By Jenny Shand

Laharum cut-flower business Australian Wildflowers has kicked off its spring harvest, with workers out in force to cut Geraldton wax and pincushion blooms for the competitive wholesale market.

Owner and managing director Jo Gardner said timely rain over the past months had lifted the crop’s quality and quantity, adding weeks onto the length of harvest compared to last year.

“This is the first time we’ve had a proper spring in years,” Ms Gardner said.

“We’ve got used to spring being a two-week window. But this year we’ve had good rain over winter and now we’re right in the thick of it.

“Hopefully we’ll get another three weeks out of it – this time last year we were probably at the end of the wax season. 

“We are very happy with the season so far.”

Australian Wildflowers, which started in 2013 with a handful of staff, services domestic and export cut-flower markets. 

Ms Gardner said the workforce had grown significantly over the past few years and included members of the region’s Karen community.

The business develops, grows, cuts, prepares, packs and sells a range of Australian and South African species. 

While Australian Wildflowers’ farms at Mt Zero, Mt Talbot and Lucindale provide most of the blooms, the business also has lease agreements with other farms.

Ms Gardner said native flowers were on-trend, which was driving demand for product across the domestic wholesale market.

She said changes in the Australian Government’s biosecurity rules had also boosted demand for locally-grown flowers.

“There are now more restrictions on imported flowers, which now all have to be fully fumigated to enter the Australian market,” Ms Gardner said.

“There’s a bit of kickback to that, because people don’t like it and it’s harder to get flowers and foliage through quarantine. 

“There’s a shelf life involved with flowers and this can add an extra week to the process.”

The Australian Wildflowers workforce began harvesting Geraldton wax and South African pincushion flowers on its farms near the Grampians early this month. 

Sufficient rain in the lead up to harvest, coupled with mild weather, had set the scene for a good crop.

“It’s all looking pretty good,” Ms Gardner said.

“Compared to last year, it is miles better. Last year it stopped raining on the first of September and this November we got 15 millimetres.”

The Geraldton wax and pincushion harvest follows on from Australian Wildflowers’ winter harvest of thryptomene.