From Bob's Garden to Chelsea — Dawn Allen, Peninsula Wildflower

Dawn Allen began as a Saturday girl in her local florist shop, met her husband at Covent Garden Flower Market, and now farms Australian natives from Bob's Garden — fifty acres at Boneo on the Mornington Peninsula, looking out to Bass Strait. In May, she took banksias to the Chelsea Flower Show with her exhibit Banksia Evolution, tracing the banksia from seed pod to full bloom, and came home with a silver-gilt.In this episode, Dawn shares:Starting out in a UK florist shop and how floristry kept pulling her backFalling for wildflowers fifteen years ago, when King Proteas were three dollars a stemBob's Garden — the fifty-acre property at Boneo, the man it's named for, and letting his plants live out their lives in the groundWhy farm-grown, not flown, matters: freshness, chemicals, and supporting Victorian flower farmsHer love of the kinked, cockatoo-chewed, perfectly imperfect stemWinning Spirit of the Show at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden ShowApplying for Chelsea — being number 11 out of 10 the first year, then getting the acceptance email just before ChristmasDesigning Banksia Evolution: seed to plant to flower to full bloom, with steel tubing as the life force running through itThe growers who backed her, and 27 boxes of flowers arriving in London without one broken stemBump-in at Chelsea: the portal, the time slots, and why organisation is everythingDiscovering the silver-gilt medal on her exhibit on judging morningInternational florists asking "what are these, where can I get them?"With thanks to the growers who made Chelsea happen:Craig Scott — East Coast WildflowersCassie and the Musson family — Wafex AustraliaRobert Luff — paper daisiesBrimstone WaratahsBanksia CoFind Dawn: Peninsula Wildflower — Bob's Garden, Boneo, Mornington Peninsula @peninsulawildflower_ Photos of Banksia Evolution are up on our socials — go and have a look.