Sarah Bryant and Carli Morrison from the Echuca-based florist, Bryants Buds, are well prepared for an influx of romantic Valentine’s Day shoppers tomorrow. Ms Bryant said, “We try to stick to local people because we have so much amazing produce and growers and talented people in our region.” Photo: Aidan Briggs
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
It’s all about keeping it local this Valentine’s Day at Bryants Buds.
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As a part of this, the owner, Sarah Bryant, said she has been encouraging people to ditch the traditional red roses.
“We’re trying to jazz it up and encourage people not to stick to your red roses because I think the trend is changing, and people are liking the beautiful country-style bouquets, which is a really popular trend at the minute,” she said.
“We’ve been using a lot of local growers this year. So, for example, on our flower bunches, we’ve featured a few red roses, but then lots of other locally grown beautiful flowers, which are just as nice.”
Locally, there are great growers and some exciting flowers different from the typical and overused red rose.
“We’ve got lots of amazing local growers in Echuca. We’ve got them in Echuca and Girgarre. We’ve got quite a few amazing local growers, and we use their flowers every week,” Ms Bryant said.
“Locally, we get the garden roses, but also lots of your beautiful zinnias, celosias, Queen’s lace, sedums, dahlias. We get all the beautiful seasonal flowers.
“Of course, the native flowers are always very popular around Echuca.”
Sarah Bryant said everyone in store is happy to help shoppers pick out flowers.
Photo by
Aidan Briggs
Acting as a one-stop shop for Valentine’s Day gifts, Ms Bryant has also been storing local wines for people to get along with their flowers.
“We stock St. Anne’s wine, which is obviously the local winery and also wine from Joy John, a really funky chick from Swan Hill that makes her all her own wine, and that’s really popular,” she said.
“We try to stick to local people because we have so much amazing produce and growers and talented people in our region. So if we can support them, then why not?”
The busyness in preparation for the day changes from year to year, according to Ms Bryant.
“Valentine’s Day is always popular, but it’s also hard to judge because everyone leaves it to the last minute,” she said.
“It’s tough to know what to expect, and the day of what Valentine’s Day falls on dictates how busy you are because generally, if it’s a weekend, people will just go out for dinner, but on a weekday, they’ll get more flowers.”
If people are unsure about picking flowers or what might look nice, Ms Bryant said they are happy to assist in-store. However, Ms Bryant said for most people, the thought really counts.
“I’m pretty sure women and men are just happy to receive flowers. It’s not about what type of flowers, it’s about receiving flowers,” she said.
It’s not just a day about romance, though, with many girls coming in to show a bit of self-care.
“We’ve had quite a few customers today that were girls buying flowers for themselves, which is pretty cool. They want to spoil themselves for Valentine’s Day, so that’s nice.”
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