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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.

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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.

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