Local. Seasonal. Sustainable.
Our Ethos
Botany began in 2020 as an alternative to traditional floristry. Our industry is known for showcasing a natural, beautiful product. What is not as well known is that this product comes with an unbelievable amount of waste. Although this is common practice, it need not be. By completely overhauling the structure of a floral business and recreating it in a way that is low-waste, supports local growers, gives back to the environment, and also delivers a high quality product, we are able to offer flowers like never before. Discover a new way to send flowers with Botany.
Grown Not Flown
A huge number of flowers are flown into Australia every week. They carry enormous carbon miles, are chemically treated, and are a pathway for invasive pests to enter Australia. We use only Victorian grown, or at a push, Australian grown flowers.
Conscious Deliveries
Deliveries are a big part of being an online florist, and our major source of emissions. To help counter this, we donate $1 from every delivery to Greenfleet, who plant native & biodiverse forests that create habitat for wildlife and help to sequester carbon.
Vase Returns
To help reduce our waste and create a more circular business model, we offer vase returns for all our Botany customers. You can send your unwanted Botany vase back to us for a discount off your next purchase, and we’ll reuse it in another order.
Naturally Dried
Our dried flowers are purchased fresh and dried in house here at Botany. Unlike imported preserved flowers, our naturally dried range does not contain any harsh chemicals, bleach or dyes. They are safe to touch and smell, and safe to have in your home.
No Floral Foam
Floral foam is a fine-celled thermoset phenolic plastic foam. It is listed in SARA Hazard Categories as both an Acute Health Hazard and a Chronic Health Hazard. It slowly breaks down into microscopic particles that make their way into our waterways, adversely affecting marine life. We do not and will not ever use it.
Plastic Free Flowers
It may surprise you to know that most commercially sold flowers are packaged into single use plastic sleeves, which end up going straight to landfill. We avoid these sleeves at all costs, and only purchase unpackaged & unsleeved bunches, completely avoiding this unnecessary waste.
REDUCING OUR IMPACT
SUSTAINABLE
Packaging & Presentation
All of our arrangements are presented in glass. Unlike traditional bouquet wrapping, glass is reusable or infinitely recyclable. Our flowers are bought directly from farms or through wholesalers that supply locally grown. Our compostable gift tags are printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper using solar power production and non-toxic inks, and attached with natural twine. We also stock a beautiful range of giftware & spirits from local, like-minded businesses to compliment your flowers.
We believe that sustainable floristry is the natural next step for our industry. At Botany Florist Melbourne our goal was to create as little impact on the environment as possible. Reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging, flowers purchased & presented plastic free, locally grown and seasonal flowers used, and naturally dried flowers offered.
We are also proud to be part of a global sustainable floristry community with the Sustainable Floristry Network. The SFN is an education platform for both florists and customers to learn about their environmental impact, and discover the path to change. Supporting florists within the Sustainable Floristry Network means you are ensuring you send flowers with as little impact on our environment as possible.
Carbon Emissions
reduction
As an online florist, a big part of our business is deliveries. From collecting flowers from local farms, to visiting wholesalers, and delivering beautiful flowers all across Melbourne, we create a lot of emissions. To help counter this we donate a portion of every order to Greenfleet. They plant native & biodiverse forests which provide habitat for native wildlife, improve soil quality and sequester carbon.
PLASTIC FREE FLOWERS
WASTE MANAGEMENT
SOLUTIONS
Single use plastic sleeves are one of our industries biggest waste issues. Thousands of these sleeves are used daily by many of our local farms to pack fresh cut flowers into. After a short transportation period, they are removed by the florist and go straight to landfill.
Rather than hoping for a long-term recycling solution to these single use plastics, we decided instead to cut them from our business completely. We are proud to say that all of our flowers are 100% plastic free from field to vase.
We only ever use un-sleeved bunches in all of our work, and source our flowers from local farms that pack their flowers straight into buckets, plastic free. By cutting this waste from our supply chain we have avoided over four thousand pieces of plastic from going to landfill. If your would like to learn more about sustainability issues in floristry and find out what you can do to help, hit the link below.
Say hello
We love all things sustainable floristry!
We want to shape our industry for the better. No plastic, no foam, just beautiful flowers delivered to your door. Ask us anything – we love to chat!