Lulu Wildflowers has brought beautiful blooms to Burnett Heads, having recently opened in a previously empty shop space in the Burnett Heads Shopping Complex on Zunker Street.
The new venture is the vision of eco florist Courtney Frusher, who moved to the region with her young family earlier this year.
Courtney described Lulu Wildflowers as a concept studio where she can work on floral arrangements for weddings and events, as well as fulfilling everyday orders for her growing customer base.
A love of flowers got Courtney involved in floristry, and she said she had developed her own style and an ecological approach to her work.
“I order in a certain kind of flowers for an edit every week, it changes weekly, so you're never going to get the same thing two weeks in a row,” Courtney said.
“We follow seasonal availability too, so what you get one week may not be available next week.
“It's very stressful trying to order in exact shades of colours and flowers every single week and have a whole heap of range and you may have a lot of wastage.
“I find it's a very simplified way to sell flowers is to just do a weekly edit where I design and style the bouquets and the range for the week and then the following week will change.
“I think consistency is key and just offering something a bit different.”
The environmental impact of the floral industry is something Courtney has consciously addressed in her business model, making the choice to use ecologically sound practices such as recycling her green waste and avoiding plastics.
“I don't use anything that's not biodegradable, all my flowers are wrapped in craft paper and twine,” she said.
“I sell in jars and vases instead of having floral foam arrangements and box arrangements, so everything's very environmentally friendly.”
Courtney and her family picked Burnett Heads to settle in after two years of travelling around Australia and eight months of renting in the region, as it offered them affordable access to the lifestyle they wanted.
“It's a beautiful community,” she said.
“We didn't realise how much of a community spirit was here until we actually moved here.
“We just wanted somewhere coastal, somewhere quiet.
“We've got three kids, so it's a beautiful spot for them to grow up in as well.”
Courtney said more businesses were opening in the Burnett Heads Shopping Complex and she had noticed a change even in the short time she had been in the region.
“It's growing, it's coming back to life again,” she said of the centre.
“Lots of beautiful people come in to welcome me, it's been really good.”
Flowers can be ordered from Lulu Wildflowers online, or customers can visit Courtney in her shop Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, to see what selection of flowers are in her edit for the week.
