Nestled in leafy Robinson, just a 10-minute drive from the centre of Albany, are rows of dahlias, zinnias, cosmos, snapdragons, and amaranths.
The idyllic setting is home for Kate Walmsley, the local flower grower behind Bushy Blooms.
Ms Walmsley grew up on the farm surrounded by the entrepreneurship of her family — who do everything from asphalt to wine — and deeply connected to the land.
“I just really loved working outside . . . and I got really into agriculture and growing things on a massive scale and I thought ‘this is what I want to do’,” she said.
However, it wasn’t a straight line to farming for the 31-year-old, who spent her early 20s working at festivals in the UK.
After returning home in 2017, Ms Walmsley worked for her family, mostly helping on their coffee van, before starting a Bachelor of Science majoring in Agribusiness at the University of Western Australia.
“The most interesting thing I learnt was probably the world economics of how food is produced and moved all over the world and where it goes, and the buying and selling of it . . . because you just never thought that chickpeas in South Australia would end up in Egypt, and that’s a staple part of their diet,” she said.
At the same time as learning about the bigger picture of global food production, Ms Walmsley was gaining hands-on experience at her family’s vineyard, managed by mum Margaret.
Then COVID-19 hit, and Ms Walmsley found herself spending more time in the garden.
“I was basically just a nervous wreck in the garden for months and months and months,” she said.
“That’s all I did, was get up, go out, plant stuff, seed stuff, pull stuff up — it was great.”
She realised she wanted to start her own business and she was looking for something to pour her energy into when her aunt told her how she used to grow dahlias.
Ms Walmsley knew they were a popular cut flower that would thrive in the Great Southern’s Mediterranean climate, and decided to give it a go.
Despite some early resistance (one florist said they wouldn’t last, and refused to buy them), Ms Walmsley eventually found buyers in Hanna Horwitz-Forshaw, the wedding florist behind Joy Botanical, and Harry Lenthall of Perth flower wholesaler Everbloom.
Mr Lenthall gave Ms Walmsley advice on what to grow, and the business blossomed from there, though it was not without its challenges.
Ms Walmsley has contended with crop failures, unseasonably hot weather, a broken coolroom, mystery insects, powdery mildew, and hungry sheep.
“Every year something doesn’t work out right, something hates something — it’s never-ending,” she said.
Undeterred, the process has taught her to think six months ahead in her planning — selecting and sowing seeds according to seasonal colour palettes.
“Planning is everything, which is funny because you just don’t think of it when you see a really big, beautiful bouquet,” she said.
“Because everything had to be curated, you had to pick everything to put in that bouquet before it even existed.”
It’s a complex undertaking, but one Ms Walmsley is deeply passionate about.
Her commitment to locally grown seasonal flowers has helped her carve out a niche in the WA market, which is saturated with flowers imported from the Eastern States and overseas.
Because flowers like dahlias and zinnias won’t last if they’re shipped, they have to be grown locally, which is less carbon-intensive than importing flowers, while growing seasonal flowers in the open means Ms Walmsley can avoid spraying insecticides and fungicides and cut back on energy use, unlike growers in Perth who have to grow in greenhouses to contend with the city’s extreme heat.
“If they’re out in the field, you don’t need to use light, you don’t need to use heat, and you just don’t really need to spray a lot because there’s so much air circulating,” she said.
The resulting flowers are so fresh they last for weeks.
Ms Walmsley started at the Albany Farmers Market last year, where she sells bouquets that were picked and arranged the day before.
The weekly Saturday market was a big change after years of selling wholesale, but Ms Walmsley has relished the opportunity to connect with her customers.
“It’s amazing how many people, when they see a flower, they’ll tell you the story that they associate with their flower,” she said.
On one occasion, she gave a bouquet to an elderly gentleman who refused, saying she should give it to someone else because he lived alone.
After Ms Walmsley insisted, the man finally accepted it, and told her he’d put them in his late wife’s vase.
“He told me . . . ‘she’s going look down at them from heaven and smile’, and it was so lovely and so moving,” she said.
The market also offers Ms Walmsley a place to connect with like-minded people.
“It’s nice going somewhere where there’s other people that are in the same boat as you . . . I think having that group, that community of other farmers you make connections with, I think that’s probably the best thing about the market,” she said.
Never one to slow down, the young farmer has her sights set on Perth, where she hopes to start selling her bouquets directly.
Ms Walmsley’s entrepreneurship is impressive, but the thing she most wants people to know about her business is that it’s a “big family effort”, with members of her immediate and extended family all pitching in.
“I’m really lucky,” she said.
Bushy Blooms can be found at Albany Farmers Market on Saturdays from 8am-noon and on Instagram @bushy.blooms.
