Too Pretty To Eat!

When their veggies started to bloom, these two plant lovers launched an exciting new venture.

-  Marie Esterhuyse

THE OWNERS

Conrad Conradie and Louise Steenkamp

WHERE The Wild Bunch Flower Farm, Wellington

SIZE 5ha

TYPE OF SOIL Sandy and loamy

Conrad Conradie and Louise Steenkamp arepassionate about growing plants. Even when they lived in a basement apartment in the heart of London, these plant enthusiasts had a garden.

“We travelled through Europe and Africa for a number of years but in our early thirties returned to Conrad’s hometown of Wellington, where we leased land on the slopes of the Groenberg mountain and started growing organic vegetables,” says Louise. “Using that produce, we supplied veggie boxes to households and restaurants in the Boland. One year, though, the demand for artichokes was so low that the plants bolted and produced the most beautiful blooms. I still remember feeling a little despondent that all that delicious produce was going to waste as we simply could not consume it fast enough!

“That same week, Mabel Steenkamp of Die Gieter, a florist in Paarl, visited us and spontaneously exclaimed: ‘Oh, Louise, I must have these beautiful flowers in my shop!’ And that’s when our flower adventure began.”

The following week, Louise went in search of more florists and she remembers well how they would run out of their shops when she arrived with her load of unusual blooms.