Bek's Bloomz Rebecca Gerstner reflects on balancing flowers, kids and adventure

But first, the kombi and Rebecca's family are off on a 10-day adventure down the Great Ocean Road.

"It's been a lifelong dream and we finally found the kombi to do it in," Rebecca said.

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Rebecca has been running Bek's Bloomz florist since she moved to Goulburn from Sydney to raise a family 13 years ago.

Now hoping to add home-grown flowers into the mix, Rebecca said she was worried the flowers might not grow, but was willing to take on the challenge.

"I like challenges in the hard-to-tick-off basket," Rebecca said.

She began her journey into floristry in Sydney, working in a flower shop casually on weekends. Later she moved into exclusive wedding florists.

Bringing her skills to Goulburn, she started doing local weddings, finding the weekend work balanced well with motherhood.

"Motherhood and floristry have worked hand in hand," she said.

However, Rebecca has managed a triple balancing act, adding overseas adventures into the mix and each time bringing new ideas back with her.

Having started her education at a community college in Sydney, Rebecca has since expanded her knowledge in Thailand, Croatia and Holland.

"In Thailand, they have a completely different style and then in Croatia, I did a wedding and just to shop at their flower market was so different," she said.

"There are language barriers, but you connect through demonstration.

"The way flowers are even sold [in Europe] is completely different to Australia."

As her kids grew older, Rebecca decided to start expanding her work beyond weddings.

Six years ago she moved to a property at Run-O-Waters where she now runs a dedicated flower studio full-time.

"As [Bek's Bloomz] grew it became real, and as it got bigger there was more pressure and deadlines and more obstacles," Rebecca said.

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The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic forced Rebecca to completely re-assess her values as she brainstormed ways to avoid closing down.

"In the pandemic, flowers really lifted people's spirits and connected families," Rebecca said.

Realising weddings were completely out of the picture, Rebecca turned her focus to everyday flowers.

"I love everyday flowers now," she said.

"It's not that I don't love weddings, but I love brightening up people's days."

Rebecca said the pandemic saw a major shift in the entire industry as people placed a higher value on flowers.

With family in Queensland, Rebecca said she understood how important sending flowers to loved ones could be.

Rebecca said since she first entered the industry trends had changed dramatically.

"When I started it was very bling, very coloured," she said.

"I used floral spray and I'd add crystals and beads, now it's more of a natural and garden style, freshly picked."

Rebecca's style shone recently when she entered the Fleurs de Ville exhibition held at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.

After two years of lockdowns and no events, Rebecca said she was looking to have some "flower fun" and reignite her sense of creativity.

"The process was very intense," she said.

Participants were given a 'femme' with three weeks' notice to plan a floral design. Rebecca was given Edith Cowan as her inspirational figure. They received the mannequin four days before the event and were given just five hours on the day to put the final look together.

"I literally dehydrated chrysanthemums for three weeks straight," Rebecca said.

When she arrived at the show, Rebecca was confronted with teams of four to seven putting together their exhibitions while she worked alone.

"Other florists said to me 'I can't believe you pulled that off'," she said.

She also faced the extra challenge of transportation being a regionally-based florist and was the only participant from Goulburn.

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Rebecca said she was particularly thankful for the Goulburn community.

"The community has been so good to me as I've raised my family and I try to give back," she said.

As well as giving to charity events and supporting local sports teams, Rebecca runs workshops at her studio.

She runs an annual Christmas wreath-making workshop and has also introduced an arrangement workshop for cemetery flowers and a candle-making workshop for Christmas in July.

"It's about creating community and the community tell me what they want," she said.

Rebecca said over the years it had sometimes been a challenge to have a creative outlet such as floristry recognised as a 'real job'.

However, she was thankful for the way it had supported her adventurous spirit.

Despite having spent years in the industry, Rebecca said she never grew tired of plants and always kept her own table dressed with flowers.

The only thing she said she had become numb to was the beautiful scent of flowers that any newcomer to her studio was sure to comment on.

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