Our History
Sue Dempster - The Wildflower Whisperer
AS THE WILDFLOWER WHISPERER AND EXPERT IN WA WILDFLOWERS, HOW DID YOU GET STARTED AND WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
My grandmother, Eileen Croxford was a florist who admired the beauty and shapes of wildflowers whilst my mother, Hazel Dempster has spent most of her life conserving WA natives through propagation. After growing up around such dedicated, amateur botanists, I quickly learned the importance of connecting to Country through our native flora.
I realised I have a story to share about adding the magic back into our gardens. After years of working on landscapes for local governments, industry and developers, it became very clear to me what worked for WA native landscapes. Home gardens are simply a smaller version of these larger landscapes.
Every home garden I design is filled with all year round colour using new methods featuring WA wildflowers, all specially selected to suit home gardeners and their lifestyles.
Sue at her very first Perth Garden Festival alongside Hazel in 1986 where they helped organise the floral displays for the Wildflower Nursery
Sue and Hazel in their very first batch of Western Wildflower Garden uniforms from August 2019
The original mother-daughter duo with Eileen Croxford (left) and Hazel Dempster (right)!
Hazel being assisted by Sue in her licensed collection of specimens out near Eurady station in September 2020
Eileen Jessy Croxford on a specimens trip out to Eurady from 2002 with Hazel
Hazel taking her first spin out in the new Western Wildflower Gardens branded car
Hazel and Sue at the 12th FJC Roger’s Seminar - Goodeniaceae (2018) in Wartook, Victoria following Hazel’s guest speech
Hazel, Graeme and Sue showcasing some of Hazel’s propagated Everlasting daisies during 2018
Eileen Croxford - The Woman Who Started It All
A fascination with the wildflowers that grew around her house, near the airport in Albany, led florist Eileen Croxford to teach herself the botanical specifications of much of the south coast regional flora.
She organised the opening of a new Albany Wildflower Society Branch and developed a regional herbarium. Although she had not been formally trained, the rigour of her method of collecting and recording gave the collection a scientific integrity that led to a partnership with the State Herbarium, now coordinated by the Department of Conservation and Land Management (CALM), where more than 7,500 of her collections are now housed.
“I have always had a garden and I had a little business called the Garden Florist over the telephone. When I shifted to the Albany airport in 1961 I had to have a garden there, is I thought I will have a wildflower garden because I can remember the airport before it really was a proper airport and it was just a field of flowers - it was so beautiful. So I used to go over to the back of the airport, very carefully remove little plants and plant them in the beds. They all died, so I decided I had to do it properly: I had to really learn about these flowers so I could grow them, and I started pressing flowers.
Dr John Beard came to the airport one day, and I said to John, “Will you help me with these names?” He helped me a bit and said, “Eileen you must not stop doing this - there are no plans in this government to do any research into the Albany region until 1995. Because you are so interested in wildflowers, how about you convene a meeting to form an Albany branch of the West Australian Wildflower Society”
Well, I did this, not expecting very many people, and nearly 40 people turned up and we went from there. That was 1963”
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