May 18th, 2020Creating beautiful floral displays for all

DENISE Robinson’s work is truly beautiful and even more than that, she is a beautiful person.

Her connections to the natural landscape run quite deep, as do her connections to the community that she loves.

For more than 20 years, Denise has volunteered at the Daylesford Regional Visitor Information Centre and it’s fitting because of her passion for the area and its history.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me, I just don’t leave,” Denise joked.

“Ever Tuesday, except for now of course, I’m at the information centre. I’ve worked with some wonderful people, it’s my little Tuesday team.”

Gardening has always been a passion as well and Denise has been involved with the Friends of Wombat Botanic Gardens group for several years.

“It’s an active and interesting group, I’d like to retire and spend a bit more time with it. I can’t commit to that yet but I can’t wait to get my hands dirty and be part of the growing group, being able to propagate things and raise funds for the gardens.”

Pre-COVID-19, Denise could also be found at Daylesford Neighbourhood Centre, tutoring.

“I would usually do a Winter series of flower arranging, very loosely, as an introduction to floristry, using things from the Winter garden. This is the first Winter I haven’t done it in about 12 years. It’s a really nice thing to do through the centre.”

Keeping with the beautiful floral theme and the natural landscape that she loves, over the past nine years Denise has also been involved in the Fabulous Flower Festa, the flower show raising funds as part of the Swiss Italian Festa.

She also loves history saying “if  I had another life I’d be a volunteer at the museum, what they do there is just amazing, I need more time to do all these things”.

Denise’s own history in the area is interesting too – her grandfather was one of the four original owners of the Mineral Springs Hotel – and the decision that she and her husband Rodney made 27 years ago to turn their holiday spot into a permanent home on the lake was an easy one.

Denise had been living in Daylesford for only a year when she started working as the floral stylist at Lake House.

“I made Alla some posies, tiny little things just the size of your hand, and we presented them to diners on the Sunday of Mother’s Day. I had inherited an old garden, so I pulled the posies together and that was the start.”

That was 26 years ago and since becoming the in-house florist, Denise estimates she has been the Lake House bridal florist for about 500 to 600 brides.

Her picking garden, at Dairy Flat Farm at Musk, is a more recent passion for Denise. It’s two years old and she’s picking more of her beautiful posies from it and selling them at the Lake House’s Wombat Hill Café at the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens.

“I’m the  Lake House in-house floral stylist, but I’ve never actually sold my work before and just over the last couple of months that we’ve been shut down, we’re trying to be ‘something from your garden’ and not ‘something that you would pick up at the supermarket’ – it’s a little posy that you might pick up while you buy produce and things like that, it’s always fragrant, always beautiful.”

Even in the middle of a global pandemic, Denise finds ways to present “beautiful” to her community.

“Nothing is the same, that’s the lovely thing about being a floral stylist, it’s a gift.”

“I made Alla some posies, tiny little things just the size of your hand, and we presented them to diners on the Sunday of Mother’s Day. I had inherited an old garden, so I pulled the posies together and that was the start.”

Image:  Denise plants jonquil bulbs as part of Daylesford Erlicheer

Words: Kate Taylor | Image: Contributed

(This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas.)