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Company of Flowers owner and florist Esther Bosshard said it was one of the busiest days of the year for the industry.
Usually she would do deliveries on Valentine’s Day, but as it was on a Saturday this year, she would be able to hand out pre-orders at her stall at the Otago Farmers Market, as well as cater to some last-minute bouquets people may need.
‘‘This year we’ve been so busy.’’
She started harvesting flowers yesterday and would be bunching them today.
There were about 50 different varieties of flowers in her Waitati garden — and she often went walking around the area for wildflowers to include in her bouquets.
‘‘People always give Dunedin a bit of a hard time, but we have an amazing growing season.’’
By harvesting everything locally, bouquets could have a bit more variety than from other florists, which only shipped flowers from Auckland or overseas.
‘‘That’s because there is a really narrow variety of what you can grow, and what can survive the shipping length of time while out of the water.’’
Ms Bosshard started gardening eight years ago, but was flatting at the time.
She decided to make strangers’ backyards her flower farm, and started growing on their land.
Four years ago she moved to her Waitati property, and has been growing flowers, and foraging wild flowers, there ever since.
Tomorrow would be her eighth year of creating bouquets for Valentine’s Day, she said.
‘‘I definitely learnt a lot about what to go for and what not to go for.’’
