Situated on the urban fringe of Western Sydney, Flora International is one of the largest rose growing facilities in Australia. The 27 acre farm comprising of 33,000 square metres under glass and has been growing roses for 35 years. The operation switched from soil growing practices to hydroponic technologies when the nursery changed ownership in 1999. Flora International is constantly reviewing and introducing state-of-the-art technologies to achieve higher production and efficiency targets, in order to provide the consumer with a better quality product, at a competitive price.
At Flora International we are presently growing 73 different varieties of roses. We not only grow roses, but have to market and sell our own product. Flora International trades from locations such as the Sydney's Flemington Flower Markets 6 days a week and at a number of smaller local markets on the weekends. Flora International has a customer base in Sydney and along the Eastern Seaboard. Every year we are involved in a number of exhibitions ranging from bridal to home and garden exhibitions. Flora International also trade 6 days a week directly from the farm gate to the public, we employ a number of full time florists who do work ranging from every day arrangements to funerals and weddings.
The entire nursery is controlled by a Priva Computer system that controls the climate in the glasshouses by automatically operating vents, heating, circulation fans, etc to preset optimum values in temperature and humidity for growing roses. The Priva system also controls the hydroponic irrigation of the roses, providing them with a very accurate nutrient solution which is influenced by factors such as light intensities, heat etc. In Flora International's aim to become more environmentally friendly all water run-off from the hydroponics system is collected treated and reused for rose production or irrigated over outdoor ground crops such as Strelitzia (Birds of Paradise) or over open grassland.
At Flora International we maintain a strict program for pest and disease control that mainly relies on good sanitation practices, daily scouting and the use of bio-controls. Recently we introduced IPM (Integrated Pest Management) that involves the use of predatory organisms to control unwanted pests, this reduces the amount of chemicals that are used on the roses resulting in better quality roses. IPM is a longer term solution to pest control, and a more environmentally friendly solution to an increasingly challenging problem.
In 2002 Flora International was appointed the Australian agent for the German rose breeder Rosen Tantau. Every year we receive new rose varieties for the Australian market, in order to keep up with worldwide changing fashions in the flower industry, these new varieties come in the form of rose cuttings, for us to grow and trial. As a result we have our own quarantine facility which complies with strict AQIS (Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service) regulations, allowing the introduction of new rose varieties into the country safely, while still being under our professional care. Flora International also have a propagation unit to propagate new rose varieties, in order to make them available to all other rose growers within Australia.
With the economic climate as it is, Australian Growers need to diversify to ensure that they meet with customers demands and ensure that their produce captures a greater percentage of market share. Therefore, in 2005, Flora International made the decision to grow Oriental Lilies. This proved to be successful, both with our variety selection and quality produced enabled us to extend our reputation for the finest Roses to the growers of the finest Roses & Oriental Lilies. Due to this success in 2006 we doubled the growing area from approx. 2000m2 to 4000m2.
Finally, Flora International employs approximately 30-50 full time staff. We pick roses seven days a week 362 days a year supplying our customer base of 300+ regular customers with the freshest roses possible. We aim to stay at the cutting edge of technology in the diverse rose industry and overseas markets for the future.