From her dining room table just south of Gisborne, Kate Briant makes beautiful bouquets from blooms she's grown herself. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
When it comes to growing flowers, timing is everything.
Gisborne flower grower Kate Briant has traded one career focused on perishable products in the horticulture sector, for an even more time-sensitive product.
"Once a flower is ready, it's ready," she told Country Life. "It's not like a mandarin, or an apple or a kiwifruit that can sit there for another week or two. When that flower is ready, if you don't pick it within 48 hours it goes to waste."
Kate made the move to flower farming, and running her own floristry business The Rural Florist, not long after the birth of her now four-year-old son George.
Having studied commerce and agriculture with a minor in plant and soil science at Lincoln University before going to work in the horticulture sector, Kate realised she wanted a more flexible role when young George came along.
Kate already enjoyed making bouquets for friends and family before realising she could make a business out of it.
A family with green thumbs - her mother-in-law is a florist and Kate describes her mother and grandma as "great gardeners" - she set about developing a garden from scratch.
"I just thought I'd give it a go and best-case scenario it works, and worst-case scenario I've got lots of flowers to give to people."
The makeup of the bouquets is influenced by what Kate can grow during the different seasons, the longevity of the blooms and colour palettes that appeal. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
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She began by supplying bouquets to the local grocer at Makaraka Veges, after she realised there wasn't a flower shop on this side of Gisborne.
The business got bigger, including events and a summer flower-subscription service.
George eventually ended up in daycare, though two-year-old sister Emily is still with Kate fulltime making it a bit of a juggle.
"A lot of my joy is that I can do this with them in garden. We just have so much fun."
When juggling becomes a bit much, she focuses her efforts on the Makaraka retail stand and shuts the website down temporarily.
Floristry and flower growing require different skills compared to her horticulture job, which involved a lot of paperwork and travelling between orchards.
"I just wanted to get my hands dirty again."
As with any business that relies on ever-changing weather conditions, running the flower farm certainly has its challenges.
"So with flower growing it's not this glamorous thing. I don't portray it so much but a lot of the flower grower influencers do, especially overseas. They're prancing through fields with their beautiful curled hair and their floaty dresses.
"The reality is not that. We are farming. The playing with flowers, AKA making the bouquets, is only about 10 percent of the actual work."
Proteas are one of Kate's favourite flowers to work with. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
When Country Life visited back in late July, the anemones and tulips were just starting to bloom.
Her dining room table was awash with vibrant pinks and lush greens, buckets filled with proteas and lots of foliage.
Although she grows foliage all year long, there is a three-month gap between winter and spring where she has to buy in some of the flowers.
"In the winter, my bouquet-making skill is different to the summer," Kate explained.
"In the summer, it's all flowers, it's an abundance - how many flowers can I pack into a bouquet? In the winter, it's a lot more strategic, you know these flowers have cost me to buy in so I can measure how much does this bouquet cost me to put together? What do I need to price it at to make it worth my while? And bulking it out with greenery."
Summer is all about dahlia and zinnia flowers, and pinky-pastel or bright orange colour palettes.
Kate also grows and dries flowers, so as not to worry about perishability and waste.
When designing a bouquet, she considers elements such as the colour palette as well as long-lasting blooms that offer customers value for money.
"[It's about] trying to strike a balance between what's pretty and what lasts."
Kate Briant, The Rural Florist, with daughter Emily at home near Gisborne. Photo: Gianina Schwanecke / Country Life
