WildFlowers Australia - For florists
Activities and information about wildflowers available to florists
WFA sponsors an annual national floristry competition designed to encourage floristry students in their exploration of wildflowers in design. More information and photos of entries in previous competitions are available on this website under 'Floristry Competition' on the main menu.
From time to time, WFA hosts floristry workshops, designed to introduce florists to the diverse range of wildflowers and foliage available and present ideas of how to use them.
Florists will find other information on this website most useful, especially the following items on the main menu:
* Wildflowers by season - this section lists the seasonal availability of a wide range of flowers, foliages, buds, nuts and berries. It also tells you about a useful booklet "Flowers from Australia" available to purchase for $11 plus postage and handling. It features full colour illustrations of many Australian grown native and South African products used in floristry, giving their botanical and common names, along with details of their season of availability.
* Australian wildflower quality specifications and postharvest manual: Commercially relevant product specifications, including photographic standards, are available for 32 commonly used wildflower products. Each includes information about the flower, its season of availability and typical vase life. There are photos showing the different stages of flower opening to help you choose the correct stage to deliver maximum vase life to your customers. Handling and care instructions for you to follow and to pass on to your customers are also included. A postharvest manual providing a wealth of supporting technical information is also available.
These publications aim to raise the quality of wildflower products across the supply chain, and provide information on how to maximise vase life through correct treatment and handling.
See quality-specifications-and-postharvest-advice
* Market development activities - marketing of wildflowers in Australia: this project provided much needed information to established and already trained florists, through an education campaign that ran from June 2009 to June 2011. This project was funded by the RIRDC.
Detailed listings of seasonal flowers as well as highlights on 6 – 8 products each Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter were published in the quarterly Interflora magazine ‘In Focus’. They are also available to read on this website under Market Development Activities.
Still under development is a work manual for all florists that contains listings of what is available, and when. This will include traditional flowers, tropicals, wildflowers, and foliages. The vision for this manual is that it will become the only work manual that contains all the information on flowers available to Australian florists. It will also be a great tool for purchasers, a great training tool for staff as well as a sales tool to show customers what flowers are available in any one month, the colours and the combinations possible.
Join us!
By joining WildFlowers Australia as an Associate member - Florist, you can also access the following Member's Only opportunities:
Membership of WFA for florists
WFA has two levels of membership available for florists to choose from. These are listed below:
Please go to 'Join WFA' on the main menu and follow the prompts to apply for membership.
If you have any queries please contact us at secretariat@wildflowersaustralia.com.au