Make your own vinok, aid ideas from Ukraine

M ake y ou r o wn v in ok

Regina Razumovskya has ideas for UK garden centres to support Ukraine now and help rebuild its green infrastructure in the future.

With her husband Vladimir (Volod), Regina Razumovskya runs a large nursery business and a garden centre near Kiev. Destroyed by artillery and with machinery confiscated, the nurseries are no longer running and most of the plants have died.Fortunately the garden centre, Botanic Market remains untouched. Business hangs by a thread with volunteers running the garden centre and working hard to keep Ukraine blooming - sales are online only with a click and collect type arrangement.

Regina, Volod and their two children are now refugees in Australia, residing with colleague, friend and ‘retail guru’ John Stanley and have been working on initiatives to help local garden centres and nurseries not only support Ukraine but also their own businesses. Regina, Volod and John are keen to share ideas that have already been successful in Australia with the garden retailers across the world.

A workshop to make traditional floral crowns, called vinoks, could be a good marketing opportunity.

Volod, Regina and John Stanley.

Set up Ukrainian style plant displays

Using plants familiar to Ukrainian gardens or decorations that are typical of the country, make displays for the garden centre entrance or plantaria. Viburnum, willow, mallow and sunflower (Ukraine’s national flower) are examples. Allocate a fraction of their sales to a charity fund. Regina says: “Customers love to have some of these plants at home where they could become a talking point, and feel they are in some way standing with Ukraine.”

Ukrainian crafts

Egg decoration workshops will certainly draw attention to your business. Although it’s an Easter tradition,

Ukrainian egg or pysanky workshops will be create much interest. It’s a traditional skill in Ukraine using wax and dyes to decorate eggs which can last forever. Floral crowns or vinoks are symbolic in Ukraine, particularly for festivals and weddings, so why not partner with a local florist and offer a workshop where guests make their own traditional Ukrainian crown? If you have a local flower festival nearby, you could coincide so both events gain reciprocal publicity.

Support to regreen Ukraine

The Union of Planting and Material Producers (the country’s nursery association), promotes Ukraine as a leading plant grower on the international stage. Today it is approaching the Ukrainian government with the idea of a donation scheme so the world’s nurseries can support Ukraine with plants or landscape design costs.

A scheme currently being discussed for when the war is over, is for nurseries and garden centres around the world to link up with cities or towns in Ukraine to support specific regreening projects. These could include helping to restore and plant up a park, school or hospital. As well as helping to rebuild Ukraine’s urban landscape the initiative could garner positive press and publicity throughout the process as a local, national and international level.

For more information visit: www.svsm.ua