Flower farmers seem to agree that what we see on their polished social media feeds are a far cry from what goes on while they have their hands in the soil.
"I'm only wearing a nice dress for you and the photographs," Teneale Coetzee from Femme Pétale Flower Farm says. "A white dress isn't practical. I usually look like I've been driven over about five times!"
Flower farming isn't all moonlight and roses. It takes hard work and patience as well as loads of research and support in the budding stages. And that's how Hort Couture Flower Collective came about.
Nine aspiring flower farmers dabbled in growing their own blooms in 2019 and 2020 when the hard lockdown afforded them the chance to follow their dreams. They all soon realised that time and individual research are good starting points but for their ventures to flourish they would have to reach out to others for advice.
"Flower farming is a notoriously closed and secretive industry," says Jo van Zyl of Lily-Rose in the Eastern Cape. Established flower farmers aren't always keen to share their knowledge, possibly for the fear of competition.
Through hours of research and scrolling on Instagram, Jo found a kindred spirit: Nzwi Dyirakumunda from Akanaka Blooms in Gauteng.
"We were chatting on Instagram about how difficult it was to grow cut flowers and to tap into the South African market. Nzwi introduced me to the clan on a WhatsApp group called You Grow Girl. I have never felt more bonded to a random group of women in my life!"
The biggest factor linking the women in the collective is that they all wanted to grow dahlias, and the most cost-effective way for them to grow the colour varieties they wanted was to import the tubers from the Netherlands.
Not only do they club together to do so, but they also buy seeds together and share knowledge and advice in the group.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Spring 2022-Ausgabe von go! Platteland.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Spring 2022-Ausgabe von go! Platteland.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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To die for
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1 Fiat 500 2ha 4 boys...19000 miles!
When the go-cart that an engineer father had built for his four sons couldn't handle the tufty terrain on their 2-hectare plot in Montana, Pretoria, they hunted down a Fiat 500 in a salvage yard. They only wanted its suspension system, but Mom intervened, the car was saved, and those little daredevils clocked up an impressive 19000 miles - all without leaving the plot.
SUTHERLAND Cold town, warm hearts
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