Image: Luma Photo

When selecting your wedding flowers, you will likely consider the colour, form, and fragrance of a bloom. Where they were grown might not be the first query that comes to mind. Here are some reasons why you should take into consideration whether your wedding flowers have been locally grown or imported for overseas.

Local flowers are fresher. Your bridal bouquets and buttonholes are out of water for an entire day, so they need to be in optimum condition to last the distance. Flowers that are grown locally have a shorter distance to travel to their destination, resulting in them being fresher and lasting longer. They are usually picked, packed into buckets of water, and sent off to the flower market for sale the next day. Whereas flowers that come from foreign countries have spent many days in transit before they make it to the florist floor. They spend hours upon hours in trucks and planes just to get into Australia! Some spend up to a week in boxes not drinking a drop of water which can result in the flowers looking dehydrated, drooping and only lasting a matter of days. Keep an eye out for large-headed roses and orchids which are often imported from countries such as Columbia, Kenya and Thailand.

Image: Luma Photo

Local flowers are better for you and better for the environment. With the trend for organic and eco-friendly, you might be concerned to hear that imported flowers are heavily treated with insecticides, result in huge amounts of waste, and negatively impact the environment. Imported flowers are heavily treated with insecticide before being packaged up for export because just one sign of a single insect on arrival to Australia can result in the entire shipment being destroyed or costly fumigation. This leaves a nasty chemical residue on the flowers which may result in skin conditions and other health problems for florists and others who encounter them. Locally grown flowers aren’t subject to such heavy treatment making them a healthier option.

Image: Sarah Godenzi

Locally grown blooms are generally plunged into water from the moment they are picked and remain so until they are processed at your local florist. In contrast, imported flowers are boxed for easy transportation resulting in waste such as cardboard, foam, plastic sleeves, plastic tubes, tapes and bands that mostly ends up in landfill. In comparison to locally grown blooms, internationally imported flowers have a much larger carbon footprint due to the many modes of transport, hours in transit, and fuel consumption required to get them to their destination.

Buying locally supports local farmers. The international import of fresh flowers has been brought to a halt due to the current world climate resulting in only Australian grown blooms being available at the flower markets. This has meant that florists and buyers of flowers have had no choice to buy locally grown blooms with no international imports available to them. This has been wonderful for our local flower farmers. Buying local supports hard working members of our community. It supports their businesses, their livelihood, feeds their families and keeps a roof over their heads.

Image: Laura Manarati

Local flower farmers are also likely to provide you with the very best blooms. Their flowers aren’t jetting off half a world away to a faceless customer. Local flower farmers have built a rapport with your florist. They want to hold tight to their professional relationship by providing them with blooms they are proud of, confident the florist will come back for more time and time again. A grower proud of their product results in a happy florist and a bride thrilled with her beautiful wedding flowers.

Ms Floral Says: Such valid points that all couples in the midst of wedding planning should take on board! And really, Australian native flowers are incredibly gorgeous, so why wouldn’t you want to use them?

About Victoria Whitelaw: She is extremely passionate about her craft and over her 35 years in the industry has created her own extraordinarily elegant and individual style. Victoria loves nothing more than creating dream weddings for her clients, transforming their visions into events to remember.