Star

Bloomin’ lovely

By Nicole Precel

14th July 2009 11:05:32 AM

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No secrets ... Greenvale florist Stephanie Rondos. 33167

GREENVALE florist Stephanie Rondos’ job has its highs and lows, but she knows her flowers always touch the hearts of their receivers.

Ms Rondos, 20, runs A Secret Garden with her sister Marika, 21, in the Greenvale Shopping Centre and arranges flowers for condolences, weddings and funerals.

At the age of eight she was helping her family around their flower shops, and began floral arranging when she was 12.

“You’re a bit like a counsellor for people, asking them what the occasion is, if they’re sad or happy about something,” she said.

She said often young men often waltz in for a bunch of flowers to propose to their girlfriends, and sometimes it’s just to say sorry.

“If a guy is coming in and we haven’t seen him before, I have to ask him what they’ve done wrong and they usually have a funny story, too,” she said.

Having learnt from her family the basics about the industry, she is now learning different techniques of arranging.

“Every florist has a different style of doing everything,” she said.

The scratches and cuts on Ms Rondos’ hands are signs that floristry is not an easy job.

She wakes up at 5am to visit the market on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and said she gets tired standing all day and carrying heavy buckets.

“It’s terrible on Valentine’s Day,” she said.

“We work so hard, we don’t go out and at the end of the day you don’t even get flowers,” she said.

But the job was rewarding, knowing that their flowers were making people smile.

“I think the best is probably when a young man comes in, he doesn’t know what to get and he says he’s about to propose to his wife.”

Ms Rondos loves having people come into her store and thanking her for her flowers.

“A lot of people come in and say they were beautiful. I really wish someone would buy flowers for me one time,” she said.