Victorians urged to ditch supermarket blooms and support local florists this Mother’s Day
When coronavirus hit many flower growers made the tough call to destroy crops, believing florists would not survive. Now sellers are urging Mother’s Day shoppers to help save the crippled industry.
Inner South
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The nation’s top floral designer group has urged bloom lovers to ditch supermarkets and servos and shop at local florists to help keep growers from collapse.
Australian Association of Floral Designers president Gregory Milner said there would be enough blooms available for the industry’s busiest weekend – Mother’s Day – but there could be an under-supply heading into winter as scores of growers destroyed their crops and imports were halted as the coronavirus hit.
Mr Milner said about 50 per cent of Victorian growers made the tough decision to destroy their crops in late March as they could not cope with hothouse costs of up to $80,000 each month without knowing when shops would be able to open again.
He urged people to support their nearby florist and not supermarkets and petrol stations which imported from countries including Kenya and Colombia.
“There was a knee-jerk reaction at the start with Australian growers thinking they wouldn’t be able to sell … if only they had a crystal ball,” he said.
“Now it’s looking like there will be an under supply as we head into winter.”
Mr Milner – a third-generation florist and floral author – said although corporate and wedding florists had been “decimated” as a result of the pandemic the industry as a whole was “doing well” thanks to online orders and contactless deliveries.
Flower grower and Cuda Bros florist owner Joe Cuda said his Mordialloc shop survived the outbreak by keeping prices modest and ordering in bulk from local growers who had cut crops in a bid to support them.
The Bentleigh man, who started selling flowers on the side of South Rd at just six years old, celebrated his Lower Dandenong Rd shop’s 21st anniversary over Christmas and serves more than 250 customers from all corners of Melbourne each week.
The Cuda family has produced fresh blooms for four decades across farms at Lilydale, Heatherton and Springvale South.
Mr Cuda said less overseas deliveries coming into the country due to the outbreak had a positive effect Victorian farmers.
“At the time the crisis came, if we didn’t support local growers, they would have gone down,” he said.
“We support local growers and stock more than 40 different varieties of flowers every week from Monbulk, Torquay, Cranbourne, Gippsland and through to the Mornington Peninsula.
“Many Victorian flower growers lost crops during the December and January fires and so the industry continues to urge florists and consumers to buy local.”
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Mr Cuda said the shop was preparing to create up to 300 affordable arrangements and was abiding to strict social distancing rules in-store ahead of the jam-packed weekend.
“The industry is doing very well through the crisis because people can still deliver door to door and do online work which has absolutely accelerated,” Mr Milner said.
“The public is often unaware of the difference between local and imported flowers … there should be more emphasis on supporting local.
“Victoria is the strongest flower growing state in the country … one of the positives moving on from the virus could be people becoming more aware of what they do.”