Australian-grown flowers set to dominate Mother’s Day sales as export blooms ebb

Ecuador, Kenya and Singapore have flourished in Australian florists for years. But export impediments are set to give homegrown blooms a market advantage this Mother’s Day.

Sonny Podger, 11, Camperdown, and his family run Quality Gladioli. Flower sales have been impacted in different ways by the Covid-19 crisis. Photo: DANNIKA BONSER

BEST-KNOWN as Dame Edna Everage’s bloom of choice, Australian-grown gladioli have been sidelined on florist shelves by imported competitors in recent years.

But not this Mother’s Day.

Camperdown growers Dion and Tanya Podger have seen the coronavirus shutdown both break then make flower sales in the space of a few short weeks.

“For the last two weeks in March, we lost about $20,000 in sales due to the coronavirus shutdown,” Mr Podger said.

“Now, in the lead-up to Mother’s Day, things have turned around because the virus restrictions have had an impact on importing flowers. What many people don’t realise is a big percentage of the flowers usually sold in Australia are imported, but now imports are down to a trickle, Australian growers have got more of a fair go. We’ve seen both ends of the sales rollercoaster.”

Located at Chocolyn, just outside Camperdown in Victoria’s southwest, Podgers Flowers have been growing blooms for the wholesale market since the 1960s. Changes to the sector due to the coronavirus have led the Podgers to shift gears, with a roadside stall gaining popularity with passing motorists.

Victorian Farmers Federation vice president Emma Germano said the coronavirus restrictions took “the guesswork out of buying local.”

“Consumers will know that the flowers we buy this week for our mothers and grandmothers are Aussie grown,” Ms Germano said.

“Victorians would be shocked to learn that 40 per cent of the flowers we usually buy are imported from as far away as Ecuador, Kenya, Singapore and Columbia. Of course, COVID-19 has changed all that and that’s not a bad thing as local florists are stocked with local flowers.”

The Federal Department of Agriculture will review new labelling rules in the next 18

months and Ms Germano said clearer country-of-origin classification was needed.

“Consumer-demand drives country-of-origin labelling reforms and that is why we believe

consumers should be given the opportunity to make educated purchasing decisions about which flowers to buy,” she said.