THE Easter wedding season has increased local demand for flowers from Florabella flower farm near Cookhouse.
“Over March and April I am supplying flowers for 16 weddings,” said Adele Taljaardt as she put finishing touches to arrangements for a wedding at the Duke of Bedford Inn on March 24. That same weekend, she had supplied flowers for three other weddings.
Brides are strongly influenced by images on Pinterest and Adele Taljaardt told us that a combination of pink, white and green is the fashionable colour-scheme this season.
Roses and lizzianthus are most frequently requested, with old fashioned favourites like snapdragons and Queen Anne’s lace also featuring strongly.
Sugar-pink king proteas are also popular even though a single specimen can cost more than R70 this month, which is out of their normal flowering season.
At Florabella, flowers are picked early and moved directly into a large coldroom. A teaspoon of Jik per litre is added to the water, and the flowers are not misted.
Throughout the year, Adele and Harald Taljaardt supply florists all over the country with thousands of blooms from 15 tunnels and some outdoor beds where a wide variety of flowers and foliage is produced.
They also grow vegetables and fruit – they are currently picking pomegranates.