A life in bloom

Beth Webb remembers sitting by her grandmother’s feet as a youngster, learning to make ribbon roses. Those lessons prompted her first entrepreneurial enterprise at age 13: ribbon roses in plastic cylinders sold to classmates as Mother’s Day gifts. “Every mother at my high school must have received one,” she recalls. Thirty years later, Beth still believes in the power of the flower, and continues to brighten people’s days with striking arrangements created at her Brisbane florist shop, Divine Flowers. 
6am: The life of a florist starts early with a daily pilgrimage to the flower markets. Beth loves the buzz that introduces each new day. “Your senses are assaulted,” she says. “There’s so much colour, scent and sound.” Much of the stock for Divine Flowers is bought by auction at the Brisbane Markets. Beth shares the early mornings with Renee Rowe, who has worked with her for the past decade.
Beth learned how to buy at auction the hard way. “I’ve made some terrible mistakes,” she says. “The worst was a hand signal that saw me buy 100 bunches of grevillea instead of 10!” These days she briefs a flower broker, Adrian Kamp, on what’s needed and what she’s willing to pay. “The auction is for our day-to-day purchasing and Adrian will stay and bid for us, letting me, or Renee, get on with the day. In my case, that means heading back to the shop or a quick trip home to get my son on his way.”
With such variety available, it’s surprising when Beth admits she doesn’t actually have a favourite flower. “As the season changes, I get excited about the new blooms that start to arrive. But for me, what brings back the best memories is the fragrance of common jasmine. It reminds me of backpacking in Greece one summer in my twenties – such happy, carefree days, when the only thing I had to worry about was what I was going to eat for lunch!”
7.30am: Beth's four-year-old son, Angel, lives with Beth for half of the week and the other half with his dad, Bradley Butten. Beth and Bradley separated a few years ago and now share his care. “It's a situation that works for the three of us now,” says Beth. “Bradley and I both feel we’re better parents for it. I structure my work and social life around Angel. Occasionally, I need to do the early-morning market run when he is home, and then I am incredibly lucky to have Bradley's mum, Therese, available to sleep over.”
As well as picking up Angel, Beth collects her 'business partner', Dougie, a six-year-old Maltese-Silky cross. Dougie spends his workday curled up on a cushion in the Divine Flowers workroom, or trotting around the Newmarket shopping centre, checking out the neighbourhood.
8am: Beth heads to the shop, where the first of the day’s supplies begin to arrive. She and her staff prepare the blooms for sale – conditioning the flowers to increase their longevity and assembling arrangements due for delivery. “Buying in season is always a bonus for the life of the flower,” says Beth. “We also let our customers know how they can get even more from their blooms by taking simple steps, such as changing the water every day to reduce bacteria and cutting the stems on a sharp angle to create a larger surface from which the water can be absorbed.”
8.30am: Beth first opened a flower shop in Brisbane 14 years ago, called The Divine Miss B Floral Creations. “We created floral arrangements for hotels and catered for the wedding market.
Then I decided to retail,” she explains. The name changed to the fuss-free Divine Flowers because “the old one was simply too big a name to answer the phone with”.
Relocating to Newmarket two years ago brought Beth into a fashionable new shopping centre on a main road, just minutes from the city centre. Although there's passing trade, many of her customers are regulars who will travel from all over Brisbane for her gorgeous creations, or corporate clients wanting statement arrangements in their foyers and offices. The phone runs hot. “We will do pretty blossom bouquets if that's what a client wants, but our signature style is bold, earthy and strong. “I love putting a contemporary spin on rustic, and creating something quite eclectic, such as big groups of one type of flower, enhanced by a sculptured husk or a gnarled, dried branch,” says Beth.
10am: Once a month, the staff gather to talk about flowers over mid-morning coffee, breakfast in the workroom, or fun wine-tasting nights at a local restaurant. Beth sees it as an important time to talk about new-season arrivals, trends and what’s in demand. “I’m a firm believer in using what’s in season. It’s a similar concept to vegies – a tomato tastes best when it’s in season,” Beth explains. “The change is exciting; bulbs in winter, natives in spring – each season brings new possibilities. In winter, I love parrot tulips en masse, and hyacinths are always popular for their fragrance, but it’s the cymbidium orchid that I believe offers the best visual impact and great value. A single stem, paired with a big glossy leaf, is so elegant and has wonderful staying power.”
Beth has three full-time staff and a few school students, often customers' daughters, who work part-time after school to learn the basics and experience working as a team. “These days, there are traineeships for those wanting to enter floristry. Training is quite structured,” she says.
Beth was just 14 years old when she started working in a flower shop in Perth. “I learned on the job as I went along,” she says. “My biggest lessons came when I worked in London in my twenties. I remember coming across colours and species I’d never heard of; even Western Australian natives I'd never seen before because they were only ever exported. While at an upmarket London florist, regular old flowering gum was considered a deluxe product and people paid a small fortune for it. It was something so common in Australia – everyone grew it in the backyard! I'd never have considered it for floral displays. That experience changed my mindset and has continued to inspire me.
“The English were much more inclined to have flowers in their homes all the time, rather than just for special occasions,” Beth recalls. Many of her clients now confidently spend on blooms for the home on a weekly or fortnightly basis, having learned about best buys of the season and flower care. “Sadly, for women, some men still think of flowers as being a special occasion thing. Valentine's Day is huge, and everyone loves their mother on Mother's Day; but the idea of buying flowers just for the heck of it is still a little foreign, but I'm working on changing that.”
Midday: Of all the client work Divine Flowers does, Beth most enjoys wedding flowers – and she has become one of South-East Queensland’s most sought-after bridal flower designers. “Flowers are such a visual, essential wedding component. They have the power to transform a lovely wedding into a breathtaking, divine affair.
“The excitement of a wedding is contagious. I don't get soppy, but I do get a thrill from taking a client's idea and creating something that's one-off and so personalised. My bridal favourite is stephanotis. It looks simply stunning and stylish on its own and works with almost any style of gown. Plus, the scent is divine.”
2pm: Working as a florist is physically demanding, as well as creative. “You need to be robust and agile,” says Beth. “You're standing on your feet most of the day. There's a lot of lifting and carrying buckets full of flowers and water, as well as boxes of produce and large displays.” Despite there being plenty of opportunity for squats and dead lifts, Beth tries to make time for
a proper gym workout two or three times a week. “I often dress for work as though I’m off to the gym. It's a way of psyching myself for it,” she says. “I'm very lucky. My parents are naturally thin and I've inherited that trait, so I've never had to worry about weight. Although, being in my forties, I find there’s a little more challenge. I started going to the gym two years ago, at the time of my separation. I go for the endorphins; it makes me feel good. There's something to be said for having a healthy body and mind.”

 

Words: Heather Grant.   Photography: Andrew Lehmann