Dish the Dirt

What if the answer to floristry's floral foam problem could be grown instead of manufactured?

In this episode, Bec sits down with Kristina Bircsak of Miconet Solutions, creator of Natriform — a plant-based floral mechanic grown from hemp and mycelium, developed right here in Australia in collaboration with working florists.

Bec and Kristina first met at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, where Kristina's incredible mycelium sculpture was turning heads. But what started as a hobby — growing mycelium fibreboard with her partner to replace single-use plastics — soon became something much bigger. After attending a sustainability workshop at MIFGS, Kristina discovered just how damaging floral foam really is: breaking down into microplastics, harmful to touch and breathe, and quietly embedded in an industry built around nature.

Kristina also shares the deeply personal moment behind it all. Seven years ago she survived bowel cancer, and it changed everything — what she cared about, what she wanted to leave behind, and the impact she wanted to make on the world. Natriform is her answer.

Together, Bec and Kristina dig into:

• What Natriform actually is — mycelium as the glue, hemp as the structure, and why growing a product is like "taming a beast"
• The hundreds of prototypes tested over years, using rescued secondhand flowers
• What it's like to use on the bench: overnight soaking, planned workflows, fridge storage, and that satisfying stem grip
• Why casket arrangements and the funeral industry could be transformed by it
• End of life: it dries out, crumbles into your compost or garden bed — and might even grow you a crop of mushrooms
• The AS 5810 home-compostable wrap that keeps every drip contained
• Why hemp and mycelium make it genuinely sustainable from start to finish — low water, fast growing, soil regenerating
• How feedback from florists directly shaped the product (bigger, deeper blocks are on the way)
• The industry tide turning against foam — MIFGS, the RHS and a foam-free Chelsea
• What's next: full-scale production, new shapes and quick tutorials
• And Kristina's advice for any florist wanting to take one step towards foam free: educate yourself, and change just one thing

If you've ever tried to ditch the foam and slipped back because the alternatives were too fiddly or time consuming, this conversation will give you real hope — an Australian-made product designed with florists, for florists, is nearly here.

Find Kristina and follow Natriform's journey:
Website: miconetsolutions.com.au
Follow Miconet Solutions on Instagram and Facebook for product updates and release news

About the guest: Kristina Bircsak is the co-creator of Natriform and founder of Miconet Solutions. What began as a hobby growing mycelium fibreboard to replace single-use plastics became a years-long mission to develop a genuinely sustainable, Australian-grown alternative to floral foam — developed in collaboration with florists and mentors across the industry.

Follow Dish the Dirt on Instagram: @_dishthedirt_

Dawn Allen began as a Saturday girl in her local florist shop, met her husband at Covent Garden Flower Market, and now farms Australian natives from Bob's Garden — fifty acres at Boneo on the Mornington Peninsula, looking out to Bass Strait. In May, she took banksias to the Chelsea Flower Show with her exhibit Banksia Evolution, tracing the banksia from seed pod to full bloom, and came home with a silver-gilt.

In this episode, Dawn shares:

• Starting out in a UK florist shop and how floristry kept pulling her back
• Falling for wildflowers fifteen years ago, when King Proteas were three dollars a stem
• Bob's Garden — the fifty-acre property at Boneo, the man it's named for, and letting his plants live out their lives in the ground
• Why farm-grown, not flown, matters: freshness, chemicals, and supporting Victorian flower farms
• Her love of the kinked, cockatoo-chewed, perfectly imperfect stem
• Winning Spirit of the Show at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show
• Applying for Chelsea — being number 11 out of 10 the first year, then getting the acceptance email just before Christmas
• Designing Banksia Evolution: seed to plant to flower to full bloom, with steel tubing as the life force running through it
• The growers who backed her, and 27 boxes of flowers arriving in London without one broken stem
• Bump-in at Chelsea: the portal, the time slots, and why organisation is everything
• Discovering the silver-gilt medal on her exhibit on judging morning
• International florists asking "what are these, where can I get them?"

With thanks to the growers who made Chelsea happen:

• Craig Scott — East Coast Wildflowers
• Cassie and the Musson family — Wafex Australia
• Robert Luff — paper daisies
• Brimstone Waratahs
• Banksia Co

Find Dawn: Peninsula Wildflower — Bob's Garden, Boneo, Mornington Peninsula @peninsulawildflower_

Photos of Banksia Evolution are up on our socials — go and have a look.

Five years ago, Bec sat down with Petrina from Petrina Blooms as Melbourne crawled out of its first COVID lockdown. This episode, she finally makes it back for that promised gin — and finds out everything that's bloomed, died back and come up again since.

What started as an accidental side hustle off a single Facebook message has turned into a full business, taking Petrina to teach floral workshops in France and, soon, on a retreat in India. She's also finished writing her first book, Garden Joy — a deeply personal look at how the garden has held her through grief, loss and postnatal depression — out worldwide in March next year.

They dig into what's changed in the garden itself: 16,000 bulbs (up from a few thousand), a growing patch of natives to handle Melbourne's warming winters, a heartbreaking loss of a thousand delphiniums to slugs and snails, and Petrina's ongoing (unofficial) quest for a rose named after her.

There's a check-in on the local and seasonal flower movement they both championed back in 2020 — and how far it's actually come — before the mic flips, and Petrina turns the tables to interview Bec. They cover Dish the Dirt's growth to ~90 episodes, why Growers Avenue at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show matters so much, and details on Bec's upcoming New Zealand workshop in Kakanui (26–27 September).

TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Reunited, five years on 01:16 The garden today 02:19 Then vs. now 05:26 From side hustle to real business 08:14 The book: Garden Joy 15:15 Heartbreak in the garden 16:47 Climate change & the garden 19:04 Garden tours & the flower bar 22:13 Has the local-flower shift happened? 27:36 The rose (and the Slovenia discovery) 29:21 The three things test 31:50 Flip the mic: Petrina interviews Bec 40:38 Bec's New Zealand workshop 50:12 Outro

Find Petrina and that glorious garden on Instagram at @PetrinaBlooms.

Want to be on the show? No garden is too big or too small — get in touch at [email protected]

Some episodes are time capsules. This is one of them.

We're rewinding to late 2020, as Victoria emerged from its first long lockdown — gin raised, friends finally allowed over, the whole state breathing out. In the middle of it sits Petrina from Petrina Blooms: a lifelong flower obsessive who turned a suburban Ivanhoe block into a garden of 8,000+ bulbs and 120 roses, and who had just started selling bouquets completely by accident.

Petrina has loved flowers since she grew a single perfumed carnation from seed in prep and wrote in her grade-six diary that she wanted to be a florist. She kept that love deliberately un-commercial for decades, working weekends as a florist's "bucket girl" because she never wanted to "curse a flower" by making it her job. Her path wound through years working with people experiencing homelessness, then to the skies as an Emirates flight attendant — earning the nickname "Flower Girl" for smuggling peonies, lilacs and frangipani home in the first-class fridge. After marrying a passenger and trading Dubai's seasonless heat for Melbourne's four seasons, she came home, felt utterly lost, and ordered four thousand ranunculus for a tiny terrace garden.

From there it grew: a move to Ivanhoe "for the garden," a 40-year-old wisteria she refused to renovate around, a postnatal depression she gardened her way through, an open garden that welcomed kindergartens and neighbours, and — in lockdown, off a single Facebook message — her first bouquets for sale. A warm, funny, generous chat about old-fashioned flowers, healing and community.

What we cover:
(04:00) A carnation grown in prep and a grade-six diary entry
(06:00) Becoming a florist's "bucket girl" — and keeping flowers casual
(08:30) Bluffing her way into Emirates and life as the "Flower Girl"
(10:00) Chasing flowers around the world — Switzerland, Munich, Dubai
(13:00) Meeting Ricky on a flight to Vienna and the 4,000-ranunculus order
(16:00) Henry, postnatal depression, and gardening as a way through
(18:00) Buying the Ivanhoe house for its "bones" — and that wisteria
(22:00) The open garden as a way to connect a quieter neighbourhood
(24:00) Accidentally starting a business in lockdown
(26:00) Chemical-free by choice — coffee grounds, bicarb soda, ladybeetles
(28:00) Grown vs flown: why local and seasonal matters
(34:00) Her best advice: plant what you love, and plant two in case one dies
(39:00) The signature question: Pa's wheelbarrow, cosmos seeds, the wisteria
(43:00) Rose tips, garden heroes, and a dream of a rose named after her

🌿 Find Petrina: @PetrinaBlooms on Instagram

We've since caught up with Petrina five years on — what happened to those secret dahlias, whether the accidental business stuck, and whether Bec ever made it over for that gin. Keep an ear out.

Loved it? Subscribe, leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a fellow flower obsessive. Want to be on the show? No garden is too big or too small — email [email protected].

Get out there, do your thing, and be blooming fabulous

What happens when a third-generation cotton farmer and a Paris-born UX designer meet at Disney World, fall in love, and end up growing flowers on the Darling Downs? You get The Cotton Bunch — and one of the most unexpected stories in Australian flower farming.

Jamie Rother and Caroline Azria run The Cotton Bunch across two properties near Toowoomba, Queensland. Their journey started as a 3am Sydney Flower Market experiment, survived a pandemic, weathered floods, frosts and a burnt-down farm — and became one of the most exciting growing operations in Southeast Queensland.

In this episode we cover their backstory, the leap from corporate life to full-time farming, the radical mindset shift from yield to aesthetic, reviving a fire-devastated wildflower farm in Hampton, and what it actually takes to hit your targets when the black soil turns to sinking sand. Plus their proudest moment, the harvest that brought the whole team to their knees, and what it means to build something like this with the person you love.

In this episode:

• Trading Sydney careers for a cotton farm during COVID
• From 3am flower market runs to tens of thousands of sunflower stems a week
• Yield vs aesthetic — why floriculture is a completely different mindset
• Reviving a 40-acre wildflower farm burned by an arsonist in 2019
• Joining Wildflowers Australia and finding their grower community
• The Christmas bush harvest that tested everyone
• Their proudest Mother's Day moment

Links & Resources

• The Cotton Bunch — cottonbunch.com | @thecottonbunch
• Wildflowers Australia — wildflowersaustralia.com.au — tickets now on sale for the 11th National Conference & Expo, Sunshine Coast, 14–15 August 2026. Pre-conference farm tour at The Cotton Bunch, Hampton, 12 August.
• Madge Goods — madgegoods.com | @madge_goods — use code DIRT15 for 15% off the Stella Jumpsuit

Dish the Dirt goes in search of Australian flower farmers and shares their stories. Hosted by Rebecca Noble. Got a brand that'd love to reach this community? Head to dishthedirt.com.au and hit contact.

Until next time — keep being blooming fabulous. 🌸

Some people don't just start businesses — they start movements. This week I sit down with Jess, the powerhouse founder of the Flower Summit, the Newcastle Food & Flower Markets and the Newcastle Flower School.

We go right back to the beginning: the entrepreneurial kid who landed her first job at thirteen, started her first company at twenty-three with a hundred chair covers sewn in her auntie's garage, and went on to bring Australian Bridal Fashion Week to the country. From there, Jess found flowers — and never looked back, now running around two hundred weddings a year.

But the heart of this episode is the spark behind the Flower Summit: a trip to the US, a community of female growers who cheer each other on instead of competing, and the courage to bring that same generous spirit home to Australia.

In this episode: • Growing up entrepreneurial and starting a business at 23 • Bringing Australian Bridal Fashion Week to Australia • Falling in love with flowers and building a wedding business • Coming home to launch the Newcastle Food & Flower Markets • Tall-poppy culture vs. the "you go, girl" spirit she found in the US • How the Flower Summit was born (and named before her plane even landed) • Why it's for everyone — growers, designers, men and women alike • The Australian grower-led flower pricing guide she's building for the industry

🌸 The Flower Summit — a two-day celebration of women in floriculture (everyone welcome) with world-class speakers and hands-on workshops. 📅 24–25 November 2026 📍 Stanley Park, just outside Newcastle 🎟️ Tickets & details: flowersummit.com.au

This episode is proudly sponsored by the Flower Summit, and Dish the Dirt is the official podcast and media partner — I'll be there capturing all the stories, so come and say hello.

Enjoyed this one? Follow Dish the Dirt, leave a review, and share it with a flower-loving friend.

We’re closing out 2025 with a soulful, grounded, and beautifully honest conversation with Brooke Stewart of Meadowbrook Flower Farm. Set between Port Fairy and Warrnambool, Brooke’s six-acre farm is shaped by wind, weather, family, and the deep desire to build something meaningful from home.

Brooke shares how flower farming became the anchor she needed during motherhood, a FIFO lifestyle, raising a child with Williams Syndrome, and the isolation of early COVID. What started with a handful of Aldi dahlias, a cottage garden, and a suggestion to “go for a walk and listen to a podcast” has grown into a thriving, seasonal farm that reflects her resilience, curiosity, and huge heart.

This episode is rich with learning, laughter, and the kind of honesty that reminds us why Dish the Dirt exists: to celebrate the growers, the stories, and the small everyday triumphs happening on farms across Australia.

As the final episode of the year, it feels fitting, grounding, and full of hope. Thank you to every listener who has tuned in, shared an episode, spread the word, and supported local flower farmers in 2025. This community is a gift.

• How Brooke discovered flower farming through motherhood and a well-timed podcast recommendation
• Building a flower farm around FIFO schedules & family life
• Moving from a 120-year-old cottage to six acres of possibility
• Floods, droughts, crickets, windbreaks & the unpredictable reality of farming
• Her love for bulbs (especially gladioli!) and planning crops around life, not perfection
• Soil regeneration, composting & reducing inputs
• The power of showing up at conferences and finding your flower farming “village”
• Overcoming imposter syndrome and claiming the title “farmer”
• Community dinners, local networks & the importance of women supporting women

3 things she’d take if she had to leave quickly:

• Her zero-turn mower
• A sunflower head for seeds
• A handful of trusty snips

One flower to repopulate an empty island:

• Bells of Ireland (or Gladioli!)

Flower hero:

• Lisa Mason Ziegler

This is the final Dish the Dirt episode of 2025.

Thank you for:

• every listen
• every share
• every message
• every time you’ve supported a grower featured on the show

Your support builds this community, lifts up our growers, and keeps these stories alive. I can’t wait to bring you more voices, more farms, and more beauty in 2026.

Add any links here if you’d like @meadowbrookeflowerfarm

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

• Key topics:

  • Diversifying crops and sustaining staff year-round

  • Protected cultivation and the benefits of greenhouses

  • Exporting Australian flowers to Japan and beyond

  • Collaboration, community, and why sharing knowledge matters

  • Adapting to climate change and investing in renewable energy

• Mentioned:

  • Wildflowers Australia

  • AgriFutures research library

  • East Coast Wildflowers and the growers who inspire him

🎧 Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you listen.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guests: Elsa from Hunter Forage & Madeline from Mount Vincent Flower Farm

In this episode, Rebecca chats with Elsa and Madeline about how a small group of passionate local growers turned into a thriving community of 30+ members known as the Hunter Flower Collective.

We talk about:
🌼 How the collective began — and the joy of growing from five friends to 31 members
🌸 The challenges and creativity of micro-scale flower farming on residential blocks
🌿 How connection, collaboration, and shared learning have become their biggest strengths
💧 Dealing with floods, pests, and limited space — and finding resilience through community
💐 The importance of supporting local florists and fostering strong grower–florist relationships

The Hunter Flower Collective is proof that big things grow from small beginnings — and that when flower farmers come together, they can change the landscape of their region.

Connect with the Hunter Flower Collective:
Instagram → @hunterflowercollective
Elsa → @hunter_forage

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Harvest (Hunter Valley’s local flower hub)

• Grow Not Flown

• Earthenry Flower Farm (TAS)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Caitie O’Grady – Springview Irises, Ebden VIC
Host: Rebecca Noble

Nestled in the hills of northeast Victoria overlooking Lake Hume, Springview Irises is home to hundreds of bearded iris varieties grown by Caitie O’Grady and her family.

In this episode, Caitie shares her journey from planting flowers in her childhood sandpit to running a thriving iris farm known for its colour, character, and care. We talk about:
🌸 The story behind Springview Irises and its stunning lakeside setting
🌸 Growing bearded irises for Australia’s climate — from soil to frost
🌸 Why irises are far more than just purple, yellow, and white
🌸 The joy of open days and connecting with people through flowers
🌸 The importance of supporting small, family-run flower farms

Follow Caitie’s journey:
🔗 springviewirises.com.au
📸 Instagram & Facebook: @spring_view_irises

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.