The Easter themed display. Easter egg made from rows of colourful dahlias. A giraffe was a good way to use up orange and yellow blooms and proved very popular with passers-by. Footrot Flats provided inspiration. Farm dog Buzz has his own PPE for working on the roadside.
Like many commercial flower growers, Dahlia Haven has had to destroy its crop, and with it a large chunk of income.
However, the owners of the Dairy Flat based business, Linda and Robert Brown, are looking on the bright side and came up with a way for passers-by to enjoy the flowers by using them to make artworks at their gate.
Dahlia Haven has been growing dahlias commercially since 1990.
Linda says when she first realised the impact of what was about to happen under the Level 4 lockdown, she cried.
Although the couple stands to lose around three-quarters of their annual income, Linda was also devastated to think of the waste of all those beautiful flowers.
“It’s not in me to waste. But I realise there are other people a lot worse off and we need to stay home and do what we’re supposed to do – otherwise what was it all for?” Linda says.
The day before lockdown, when the flower market was closing and the Ministry of Primary Industries advised growers not to sell any product, Linda and Robert took buckets of blooms to Evelyn Page Retirement Village in Orewa to cheer up the residents – especially those in the hospital.
In lockdown, all the blooms – thousands every day – are being picked. Robert was mowing over them, until Linda found a way for people to enjoy them before they were destroyed.
“Some had suggested leaving flowers in buckets for roadside walkers to take home, however, while we have evaded the virus to date, we felt even a non-contact stall could create complications if it was found at a later stage that plant material was able to transmit the virus.”
Several years ago, Linda created a heart out of flowers for Valentines Day and remembering this inspired her to make roadside pictures during the lockdown, using around 600 blooms for each image.
“At first it was simple little pictures and it grew from there,” Linda says.
The flowers were taken out by the trailer load, so Linda could put her designs together on the side of the road of Wilks Road outside Dahlia Haven’s gate.
“I’m like a kid playing with blocks,” Linda says.
A teddy bear, Easter-themed designs, the Footrot Flats Dog, lizards and a giraffe are among the floral creations.
The reaction from people walking, cycling or driving by has been wonderful, judging by the appreciative notes, toots and phone calls.
Only four designs fit on the grass verge at one time, so once the flowers begin to shrivel, they are sucked up with a lawn vacuum.
Linda says although it has been hard to see so many flowers destroyed, things could be worse.
“We get to keep the stock plants and we can still sell the tubers, so we’re not as bad off as some others. Having less than five staff means we can still operate within strict criteria, to maintain the plant stock.”
Whether more floral designs are made depends on the weather.
“I might do a final one, but we’re running out of the range of colours that I need to make it look right and the wind and rain is smashing the remaining blooms.”
