The Little Dandelion is your new favourite florist!
Eliza Kiel says she has wanted to be a florist for as long as she can remember.
As a little girl walking home from primary school, Eliza and her sisters would pick dandelions or the neighbour’s daffodils to arrange in a vase for their mother.
“Mum would come and go, ‘Oh, that's so beautiful!’ It wasn't beautiful at all, but anyway, I guess that's where it stemmed from,” says Eliza.
Now a florist with six years’ experience here in Orange, Eliza has just launched her very own store, fittingly called The Little Dandelion.
“I've always wanted to work for myself and to be my own boss. My little baby, he's almost one now, and I knew that when he turned one, if I wanted to do my own thing, he’s at a good age and now’s the time,” says Eliza.
Located opposite the Orange Railway Station, The Little Dandelion offers a wide range of fresh and preserved flowers, along with decorative vases, candles, chocolates and more.
“There's a few other florists in town, but I think everybody's different; everyone has their own spin on things,” says Eliza.
“I do weddings, I make bouquets for people, bespoke arrangements on the spot. I’m putting an arrangement into a business later this afternoon, so things like that.
“I'm obsessed with preserved flowers. Obviously, they last longer, and you can mix them with the other flowers, and then once the fresh flowers have kind of had it, you can pick them out.
“I also press the flowers as well, I think that's really fun. I love pink! So I just have to be careful when we buy the flowers that they're not all pink.”
Proudly local, Eliza says she tries to source as much stock as she can for The Little Dandelion from Orange and the surrounding region.
“Amy at Connie Farm Flowers, Forest Reefs, brought me some beautiful ranunculus last week and she's got a heap of different things coming next month,” says Eliza.
“Chris at Mayfarm, his stuff doesn't come into full swing until the start of December. So I'm still getting stuff from Sydney at the moment, but once all the farms around town get going, that's where I'm buying most of my flowers from. I'm really excited for that!”
To keep up to date with what is in season and what’s in stock, you can visit The Little Dandelion website or better yet, follow them on Facebook or Instagram.
“I try to post something every day to let people know what I've got. Sometimes, you follow a florist on Instagram and they're posting things that are out of season, so when you call up excited, saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I saw that you had this flower!’ They’re like, no, sorry. That was actually an old post. I try and post things that are really relevant.”
The Little Dandelion is located at shop 2/105 Peisley Street, Orange.
Contact them on 0401 354 289 or email thelildandelion@outlook.com