In short:
A remote West Australian town has lost its primary florist of 30 years.
asserted
town → lose → years
Romantics have been left scrambling for alternative ways to show their affection.
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Romantics → leave → affection
Smaller flower farms are emerging to meet some of the town's intense demand.
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farms → emerge → demand
That is of course, if they live in a city.
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they → live → city
It is a different story for those living in remote towns and communities.
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It → live → towns
Perth resident Gerald Contreras is acutely aware of this challenge as he now struggles to surprise his partner who lives 3,000 kilometres north of him in Kununurra.
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who → struggle → Kununurra
Until recently, one major supplier of flowers serviced the town's permanent population of about 5,500 people.
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supplier → service → people
Mr Contreras said he sent his partner flowers at least once every two months, but that ended when the florist business closed.
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business → say → flowers
"Being Kununurra, a very small town, there's not many options to surprise my partner with love gestures," he said.
"Not even anything like ordering a simple meal; so, flowers was one of the very few ways I could show affection, love, and surprise my partner.
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I → be → partner
For three decades Diane and Chris Robinson were the main players in Kununurra when it came to flowers.
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it → come → flowers
They would grow their own blooms when the weather permitted and trucked up flowers from Perth.
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weather → grow → Perth
"During the wet season, when we can only grow tropical flowers.
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we → grow → flowers
We did bring flowers from down south and gradually it just turned into all year," Ms Robinson said.
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Robinson → bring → year
"We can't grow roses … and also the Australian native flowers are not very good here.
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flowers → grow → roses
While demand was consistent, the pair struggled to find a long-term shop assistant to sell their flowers.
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pair → struggle → flowers
With the Robinsons are looking to retire, a decision needed to be made.
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decision → look → ?
"We're going down that retirement path, so they [the flowers] were pretty easy to [let go of] because we couldn't get a florist," Ms Robinson said.
"If we perhaps had somebody that was staying, we wouldn't have shut the shop quite so quickly.
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we → go → shop
"
Selling flowers on smaller scale
Meanwhile, Bianca Brown has begun assembling and supplying flower bouquets while also running an agricultural transport business.
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Brown → sell → business
Ms Brown said she wanted to fill a gap in the market.
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she → say → market
"Already I'm at the point where I probably could put somebody else on and I'll probably look at scaling up next year and seeing where it goes," she said.
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she → put → somebody
Ms Brown was sourcing flowers locally and from Perth, and was looking forward to seeing what types of flowers she could grow herself.
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she → source → flowers
Mr Contreras said he was eager to use Ms Brown's flower delivery service.
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he → say → service
"Beyond text messages and calls and video dates, I'm keen to try the new florist who is in a much smaller capacity," he said.
"When I did surprise my partner by flying up I was looking all over town for flowers, and couldn't find any, even in person.
"
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I → try → person
But the florist did restock the next day with a small amount of flowers.
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florist → restock → flowers
I think I bought almost half the stock."
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I → think → stock
Sophie Cooke lets people visit her family farm and pick flowers themselves to buy.
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people → let → flowers
Ms Cooke said her customers mostly bought flowers for their homes, but also visited the patch for special occasions.
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customers → say → occasions
She said a number of residents had started arranging flowers to meet the town's needs, but there was scope to grow more flowers and the industry.
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number → say → flowers
The Aporia