We deliver locally Monday to Saturday and are now delivering to Yankalilla every Friday

NO FLORAL FOAM

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As a florist this is a biggie for us and one we are proud to shout from the rooftops… We have committed to not using floral foam or polystyrene foam in any of our floral arrangements. Floral foam is an exceptionally useful tool and most of the flower industry use it in box arrangements, wreaths, centerpieces and more. It is a quick and easy way to create floral designs and keep them hydrated and easily transportable. But in my experience, cut flowers do not last nearly as long in floral foam as they do in a clean vase of water, so from a longevity perspective and value of money for our customers, we are not a fan. But the real concerns came when I did a little more research into the environmental impact emerging related to the product itself.

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What we know...

Floral foam is a petro- chemical and it is not compostable. It is a single use plastic that breaks down into micro-plastic particles. There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows how harmful micro plastics are to the oceans and environment. Floral foam is also linked to some nasty chemicals including Formaldehyde, Carbon Black and Barium Sulfate. Therefore, when it is added to our ever-growing landfill, it is said to leak toxic gasses into the environment and waterways.

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MINIMAL WRAPPING​

If flowers are out of a vessel and are being transported, it is important they are wrapped to protect the blooms. When wrapping, we use only the amount of paper needed to protect the flowers and present them beautifully, without adding extra layers of unnecessary colour or texture which causes additional waste. 

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WASTE LESS: OUR WAR ON WASTE

Running a small flower business can be difficult in terms of keeping on top of waste. You order too many flowers, you have excess waste. Order too little, they sell out and people walk away empty handed. With more experience this is not necessarily made any easier, as from week to week the flower sales vary significantly. This makes it is near impossible to predict and get the right balance consistently. So we have found that one of the many positives about working purely with natives by growing our own flowers and buying local is that whatever is left unsold, we keep, dry and then make into small cute little posies to resell on the flower stall. The native varieties of flowers and foliage that we sell generally dry beautifully so there is no need to waste them, and so much more reason to save and re purpose.

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JUTE STRING​

We use jute string rather than the vast array of colourful plastic and material ribbon available because it is Eco-friendly. Jute reaches maturity in less than 6 months and offers large crop yield for the area of land it is grown upon. Jute fiber is entirely bio-degradable and compostable.

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WILLOW WREATHS​

We make custom wreaths of all shapes and sizes. Each one is handmade using stems of a willow tree. From there we strip the leaves, and twist the branches in a way that locks them together without the use of any man-made materials. It is more labor intensive, but it means that every wreath sold  by Botanical Love is completely natural and handcrafted from scratch without the use of nasty materials such a floral foam.

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COTTON DRAW STRING GIFT BAGS​

We love our little drawstring cotton gift bags. Not only do they look super cute, but it means our gift bag options contain no plastic wrapping/ paper etc. We have also hand stamped the back of every bag with “don’t throw me, rehome me” to encourage our customers to continue to reuse the drawstring bags for gifts or repurpose them in some other creative way.

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RECYCLED PAPER​

Our hand painted, one of a kind cards designed by Botanical love, are manufactured in Australia and printed onto 100% recycled paper. Including the envelopes!

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SKINCARE PACKAGING

We have now managed to convert our packaging away from plastic to glass for all of our creams and sprays. Our glass jars do still have plastic lids which at this stage we have not been able to avoid, but steps forward in reducing some plastic in our packaging feels like a big win for us and the environment. Not only this, but amber glass jars also extend the life of the ingredients and the essential oils (dark jars keep more light out). Bright light diminishes the quality of the essential oils more quickly than if they are stored in dark jars in a dark/cool area. So we hope that by introducing more glass to our packaging range, we reduce our plastic footprint, we increase the lifespan of our products and we also encourage our customers to reuse/re-purpose the containers rather than send them to landfill after a single use. We now also use recyclable aluminium jars for our lip balms (instead of one use plastic wind up ones), compostable cardboard tubes for our salts and cotton fabric for our bath bombs (goodbye horrible soft plastic shrink wrap!) Our soaps are also wrapped in card, making them both compostable.