8 minute read
INDUSTRY: A BLOSSOMING FUTURE
A blossoming future
As imported flower sales plummeted due to international flight hiatuses, Australian flower growers have benefitted by more people buying locally grown flowers to grace their homes and businesses than ever before.
Words: Sue Wallace Photography: Charlie Kinross
Despite a challenging couple of years, Michael and Femke Licciardi – who are passionate growers of alstroemeria (commonly known as Peruvian lily or lily of the Incas) – can see positive growth in their business Wandin Valley Flower Growers.
“Before COVID-19, more than 60 per cent of flowers purchased in Australia were imported from overseas, but when the planes stopped coming, people started buying locally grown flowers, and it’s had a big impact,” says Michael.
Different varieties of alstroemeria
“It’s too soon to see the percentage changes, but as a friend said to me – it is the silver lining of a difficult time for everyone.”
The Licciardis have been growing alstroemeria – alstro for short – for the past 20 years and now have 45 greenhouse igloos on their 3.2-hectare property in Melbourne’s eastern outskirts.
Floral genes
Farming is in both Michael’s and Femke’s blood. Michael grew up on a farm at Monbulk, east of Melbourne, where along with his three siblings, he helped his parents grow commercial vegetables. He was always interested in growing flowers.
“My family has a farming history and have been growing vegetables for generations even back in Italy,” he explains. “I briefly considered doing carpentry, but just fell into working on the family farm where we grew about eight vegetable varieties including beans and potatoes. I had a sideline of gladioli flowers which helped nurture my love of growing flowers.”
Father and daughter – Sophie and Michael – working together on their flower farm.
Femke’s late father Arie van der Spek was one of the first people in Australia to grow alstroemeria commercially. He started growing alstroemeria, liatris, lilies, tulips, statice and ranunculi in the Netherlands after leaving school aged 15. In 1982, he migrated to Australia with his family where he grew alstroemerias in Monbulk.
Femke was also a florist before she married Michael, so already had a lot of experience dealing in flowers.
The new generation
The Licciardis both wanted to carry on their family tradition and dreamed of the next generation becoming involved. So in 2002, they sold off many beloved items including Michael’s motorbike and prized car to afford the deposit on their farm.
“When we arrived here, there were only 18 igloos,” Michael says. “Now, we have more than 30,000 plants spread across 45 igloos with about 500 plants in every igloo.”
It’s very much a family affair – eldest daughter Isabella, who is a florist, works in the business parttime while their second daughter, Sophie is full-time picking and bunching flowers, weeding, thinning crops and doing other farm work.
The couple’s son Gianni works full-time picking and bunching flowers, weeding, spraying and drenching flower crops plus doing deliveries and drop-offs, farm maintenance and repairs.
Above: The irrigation system for the Licciardis' flower farm. Femke's late father Arie van der Spek was one of the first people in Australia to grow alstromeria, and she was a florist before she met Michael.
“I was keen to take on growing alstroemeria and have seen them really come into their own in the past couple of years,” Michael says.
“They used to be considered as ‘filler’ flowers, but people now know more about them, and they have amazing staying power – you can’t beat the vase life of alstro. They can last up to three weeks in a vase while other flowers certainly don’t last that long.”
Michael and Femke say their product is special because of the attention they provide from planting to selling.
“We follow the whole process and know at the end of the day customers are getting the best product that we are really proud of.
MICHAEL LICCIARDI
“We take much pride in our product, and all of our flowers are branded with unique striped-printed protection sleeves,” he says.
“We grow a few exclusive varieties that you can only find on our farm, as well as always trialling new varieties of alstro.”
The new trials include the truss alstroemeria Charmelia variety – which has blooms growing up the stems in sets of multiple little flowers on a singular floret.
Femke and Michael at work in one of the igloos
“This makes it quite unique to the standard alstro, as commonly there’s only one flower per stalk, but the new truss varieties have up to four and five flowers,” says Michael.
Looking ahead
When it comes to combating climate change, Michael says alstroemeria is a very sustainable crop with some varieties in the ground for more than two decades and continuing to produce abundantly.
Plants can last from 5 to 20 years in the ground, depending on soil condition and variety.
“We recycle our water, and when possible, we use organic sprays and products plus all our stem off-cuts and discarded leaves are collected and turned into mulch here on the farm,” he says.
Michael picking up flowers for delivery to customers; New flowers growing in the greenhouse
Technology advancements feature strongly in farm operations including automated windows in the plastic igloos that work on thermostats and open and close when the weather reaches set temperatures.
Hydronic heating also provides frost protection for the crops during winter, while in summer, circulation fans encourage air flow. Old-school methods are also part of the business.
“All of the flowers are hand-picked and handbunched which helps us keep an eye on the quality of our products before they go out the door,” Michael says.
Behind the scenes
The flowers come in many vibrant colours as well as white and pastel pink. Popular shades include the new variety of white alstroemeria called Mistral, pale pink Famke, scarlet Natalya, soft bluish pink Charmelia, bright yellow Senna and purple Napoli.
Keeping up with the picking keeps everyone busy. The flowers are hand-picked every week with peak production from August to December. They are sold to many wholesalers at the markets throughout Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide and can be purchased in many stores nationally.
“It takes about three months for the newlyplanted plants to produce flowers ready for picking and in a year, around 20 per cent of the crop gets replaced or renewed,” Michael explains.
Son Gianni picking fresh flowers with his sister Sophie.
“All plants have four layers of flower mesh support to protect stems and need to reach 70cm to be picked for bunching, with the best flowers yielded from creating a ‘canopy’ which involves a technique of nipping buds to thicken foliage at base of stem.”
Michael says they enjoy the rewards of the business and love watching the public embrace new varieties which originate in Holland.
There are also challenges along the way. “Dealing with nature is always tricky,” Michael says. “When it is cold you want it hot, when it is hot you want it to be cold, and same goes for dry and wet. Frost damage can be a big problem for us as it can take out a crop for six to eight weeks if severe enough, so we have to be vigilant and proactive in our methods to be on top of this.”
Pink and white alstomeria.
“But at the end of the day, we love knowing our product makes people happy and I agree with the saying – ‘if you love what you do you will never have to work a day in your life’.
“We are very excited about the future of flower farming in Australia and confident it will continue to grow, and not revert to how it was with imported flowers. It is so nice to see people buying flowers from local growers and supporting Australian farmers.”
The Licciardis are looking forward to the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show which is part owned by the Victorian Farmers Federation. It’s back after a two-year hiatus and will be held at the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens from 30 March to 3 April 2022.
