So one day it just happened. We thought we’d follow the old Aussie approach and get stuck in and have a go (well, first of all we had to have a go at procrastinating and arguing about having a go, but that’s another story). So, in January 1999 instead of hitting the beach and enjoying all the good stuff Sydney has to offer we painted walls, laid down tiles, argued with the council and completed all the endless paperwork that goes with opening a small business. And finally, we filled the old 1955 ‘roundie’ with flowers and prayed that if we put them in buckets someone might buy them.

And they did! Being located on the gorgeous heritage listed Johnston Street in Annandale helped. 5 minutes to the CBD across the Anzac Bridge and another 5 minutes to the Eastern Suburbs via the Cross City Tunnel didn’t hurt either, even if it was a few years before everyone’s ‘Private Road” was built. We also sold plenty of bunches to the people who we’d say hi to on their way to work in the morning and who would see us on their way home after stopping in at the pub. Whoever said opening until 8pm was a dumb idea?

Also, it wasn’t too hard to work out that if people have a great experience in our little shop they’ll probably want to come back. So we get the best and most interesting flowers and arrange them to look even better. We then wrap them up with panache. And we smile and thank you for choosing us because it makes us feel good and we hope it makes you feel the same. And it seems you do because with your word of mouth advertising (thank you very much!) we’ve needed to knock down walls to make room for more flowers and a fantastic team of florists who just love what they do.

And now that we've got no more walls to knock down and we've had our three hundred and twenty fourth request to open on the north side that's just what we've done. Yes, we've opened a second shop at Castlecrag, the suburb we like to call the "Paris of the North Shore". And we couldn't be happier. 

(But, we've got to admit we do feel pretty special when we win the big awards.Winning the inaugural NSW Florist of the Year was great but to win again in 2005 was massive. To follow up with the “Champion of Champions” – Florist in the 2005 and 2008 Small Business Awards, sponsored by Westpac, The Sydney Morning Herald, CPA Australia and MYOB was another big thrill).