General News
8 May, 2026
A peek inside floristry
MANY residents will know Tania Horan as the owner of Tania Maree’s Flowers, but few would know the amount of work behind the scenes to secure and display fresh flowers each business day.
Ms Horan said she had always been into art and craft, as well as having an affinity with flowers.
“When I was really little – around 10-12 years old – my auntie lived in Ballarat and owned a florist up there,” she said.
“We used to go up there during the school holidays and visit, and I used to play with the flowers on the floor.
“I did work experience as a 15-year-old in what was then Camperdown Florist and Gifts – Dean Brown’s father used to own it.
“After I did the work experience, they were looking for an apprentice and I applied.
“I did a three-year apprenticeship, going to Box Hill College of TAFE for two weeks four times a year.”
Ms Horan may operate a typical 9am-5pm opening schedule, but her work day usually starts at 3am to collect the stock she needs to sell throughout the day.
“My flower supplier does not box up and deliver flowers due to the risk of damaging them in transit,” she said.
“When I first opened, I was getting flowers from two different companies who would box them up at 2pm and I wouldn’t get them until 11am the next day.
“They’d be in the boxes overnight, so they would get sweaty and I found they weren’t of a good quality.
“Podgers Flowers deals with the flower company I deal with now, which is Santospirito Flowers, as they sell a lot of their flowers to them.
“The only thing with them is they don’t deliver – so I go down to Yarraville, Melbourne at 3am and pick up my flowers.
“I can order whatever I want – if I want certain things, such as special colours or wedding flowers, I need to order in advance.”
Ms Horan also sources her flowers from local wholesalers where possible, including a flower farm in Torquay, a supplier near Cororooke and from local Tom Gardiner – who has his worker Stewart Boyd deliver the flowers to her store.
Often, she finds herself working at 8am to prepare flowers for display when she opens at 9am.
“For Mother’s Day or Christmas, sometimes I can be in until 1-2am working on making arrangements to be delivered because some people want things delivered before 10am,” Ms Horan said.
“Once you shut the door when it’s your own business, it’s not finished.
“For example, I got an email from someone at 6pm asking if I do flowers at a certain place.
“It’s the same with Facebook – a lot of people Facebook message me enquiring about what I do, and that doesn’t happen during business hours.
“Sometimes you’re closed on Sunday, but you’re still in the store because you’ve gone and got your order and are prepping them for the next day.”
When it comes to customer requests, very little surprises Ms Horan.
“When you do an apprenticeship or traineeship, you learn about anything and everything,” she said.
“If someone wants lollies in an arrangement, you learn how to wire them and wrap them so they’re incorporated in the arrangement.
“For the big arbour arrangements they have in weddings, you learn how to attach the flowers to the arbour.”
One order, however, saw Ms Horan put her floristry skills and research capabilities to the test.
“I had a wedding last year, and they wanted artificial proteas and natives,” she said.
“The mother-in-law gifted a crystal that was around six inches long and about 5cm wide in a pyramid shape.
“The bride wanted it incorporated in the bouquet, so I used the crystal as the handle and arranged the artificial flowers in a container on top of the crystal.
“That was something I hadn’t done before.”
Ms Horan’s business is a typical florist, focused on flowers rather than giftware and candles.
“I have giftware associated with floristry, such as a range of indoor plants, vases, artificial flowers and such,” she said.
“I make up orders for people, whether it’s fresh, artificial or vases.
“I have a few bits and pieces made up in the shop at a time, and I offer a delivery service around the area as well.
“Our local courier Future Freight takes a lot, and what they can’t get I normally take after work myself.”
Ms Horan said one major unseen task is cutting and stripping flowers once she has picked them up and brought them back to her shop.
“When I pick them up at the grower, they’re just tied up in a bunch with all their leaves still on,” she said.
“I have to strip them off because the leaves make the water go green and mouldy which makes the flowers die quicker.”
As a fresh flower florist, Ms Horan ensures her selection of fresh flowers is rotated week to week.
She said the secret to keeping flowers fresher for longer is not putting too much water in the vase they’re kept in.
“They don’t like a lot of water in the vase at once, and you should also change your water in your vases every couple of days,” Ms Horan said.
“When I say not too much, I recommend 10-12cm of water.
“A lot of people have worked out using tank water rather than town water – which has a lot of chemicals in it that kills all the bugs – is better.
“I’m not a big believer in putting anything in the water, purely because of the fact they don’t have any special things when they’re growing.
“Just change the water or top up the water every couple of days and don’t have them in too much water.”