Artisan flower farmer and sustainable florist Lisa Bindon lives in the beautiful Matakana Coast area with her husband, Greg. Lisa grew up on a market garden in Point Wells, near Omaha Beach, which is where she now grows most of her flowers and runs her business Flora Flowers. It’s a commercial enterprise she’s been working on for eight years and claims the beautiful black peat soil of Point Wells is well and truly ingrained into her hands.
Why did you get involved with flower growing and sustainable floristry?
I’ve always been interested in growing, probably because I grew up seeing my parents growing things. I did a horticulture degree at Massey University, but got distracted by having kids and a 20-plus-year career as an artist. Once my kids started leaving home, I decided to retrain as a florist. I was horrified by how many of our flowers are imported and to see and handle all the spray residues on the leaves. With my background in growing and access to good growing land, it wasn’t a big leap to becoming a flower farmer. Initially, I intended to grow what I needed for myself to use as a florist, but I found the growing satisfyingly addictive, so I have focused on that side. One hundred percent of our flowers are sold within 15km of where they are grown. That is our biggest contribution to sustainable floristry.
What do you grow at your flower farm and why?
I predominantly grow annual flowers that grow easily in my climate, which bloom from November to March. This way, I’m more likely to be able to produce high-quality blooms without having to use any horticultural chemicals. I focus on flowers with a good vase life, good-sized blooms and a mix of bright and pastel colours suitable for supplying my main customer – Twig & Bloom Florist. We probably grow about 50 different varieties of flowers over the season, but our biggest crop by far is dahlias.
Have you had any challenges?
Covid was a challenge because flowers were unable to be sold during the lockdowns (in Auckland, we had many lockdowns). The weather is always a challenge. We grow outside, so we are at the mercy of the wind and rain.
What about favourite moments so far?
Creating the flowers for my three children’s weddings and there’s always that pinch-me moment when I look at a huge bunch of flowers and know that I have grown every single one of them. Checking my little greenhouse every morning to see which seeds have germinated never gets old – that’s my favourite moment of every day.
Tell us about your favourite plants to grow?
I have fallen in love with growing dahlias from seed (instead of the normal tubers). I’ve grown thousands and have been selecting and keeping the best-performing ones. I’ve probably got around 200 potential new varieties and will be releasing the first tubers of these for sale in winter 2026.
Do you have any favourite cut flower hacks?
When I plant my dahlias, I cover the bed with a piece of weed mat for about three to four weeks. This prevents the weeds from growing while the dahlia tubers wake up. When we take the weed mat off, we cut strips of wool to cover the soil between the rows of dahlias, where weeds will try to grow. For floristry, I quite like using floral “frogs” to keep flowers in place in an arrangement. Flora & Thread makes and sells vases with built-in flower frogs.
See more of Lisa Bindon and her flowers at floraflowers.co.nz and @floraflowersnz
Read more:
- Blooming amazing: Floral stylist Kate Williams shares her favourite flowers
- A hidden Ponsonby garden brimming with wildflowers and whimsy
- Jake Linklater, Young Horticulturist of the Year’s tips for growing native plants
