November 8th, 2021Flowers of joy

THE shopfronts of Daylesford and surrounds will come alive later this month with 120 beautiful floral installations designed to celebrate spring and move towards a better future.

Sprout is a collaboration of many local groups and individuals, spearheaded by the Daylesford and District Horticultural Society in association with the Friends of Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens, designed to lift the spirits of traders and shoppers alike after long Covid restrictions.
Spokesperson Jill Teschendorff said the group’s members would be commandeering the Daylesford Town Hall on Friday, November 19, making “beautiful foliage installations for every shop keen to be involved”. They would be delivered to shopfronts by noon that day and remain on display for the weekend.
“It has been a hard time for everyone but particularly for the traders who have done it really tough, so we are going to use spring produce to bring people into the towns and also just spread happiness and joy.”
Jill said the response of traders had been phenomenal.
“They love that it is something they don’t have to do, we are doing it for them, and we have also been able to listen to their stories and how much they have suffered. That has been important as well.
“We then appealed to individuals and more than 40 local groups to see if they would like to be involved. We applied for and received grants from both the Hepburn Shire Council and the Community Bank Daylesford District. We are working with a tight budget but we will get there because of the support of the community. It really is the community helping the community.”
Jill said floral artist Denise Robinson would head up the team making the floral installations with many other florists also involved.
“There are just so many positives. The ‘Horties’ working with the Friends, meeting people, finding gardens we didn’t know about, and so many people donating produce. By the end of our event there will be new friendships made, new skills learnt and everyone will have a good time. We are going to come back to life and look forward to the future again.”