The stunning floral artistry of Hattie Molloy | My Garden Path | Gardening Australia

Gardens and plants form a huge part of floral artist Hattie Molloy’s life. Even as a child her early memories are of spending time in her grandmother’s garden and making posies for people. Subscribe 🔔 http://ab.co/GA-subscribe
Hattie describes floral art as beyond floristry, using a wider range of less common materials and often making much larger installations.

She likes to feature unusual combinations, such as birds of paradise and red roses, including long, rambling branches that create logistical challenges keeping the arrangement balanced. Another combination that Hattie manages to make look completely natural includes dried corn husks, fresh tomatoes and radishes, with lily of the valley and sarracenias.

She started out working as a florist while playing around with her own creations at home, taking photos in her home studio and posting pictures online. Her photos soon developed a strong following and Hattie started her own business.

In July 2021 Hattie was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND), which hit her out of nowhere: “One day I had a migraine and the next day I was unable to walk or talk.”

The condition affects how the brain sends and receives signals from the rest of the body. Hattie has had to relearn many life skills and is still in recovery. This has limited her independence and mobility, but her mother has stepped in as full-time carer, spending all day with Hattie and supporting her as she continues her art.

Hattie has a tiny balcony garden that is full of unusual pot plants that she uses in innovative ways in her art. It includes small delicate flowers such as wild strawberries and true geraniums that aren’t available commercially.

“If I actually think that’s it’s not going to go together, then I think I’m onto the right thing.

“All you can do is have a play and see if it works.”

Featured plants:
Freesia (Freesia cv.)
Sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus cv.)
Sturt’s Desert Pea (Swainsona formosa)

Always check species before planting: they may be environmental weeds in your area.

Filmed on Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Country in East Melbourne, Vic
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[Music] Gardens have always been like a huge part of my life it’s what I feel like I’ve just been drawn to like I don’t necessarily think there’s like some like thing that I can put my finger on but it’s just where I feel most myself gets me out of my head it gets me out of like the stresses of life I’m had Malloy and I’m a floral artist I think a floral artist goes beyond I guess like the typical floristry um that we’ve we’ve seen like lots of fruits lots of vegetables so it’s not I guess also just limited to flowers when you start to push the boundaries I think if you’re like starting to do like larger scale like installations with materials also that maybe aren’t Just Flowers I think that’s when it starts to kind of push that barrier for me at least these are some amazing Garden roses that a friend luckily enough let me cut from her Bush and then I’ve also just paired them with some birds of paradise which people wouldn’t maybe think that roses and birds in Paradise go together but it’s about more so like the movement and the shape that you create biggest challenge is making sure that it’s balanced um and that it stays upright as well because you do have quite a lot of weight and you’ve got things that are very prickly so to maneuver them and to get it all kind of right and harmonious is a [Music] skill I was born in Black Rock and I grew up around that area and then we moved down the morning to Peninsula when I was quite Young when I would go to these like Cliff top walks down porty and when it was Fria season and all I would do was pick bouquet upon bouquet upon bouquet of fre like posies of fres it’s just all I wanted to do and spending a lot of time in my grandma’s Garden like I would make posies for my teachers I would take them to school like I was just it’s just what I wanted to be around my grandma would also take me to the local Florest and I would sit there in awe and be like oh my God people get to do this for a job you know so I think um it was like always like what I kind of thought I would do I was working for other florists and then I was just kind of doing my own thing on the side and posting on Instagram and it was not necessarily to start a business I was actually very scared to start a business but I guess because I was doing something new that wasn’t really around people kind of found my work and gravitated towards it then all of a sudden took off really quickly I I was diagnosed with a functional neurological disorder in July 2021 and so just happened all of a sudden one day I had a migraine and then the next day I was unable to walk talk and I was just convulsing and so I lost all of my ability to send like those automatic signals from my brain to my body to be able to do everything that I used to do so I’ve had a long road of learning how to walk again how to talk again how to do a lot of life skills again and I’m still trying to figure out how to I guess do that so fnd is pretty unknown condition as well and I feel like it’s quite a stigmatized condition it does affect greatly women like 80% now studies are saying and it’s something that they don’t understand unfortunately it’s had a huge impact on my life and my work and I mean everything I don’t have Independence in the sense that I can’t leave my house without someone I can’t do most of my household tasks or things like that I can’t drive I I use a walking stick when I’m walking or for longer periods I’m in a wheelchair this is my little balcony Garden here in East Melbourne that I like to grow as many things on it as possible I have a lot of things especially because I don’t have access to going to the flower market a lot and things like that I try and grow things that I can snip and then I can make little arrangements with I feel really grounded and I guess just immersed when I’m in this space um especially when sometimes I can’t get out of the house and I can’t you know go out at least I get to connect with nature here and feel like I’m a part of the outside world so it’s really important for me and and that’s why I think I’ve kind of made it quite immersive so it kind of hugs you almost I guess I’m growing generally for things that I can use that I use in my arrangements some sweet peas growing I’ve also been able to grow a stirt desert pea out here that flowered which was my greatest gardening achievement to date and then I also I guess I grow herbs and things like that as well that I like to have the cooking and things like that so everything has a practical use [Music] it always kind of amazes me what I can come up with out of that space and usually is kind of like some quite common things like pansies violets asum so they’re all really easy to grow some of these delicate flowers like you can’t buy at the flower market because they are so small and dainty when I start off an arrangement I usually try and think about kind of the movement of it so I guess like it’s highest point and then the I call them just like the Dy bits and I guess where also like the negative space is going to kind of lie and then a focal point which is always important and just always a bit of Interest I feel like with color I just tend to make whatever works and somehow comes [Music] together [Music] [Music] it’ll be nice when the Japanese maple comes my darling mother Louise I feel so lucky one that we get along so well because she’s been my full-time carer for the past 2 and 1/2 years and she does everything for me she’s here 9:00 in the morning to 9:00 at night helping me still you know driving me around to jobs to appointments had so yeah I’d be lost without her so I’ve had to make you know huge adjustments but I still have been determined to still work throughout this I think that sometimes it’s easy when everything stops working to just like focus on everything that isn’t working and my creative I guess um practice has given me something to focus on that is still working because I’m still creative I still have ideas I can still make those ideas come to life I just have to do it in a different way now this is my home studio that I photograph a lot of my work in and it’s just kind of my play space as well I take photos of my arrangements and you know they end up I guess on social media but then I also you know make a calendar at the end of each year out of it and sell prints on my um website also I think that a lot of the beauty comes from using like interesting and things that you wouldn’t I guess normally pair with flowers so I love corn like it’s just so incredible the um the colors and the te T and everything and then with the humble radish and then with Lily of the Valley which is one of the most gorgeous flowers and scents that you can get if I actually think that it’s maybe not going to go together I think that’s I’m on to the right thing if that makes sense because I think pairing things with what you don’t maybe traditionally think of going together and all you can do is have a play and see if it works like I started out this and I even was like oh maybe this isn’t going to work but then as you go along you start to see I guess how things can enter twine [Music] together I think that like my view on the world is that I do like to change like I guess the context of how you perceive things I like having that like oh what is that oh oh how did that how did she do that or how is that created I don’t need to kind of recreate nature because nature does a great job I need to put my own spin on it [Music]