I wonder, can a person learn to grow flowers? I suppose that’s a silly question, because otherwise the profession of gardening would be a total ‘you got it or you don’t!’ type thing, and therefore just a little bit elitist. They probably let people do gardening who might not be totally up with the right way to plant hyacinth flower bulbs, or they sometimes trim a little bit too close to the bud. Everyone goes through on-the-job training!

So yeah, I could learn flowers, and their many ways. Shouldn’t even be that hard, because I managed to take care of my last cactus for, like, a week. So many of my friends are learning to be computer programmers, IT specialists, app designers…all jobs invented in the last few years and so dependent on technology. Whereas when there’s a big technology crash and everyone needs to learn to grow things, I’ll be all like “Oh, what’s up fellows? Growing carrots, and maybe some beautiful roses to take your mind off the fact that there’s no more technology? Sure, I can help you out with that. Because it’s my job.’

Yeah, I guess I just really want to be useful. People are always going to need gardeners, because in all the many years humans have been around, flowers have never gone out of fashion. And neither have vegetables! Isn’t that weird? I mean, it’s not like we don’t have science right now and stuff, so we can just grow carrots in a lab. Nope, all the best stuff still comes from the ground, which is why I’m looking for a decent course that’ll teach me to do that kind of thing. I mean, I might be competing against a whole lot of people who grew up on farms or whatever, but I’m willing to put in the work. I even looked up a few places to get brindabella roses online. So if class needs us to bring our own flowers…I can get my own, is what I’m saying. I like to be prepared.

-Annaliese

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I made an unlikely friend this week. His name is Donald, he is 75 and widowed. We met on a flower course. As a wedding planner dealing with flowers is kind of an occupational hazard for me and my clients always assume I have a strong knowledge of flowers. Well I do know! The course covered everything from the best time to plant Brindabella roses to the best types of soil enhancer. It was actually pretty great, I learnt about seasonality in flowers, when is best to plant what and even how to pair things together. I also made some great florist links that I can partner with when providing floral services to my clients. Donald is an extremely lovely guy, his wife sadly passed away 2 years ago and he said he’s been pretty lonely ever since. Hence his desire to take the course. His wife loved flowers and was always pottering around in the garden so he thought if he learnt a bit about it he could connect to what she loved and feel closer to her. When I told him I was a wedding planner he said he probably wouldn’t need my services professionally but he would love to be my friend. The course was great not only for the roses knowledge and training it provided but also as a meeting point for people that would otherwise rarely cross paths. Donald now comes round to my house every two weeks for a cup of tea, a game of scrabble and some flower chat. We compare bulbs and soil mixtures for hours! Last week he bought me the most sensational bunch of Iceberg roses that now sit proudly on my mantel. My kids adore him and have even started calling him Grandpa. It is in the most unlikely places that we find true friendships.

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