Nurtured from the earth but bad for the earth? The juxtaposition of the florist industry is one that Bush Native aims to address.
In September, the river end of Pakington Street received a new resident to its strip of shops.
Adding to the allure of the conscious quality shopping of the strand is Bush Native, a new eco-friendly florist where native meets nurture.
Bush Native
- Where: 360 Pakington St, Newtown, 3220
- When: Tues-Sat 9:30am – 4:00pm, Sun-Mon Closed
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here.
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Working in corporate strategy and finance for the better part of 20 years, Sally McNamara decided to ditch the 9am – 5pm and test her creative arm, enrolling in TAFE at the Gordon to develop skills in floristry.
“I decided it was time for a career change and I wanted to change careers before I turned forty. I thought, first I am going to have a break and destress and I thought something I could do as a hobby to help me relax was floristry,” she explains.
“It wasn’t as a business idea, just as something I could do with my hands and arranging is really therapeutic.”
Through her studies, McNamara was exposed to glaring issues with the way in which florals and foliage were sourced, packaged and presented. For a product so natural, the practice of floristry was surrounded by environmental red flags.
“By the time I was halfway through the course I started to have a few doubts about floristry because of the impact on the environment. I didn’t realise how toxic it could be and how harmful for the environment it was.”
This triggered McNamara to consider the alternatives to procuring, arranging and maintaining products of the cut flower industry. From ground to vase, McNamara researched the environmental impacts of the entire process to get flowers into customers home and the results were staggering. The lifecycle of a floral arrangement starts well before you pick them from the shop. Flower farms, refrigeration, transportation are just the start of the chain of events. From there its the packaging of arrangements using foams, rubber bands, glossy paper and ribbons for beautiful presentation, the transfer into a customers hands where they have a bunch of flowers last a week on a coffee table for it ultimately to be discarded to landfill. That’s not to mention the unsold items that are also disposed of. The natural elements of flowers and foliage are all but lost in the process.
“With the cut flower market, a lot the flowers used in your regular florist shop are imported. So if you think about all of the effort that goes into packaging something, keeping it fresh, getting it transported, flown over or shipped over and then by the time the imported flower gets to the florist shop, cutting stems and trying to keep it fresh and by the time it gets to the customer it might only last a day or two before it ends up in landfill.”
“Studying and learning more and more not just about imports but about floristry foam, the green squishy block as a water source for the product but it also holds the flowers really sturdy, I never knew how toxic they are. It’s made in Malaysia and it does not breakdown, it is not biodegradable at all. It ends up in the ocean as microfibres and it’s full of formaldehyde which is a really hazardous material. You can’t reuse it and it can’t break down.”
“My first thought was “I need to invent something to replace floristry foam”, and then I thought “That’s too hard”,” she laughs, “How about I just don’t use it. I wonder if there is a market for a business to offer more eco-friendly arrangements.”
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“I got thinking about all these things that I learnt at TAFE that were giving me the ick while studying and my business brain kicked back into action.”
McNamara decided that she wanted to eliminate these environmental damages through the establishment Bush Native. Adopting a mindful approach to business and the cut flower industry’s impact on the environment, Bush Native is an eco-friendly florist. What does that mean exactly? Bush Native stock local, long-lasting flowers of mostly the native variety, refusing to work with imports or any harsh packaging including plastic or foam.
“I was really anti-importing when we have such beautiful flowers and foliage growing in Australia its better to support local growers. We’re mainly sourcing locally from Geelong Flower Farm, from Inverleigh at the Lovely Estate. We have just started to look around in Melbourne to see where we can get lovely natives and foliage.”
When you arrive to the store, you are met with a street facing window display of bold arrangements including pink-berry blushed waratahs, dainty seaholly, fragrant protea, dusty blue gum, textured gum leaves, and bold banksia. Displayed across three natural timber tables on the right hand side of the store are the flowers and foliage in individual grouping, allowing you to wander through and build your own bouquets. McNamara and her right-hand woman, Kelly, also have pre-made arrangement available, with all take-home bunches wrapped in recycled paper or craft paper made from all recyclable materials and tied with twine to not only save the environment but allow the flowers to be the main character. At the front counter, there is a bowl for rubber band donations, a simple yet effective reusable system to eliminate unneeded waste.
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One of the main perks of being a native focus store is the opportunity for customers to love their arrangements for longer periods of time. The end-of-life of these arrangements is not only prolonged by the floral and foliage’s own DNA makeup offering extended life but through the elimination of the middleman with transport and preservation. McNamara also offers on-site education during the sales process, letting customers in on the fact that arrangements can be dried, keeping for between six months to several years in some cases.
“We really want to educate and push the word on eco-friendly floristry,” says McNamara.
Another element that makes Bush Native unique is that it is not just a florist but a boutique offering ethically made products to their customers. Bringing in McNamara’s heritage, growing up in north Victoria, Bush Native have partnered with Rich Glen olive grove and farm in Yarrawonga on the Murray River stocking condiments, pantry items and skin care products including olive oil, preserves and sauces. The small batch farm made products are all free from preservatives, cruelty free and vegan friendly. You can try before you buy, with Bush Native having samples of the sauces with bread available for taste testing, and testers for all of the skin care items.
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Keeping to the Murray region, Bush Native also stock wine alternative, NON 0.0% wine, also available for sampling on-site. Their current selection is NON1 – Salted Raspberry & Chamomile, NON3 Toasted Cinnamon & Yuzu and NON7 Stewed Cherry & Coffee. On the beverage side, Bush Native have also brought on board, Shanti Soulfoods to sell their jars of caffeine free Raja Chai and Dandi Chai.
Stop in for flowers and leave with both a sense of comfort for your environmental footprint and some quality products!
Bush Native is now open at 360 Pakington Street Newtown from 9.30am – 4pm every Tuesday through Saturday.
