By Parker McKenzie
PRECEDE:
In Menzies Creek, a couple works hard on their daffodil farm as they prepare for the biggest horticulture event of the year. While the bulbs currently lay dormant, come spring the farm will light up with an array of colour as the plants begin to bloom, writes PARKER MCKENZIE.
Outside the 35 acre property, an honesty box featuring daffodils and bulbs sit outside the driveway of Hancock’s Daffodils.
The first thing you see upon arrival is a holdover from when owners Will and Christine Ashburner were unable to make face-to-face sales during the pandemic.
Currently, Will and Christine are preparing for the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, the southern hemisphere’s largest horticulture event.
“We’ve been doing it for over 20 years, and our predecessors were doing it before that,” Christine Ashburner says.
“They went to the first one,” Will adds.
“There are competitive things but we’re there as a commercial stand. It’s a fantastic show in a great venue and it’s always nice this time of year; the gardens in autumn.” Christine says.
The daffodil farm has been running since 1917 and passed through the hands of several families before the Ashburners bought it.
The couple will be at the Flower and Garden Show from 30 March to Sunday 3 April, presenting a collection of what they have cultivated on their farm in the pavilion area and selling bulbs to keen growers.
At the farm, most of the daffodils sit currently dormant. Come November, they’ll be in full bloom and available to view for the public.
“You want to fit in with the seasons and what’s available,” Will says.
“Water becomes a problem for growing plants in the summertime and bulbs don’t grow and some go dormant.”
The Ashburners plant 20 tonnes of bulbs each year, of which Will says three quarters will turn into fully matured flowers with thousands of different varieties.
“We get new varieties by cross-pollinating and planting seeds,” Christine says.
“When you plant bulbs, they will multiply in the soil but each one will be identical. That’s how you get new varieties by cross-pollinating flowers.”
People busily go about sorting, packing and posting orders of bulbs and flowers at the farm in an undercover area. The workforce fluctuates throughout the year, with locals, family and neighbours helping ensure the farm operates smoothly.
Most of the daffodils will flower in spring when visitors will be able to see the full array of what of available.
“We’ve got a free display here for anybody who wants to come,” Christine says.
“At that time of the year, this is all full of daffodils and tulips and it’s looking really fruity. Not for a while yet but we’ve got a lot of work to do beforehand.”
Hancock’s Daffodils are one of a handful of dedicated growers remaining in Victoria and the Ashburners take pride in tracing their farm’s lineage back to the early 20th century when the farm was founded by Harry Brown.
When asked why daffodils, Will and Christine give very different answers.
“When we first started there were probably half a dozen growers in Victoria doing what we are doing,” Will says.
“I got interested in bulbs when a friend came and visited and said our garden was a north-facing sand dune and nothing much will grow here except winter growing, I thought about that and he was right about the appropriateness of the plants.”
“My family were daffodil breeders in the past and I’ve always been interested in growing things too,” Christine says.
“It passes down a bit I suppose.”
The Ashburners sometimes worry about threats to the business, with encroaching suburbia making it more difficult to farm in the Menzies Creek valley.
“I think we are the only people in this valley now who actually make a living from this farm,” Will says.
“There are lots of hobby farms, lifestyle farms and that sort of thing.”
“Particularly with the price of land these days, people can’t really buy a farm here and make it pay with the interest they are paying.” Christine says.
Hancock’s Daffodils is located at 2 Jacksons Road Menzies Creek and you can catch the Ashburners at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show at Carlton Gardens.
