to.

Roz (37:47)
Yeah.

when it's not working.

Nadine (38:05)
Yeah,

Roz (38:05)
Yeah.

Nadine (38:06)
think that's not that that's a challenge. Or it's under it's seeing the challenge and doing something about it. Maybe that's what it is. it's it's, you know, fear is such a thief of joy, you know, like it just really does hold hold people back. And so that's part of it. Probably now I just you know, I'm I'm

educating and teaching and sharing, you know, little people at a time. Be great to become, you know, really take the Ivy Global. And well, it is, do have members and people from all over the world that I mentor, but you know, it's just getting it further out there. So thank you for letting me share my story with your UK people.

Roz (38:42)
Yeah.

So,

look for us in school. Yeah, cheers.

Nadine (39:01)
But that's sometimes a challenge, you know, that is sometimes a challenge to

be able to get your voice as loud as it can be in a really noisy space now. You know, like it's noisy on here, it's noisy on your phone, it's noisy everywhere. And so sometimes that's a bit of a challenge, but you know, just making a difference is so rewarding. It just keeps you going.

Roz (39:16)
I know.

Yeah, 100%. So three quick questions just to end up. I did ask what your favourite bloom was and you answered that one about being, and I'll allow you that. What was your childhood dream job? You know, I wanted to be a doctor, but I wasn't bright enough. What did you want to do when you were at school? That careers officer comes down and says, what do you want to be when we grow up?

Nadine (39:37)
can't answer it.

Well, was...

Well, I love animals, I'm surrounded by animals, so it probably was something to do with a vet or a vet nurse or something. But I love, like I'm literally living my childhood job dream. I really do. I just feel like that, you know, I remember sitting on my grandmother's potting bench where she grew all her orchids and it was actually a glass house in their backyard, like a proper glass house. And I remember just thinking,

you know, how precious these orchids must be to have their very own house, you know, and thinking how much they were loved by her and cherished. And I think that just seed got planted early on. you know, I was 15 when I went and started working in a nursery in a garden center. I just knew that I didn't want to work in an office. I wanted to be with plants and outside and with nature and...

Roz (40:39)
Wow, so it's always, yeah.

Nadine (40:45)
and it was a natural transition into design and then floristry. But yeah, and I'm very lucky to say, very privileged to say that I think I'm living it.

Roz (40:57)
Yeah, yeah, I think I am. Mine was a complete accident, came full circle. I think at school I wanted to be outside and I did with animals and I did my work experience on a farm by accident. And then then I went into an environmental chemistry degree by accident because actually they offered me a place and I did it. I didn't even know what I was doing. then, you know, 50 years later after corporate career of coming back round again to having animals and being on a farm and growing flowers is like, how did that happen? So

Nadine (41:07)
Yep, same.

Roz (41:26)
I think somewhere deep in someone they've got a thing that they want to get out and do. lots here, we've got massive amount of career changes going into flower farming. They've done their corporate, lots of nurses actually are really creative people. And lots of people who've worked in the NHS, lots of people who've burnt out, lots of people who want different lifestyles are moving in to growing flowers. So long may it continue. Yeah, absolutely. So what next for you? What comes next?

Nadine (41:48)
Yep, craving that nature connection, yep.

Roz (41:56)
They're doing what what?

Nadine (41:57)
well we've got, I'm involved with the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show. Last year was probably pretty much one of the highlights of my career but they brought me on as their sustainable.

consultant and educator for the show and I was also judging. within that role I was able to actually bring in an environmental impact section into the judging for the show and so that really sort of forced the hand of the students and the designers to move and acknowledge you know the impact their designs were having. So that was really exciting and so from that I'll be running a industry event called the Future of Floristry at the the Flower Show.

So for us that show is the biggest in the southern hemisphere, probably second to Chelsea actually in size and the impact that it has on the industry, such showcasing landscape of flower, gardening and flowers. So that's exciting, that's coming up in March. I've got my dream floral retreat in Lake Como in Italy in May.

Roz (43:10)
Yeah

Nadine (43:10)
very

excited. It was sold out but I've got one little spot left now. So that's six days on Lake Como and visiting Flower Farm in spring and design and business and things. So that's the first six months pretty much taken up. Just sharing my online courses and just growing and bringing more people into our community because that

Roz (43:20)
lovely.

No.

Nadine (43:39)
Building a really beautiful, healthy, inspiring community is really what I love and I love to do. yeah, see us move beyond this whole floral foam conversation and just get on with it and just start creating inspiring designs. Yeah. Yeah.

Roz (43:51)
.

Absolutely, should be gone. Yeah, absolutely. So Nadine,

thank you very much for joining us on the podcast. I will be sharing all of your links, so send them over to me into the show notes so that people can get hold of you and follow you on Instagram and all of that sort of things. But it's been lovely talking to you today and seeing actually the other side of the world and seeing how it works and that's brilliant. So thank you very much for joining us today.

Nadine (44:21)
Thank you so much for having me, Roz. It's been a pleasure. Thanks. Bye, everyone.