The Estelle Flowers owner and grower has been picking and arranging hundreds of flowers for up to 24 hours a day in the build up to the most romantic day of the year.
"Valentine’s Day is our busiest time of the year.
"We sell three times more flowers at this time of year."
As Valentine’s Day fell on a Tuesday this year, and her business did not open on the weekend, they only had two days to put the bouquets together, she said.
"We’re pumping at the moment."
Coffee, a very good attitude and sheer willpower were all that were keeping her awake at the moment.
While red roses were still the most popular Valentine’s bouquet, Ms Wilkinson said dahlias, cosmos, gypsophila (baby’s-breath), pendant amaranth, gladioli, strawflower and aster were becoming more popular, and were locally sourced from her own garden.
She said she had plenty of them, but not all would make it to the customer.
Again, she was being extra picky, making sure each bloom was of excellent quality.
Despite the long hours of picking and the tiring attention to quality, she was adamant the novelty had not yet worn off Valentine’s Day.
"Not at all. We love it. It’s the best time of the year."
She expected the busiest time of the year would be about 11am this morning, when "late bloomers" suddenly remembered it was Valentine’s Day and rushed in to see if they could get some flowers sent to their beloved before the end of today.
"We don’t want people to miss out," Ms Wilkinson said.
"We don’t have an endless supply of flowers, but we will try to cater for everyone that comes in."
