Surf Coast Sunflowers is opening up

This former cattle farm is now Instagrammer-heaven, with a pick-your-own sunflower paddock open to the public for just three weeks in January.

A team of three local mums with a shared love of gardening are taking their skills to the next level on Victoria’s Surf Coast.

Friends Abbey Galbraith, Anna Jenkins and Amy Brady are growing more than 10,000 sunflowers at Modewarre, about 20 minutes outside of Torquay, and giving visitors the chance to pick their own over a three-week period in January at Surf Coast Sunflowers.

“We all have a shared love of gardening, and all go to each other’s houses once a week to help out with the gardening,” Abbey said.

“We wanted to do something that had a community focus. Something intensive for a short period of time, but otherwise manageable around family and work life.”

L-R: Anna Jenkins, Abbey Galbraith and Amy Brady are set to start Surf Coast Sunflowers in January 2024. Picture: Nicole Cleary

Growing the sunflowers across 1.5ha on Anna’s 16ha beef cattle operation, the flower farm will open on January 6, with entrance fees starting at $10 for adults and $5 for children, and flowers sold at $3 per stem.

After a valuable learning experience growing sunflowers last year, the women, who also work as a pharmacist, occupational therapist and lawyer respectively, are excited for the weeks ahead.

“We were better prepared (this year), we made the kids come out and do the jobs with us, and there were times where we definitely had to prioritise the crop to work around our lives,” Abbey said.

“We started planting in early October. We thought it was going to be a dry season so we deliberately started earlier so the tap roots would go deeper and be less reliant on water, but we’ve had plenty of rain so are opening earlier than anticipated.”

Even the kids are getting involved at Surf Coast Sunflowers. Picture: Nicole Cleary

The strong Surf Coast community has been ultra-supportive of the project and the team are looking to repay the support.

“It’s a beautiful community where we are, and we’ve had a lot of support from community members,” Abbey said.

“We’re planning on donating a percentage of profits to the local CFA and the Royal Children’s, because we’re very grateful for the volunteers and we’ve got kids, so that was an easy decision.”

Back row L-R: Amy Brady, Phil Naylor, Penny Naylor, Frankie Naylor, Lucinda Jenkins, Jonathan Naylor, Sophia Naylor, Tom Naylor (standing), Ned Galbraith, Chris Jenkins. Front row L-R: Abbey Galbraith, Cam Galbraith, Frankie Galbraith, Saskia Jenkins, George Jenkins (baby), Anna Jenkins. Picture: Nicole Cleary