LOCATION // OLIVIERI'S FLOWER FARM
Back in school, whenever my friends and I would drive to the beach, we would always drive past heaven.
This 'heaven' on earth was actually just a massive flower farm; but it was pretty much my dream place. There were so many colourful, blooming flowers in the greenhouses.
In fact, i loved it so much that I remember actually driving to the farm one time with one of my friends just especially so we could go and take pictures with the flowers hahaha!! (I know, lame). But don't worry we didn't end up going in to take any photos because of understandable prohibitions.
Anyway, it turns out that this massive flower farm actually had a name; "Olivieri’s Flower Farm" and had been there for decades (don’t know why we didn't notice it earlier.)
Not that long ago I decided to start studying floristry. For assignment number 2, I had to purchase some flowers to create my own bouquets. So my sister and I decided to head in to the Sydney Flower Markets in Flemington.
These flower markets stock a massive range of flowers from many different independent flower retailers and wholesalers around NSW.
I had visited the markets before (just for a look) but this time with my sister, I decided to write a list of all the flowers I wanted to buy so I could just pop in and out. Well that didn't happen, I got totally distracted and wanted to buy the whole market. Haha!
Below are some photos of the flowers we decided to buy:
All the flowers at the markets are so fresh, in season, good quality, cheap and in fashion; how can you just leave them there, seriously if you go there you will understand.Little did I know at the time that Olivieri’s is apparently one of the major stockists for the markets! Amazing! No wonder the flowers are so great at the market.
I got home and mum told me i should volunteer at a florist to get more experience, I instantly remembered Olivieri’s. I stalked their website and it told me that they had their own florist as well as the farm!
It also said that their flowers are freshly picked, then packed right there at the farm, that they are available the same day at the florist and the very next day at the markets. What the heck, most imported flowers are likely to be a week old before they even reach the stores. Crazy! They would nearly be lifeless by then!
Although I never ended up volunteering at Olivieri’s I did pop in to visit their florist the other day and it turns out that they are everything their website says they are. As soon as I walked in to their store I noticed all the same blooms that were at the market!! Woo! This reassured me that Olivieri’s really were market stockists and that the market flowers were definitely fresh and not imported.
The ladies at Olivieri's florist are very professional and their arrangements are top quality. You definitely can tell the difference between a florist who buys imported flowers and one who grows their own (from what I have seen).
The flowers at Olivieri's are well cared for and are used straight away after being cut, meaning that their life span will be a lot longer, even after the customer has taken them home. Their prices are also quite cheap and they also have a range of pots, vases, containers and other decor.
I called Olivieri’s up one day to see if I could possibly purchase their left over/old flowers for practicing, the lady on the other end of the phone simply stated that they never have any old flowers, they only ever have fresh ones. Haha! So how fresher do you want to get. They make sure they only give their customers the best and definitely do not keep/use any ‘old’ flowers.
So who came up with this brilliant idea; to have the freshest florist with its own farm at its doorstep!?!? It was the Olivieri Brothers, Joe, Nate and Tony. They started the farm 25 years ago from scratch. They just started growing Chrysanthemums out in the bare paddock on their Doylson property.
They then discovered computerised greenhouses, which can control the growing environment of the flowers automatically, in turn, producing a more perfect, stronger flower so they could grow flowers all year round.
Their farm kept growing developing and changing over the years. And these days they specialise in Gerbera’s, Oriental Lillie's and Asiatic Lillie’s. They are now one of the largest leading cut flower growers in NSW. #startedfromthebottom #nowwerehere Drake would be proud.
For retail orders, please call Olivieri’s Florist on (02) 4358 8331 #thefreshawards #thefreshawards #thefreshawards #thefreshawards #thefreshawards
Images taken by Ella Hartigan & Taliah Hartigan.
Images No. 2, 20 & 21 (Source: The Olivieri Website. www.olivieriflowers.com.au/) Image No. 22 (source: Linked in. Image by Michael Peggs.)