Dish the Dirt

Recorded live at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, this quick chat features world-renowned floral artist Sue McLeary (aka Passionflower Sue).I was lucky enough to grab a few moments with Sue to talk about her artistry, the beauty of floral wearables, and her love of locally grown flowers.It’s short, sweet, and full of floral inspiration. Enjoy! 🌸🔗 Learn more about Sue: passionflowersue.com📸 Follow us on Instagram: @_dishthedirt_Let’s Stay Connected:📸 Instagram: @_dishthedirt_🌐 Website: www.dishthedirt.com💌 Email: [email protected] you loved this episode, please consider leaving a review and sharing it with a flower-loving friend—it truly helps us grow!

VOTE! Dish the dirt Listeners Choice Awards https://www.australianpodcastawards.com/voting Botany is a sustainable online florist based in Melbourne. We take the traditional florist business model and give it a green overhaul, by offering products that have been created from farm to door without any single-use plastics or unnecessary packaging. We create all of our beautiful arrangements using only locally grown and seasonal flowers, and arrange them into glass vases that ensure your flowers arrive fresher and ready to enjoy! If you are as serious about sustainability as we are you will love sending flowers with Botany.

Craig Scott East Coast Wildflowers My father and I started farming together in 1984, our family has been involved in the cut flower and foliage industry either as growers or florist for a number of generations. I live on the NSW Central Coast Australia. Our main farm is at Mangrove Mountain and we wholesale our flowers and foliage at Sydney Flower Markets where we have market stands and warehouse facilities. On our farm we specialise in growing Australian flora, in the field as well as in greenhouses. The main species that we grow are Anigozanthos, Eucalyptus for foliage and flower, Actinotus (Flannel Flower), Grevillea, Telopea, Rhodanthe, Bracteantha (everlasting Daisies) Ptilotus (Mulla Mulla) and a wide range of other interesting Australian wildflowers, we aim for year round production. East Coast Wildflowers is one of Australia’s leading wholesalers specialising in Australian Wildflowers and South African Proteaceae, we source cultivated flowers and foliage from most states in Australia.

From country show baking to raising orphaned lambs, bestselling author Maya Linnell writes about the life she lives and loves. A keen bookworm, former rural journalist and radio show host, Maya is also an ambassador for the digital library app Libby OverDrive. She lives in rural Victoria with a menagerie of animals, sweeping gardens, three bookworms and the odd tiger snake or three. Kookaburra Cottage is now available in all good bookstores, Big W, Kmart and also available for download.

Soho Rose farm is a cut flower farm growing field grown garden roses and seasonal flowers in the heart of our family run working cattle, potato and cropping farm within the Hepburn Springs farming district.

I have been a florist for over 25 years but have had a love for flowers all my life, my earliest memories would be picking from our large garden on the farm I grew up on. I went straight into floristry from school and was traditionally trained. I moved to Wanaka and my sole focus had been weddings for the last 16 years up until covid. About 6 years ago we purchased the land I grow on now and always had a vision to grow blooms for my floral design. Growing primarily hard to source garden blooms and in particular dahlias was the goal. Covid hit and I pivoted to selling online retail and growing a more diverse range of blooms in a small cutting garden and then selling excess flowers to other local florists. I am so lucky to have such amazing relationships with the fellow florists and other local growers in the area. I am really passionate about locally and sustainably grown blooms and supplying high quality flowers not just for couples who are my clients but other florists and their clients who get to use and see our amazing blooms. We also sell tubers from our dahlias each year and are developing our own hybridised varieties with the focus being on more wedding style blooms as the clients we supply to are mainly florists for weddings and my own clients getting married. We are also wanting to grow a range of blooms for seed and see a need for less imported seeds and more self sufficient production in New Zealand - something I hope to delve more into over the coming years.

Field of Roses is a small flower farm and floral design studio led by farmer/florist mother and daughter duo Zoe and Sue Field. Nestled in the beautiful Waingake Valley just outside of Gisborne, New Zealand. Field of Roses was established in 2012 after Zoe had an idea to plant a field of roses on her family farm, alongside with an assortment of flowering annuals and perennials that all lend themselves to their wild and romantic designs. They do a bit of everything, weddings, everyday bouquets, workshops, wholesale and most recently released their book, LOST & FOUND, filled with lots of flower inspiration for any flower lover. You can find LOST AND FOUND in Australia Dymocks -everywhere Readings (Melbourne) Boffins (Perth) Kinokuniya (Sydney) Avid Reader (Brisbane) Paperchain (Canberra) Fullers (Hobart) Dillons (Adelaide) Gubba Bags - Gubba.co.nZ Beneficial Bugs - bio force.co.nZ

Clifton Blooms is a flower farm located by the beach and among the gum trees in southern Tasmania. The farm was established in 2021 by Kate Dixon. Kate grows a mix of Australian natives, South African natives as well as interesting perennials and annual flowers. Clifton Blooms supplies flowers directly to floral artists and clever creatives in the greater Hobart area

‘ Carlie and Matt grow seasonal, open field cut flowers on their 5 acre property located in Upper Crystal Creek on Bundjalung country. They grow their flowers based on regenerative agriculture and no till principles. They don’t use nasty chemicals and enjoy building beautiful, healthy soil with their three youngest daughters alongside them’

A COLLABORATION OF FOUR FLOWER FARMERS We are Three Valleys Flower Farms, a collaboration of flower farmers located across Cardrona, Maungawera and the Lindis valleys in the Upper Clutha Basin. ​ With a love for all things floral we are passionate about growing stunning seasonal blooms. We are consciously growing artisan garden flowers sustainably that are full of character, for you, our local community. ​ THE FARMERS ​ Anna Mackay CARDRONA FRESH ​ Jenny Clark STUDIO 24 BOTANICALS ​ Sarah Rutherford THE JOY FARMER ​ Vera Yakzhik ALPINE BLOOMS FARM find them - [email protected]