Dahlia Beach

[Alicolacreme]

I can’t see this venture lasting, she’s very much an ‘instant gratification’ kind of person. Which is why she’s throwing such a tantrum all the time and relying so heavily on the praise from others to get her back on track, only to then fudge something up again. Her husband looked frustrated with her at the end of that video

 

[Starry_eyed_pie]

Her husband looked frustrated with her at the end of that video

The text didn't pick up his first word, but she's taking about letting people down and about to cry, and he says 'don't do that on here'.. has he not seen any of her SM?! That's literally her MO!!! Over promise, under deliver, cry for sympathy online.
I wonder if she made him think she knew more then she does and that's why he gave up his job to help out with the business.

I love that she talks about how hard she's working when she basically films other people working hard! Reminds me of Bridget Jones "just fanning about with press releases"!

 

[geneticsgirl]

I only follow her to see what a tit show it all is. Wish the other girl bosses would stop encouraging her.

 

[CocoCottesmore]

Only recently found this thread. I started following her because a friend shared a post and I like gardening. I went to order some flowers from her and was absolutely gobsmacked at the price! As others have said, you can get free YouTube videos etc.for advice so that's not.even a value add.

The free/abusive labour has passed me by tbh but am disgusted by this. Its so common unfortunately. My husband was out of work for a bit and often took jobs where employers similar to DB would just take the piss. I know small businesses really struggle but e.g. if she can afford a soho famehouse membership she can bloody well afford to treat her employees properly.

Also, I dislike her constant gurning and she has tit eyebrows (sorry!!).

 

[Notenoughgin]

I was bought some of her dahlias and so have the ‘exclusive access’ to the Facebook group. Very little there for the members from her royal dahlia highness Andie, but one thing I’m consistently seeing is people who have ordered certain collections and now they are coming into bloom they can see they have not been sent what was ordered. When buying ‘collections’ that are supposedly curated to be complementary, that’s a pretty big balls up. There also is quite a bit of dahlia gall - disease.
This woman is a con artist!!

(Comments on last pink flower ‘that’s not ‘Linda’s baby’ variety)

 

[Alicolacreme]

I was bought some of her dahlias and so have the ‘exclusive access’ to the Facebook group. Very little there for the members from her royal dahlia highness Andie, but one thing I’m consistently seeing is people who have ordered certain collections and now they are coming into bloom they can see they have not been sent what was ordered. When buying ‘collections’ that are supposedly curated to be complementary, that’s a pretty big balls up. There also is quite a bit of dahlia gall - disease.
This woman is a con artist!!

(Comments on last pink flower ‘that’s not ‘Linda’s baby’ variety)

is Andie replying to any of these posts with explanations or tips on what to do?

 

[Slip slip knit]

I was bought some of her dahlias and so have the ‘exclusive access’ to the Facebook group. Very little there for the members from her royal dahlia highness Andie, but one thing I’m consistently seeing is people who have ordered certain collections and now they are coming into bloom they can see they have not been sent what was ordered. When buying ‘collections’ that are supposedly curated to be complementary, that’s a pretty big balls up. There also is quite a bit of dahlia gall - disease.
This woman is a con artist!!

(Comments on last pink flower ‘that’s not ‘Linda’s baby’ variety)

I think it’s especially annoying if you’ve spent £50/60 on a collection!

 

[Notenoughgin]

is Andie replying to any of these posts with explanations or tips on what to do?

No not really. A couple of the dahlia gall ones she puts ‘DM me’
---

I think it’s especially annoying if you’ve spent £50/60 on a collection!

Yes so maddening. I’ve yet to be impressed with the ones I had from her. I bought myself some Sarah Raven ones that are lovely.

 

[Alicolacreme]

No not really. A couple of the dahlia gall ones she puts ‘DM me’
---

Yes so maddening. I’ve yet to be impressed with the ones I had from her. I bought myself some Sarah Raven ones that are lovely.

Some community leader she is then!

 

[softkitty]

I was bought some of her dahlias and so have the ‘exclusive access’ to the Facebook group. Very little there for the members from her royal dahlia highness Andie, but one thing I’m consistently seeing is people who have ordered certain collections and now they are coming into bloom they can see they have not been sent what was ordered. When buying ‘collections’ that are supposedly curated to be complementary, that’s a pretty big balls up. There also is quite a bit of dahlia gall - disease.
This woman is a con artist!!

(Comments on last pink flower ‘that’s not ‘Linda’s baby’ variety)

I would imagine this is due to the free labour she uses…

 

[bluberrieoh]

I was bought some of her dahlias and so have the ‘exclusive access’ to the Facebook group. Very little there for the members from her royal dahlia highness Andie, but one thing I’m consistently seeing is people who have ordered certain collections and now they are coming into bloom they can see they have not been sent what was ordered. When buying ‘collections’ that are supposedly curated to be complementary, that’s a pretty big balls up. There also is quite a bit of dahlia gall - disease.
This woman is a con artist!!

(Comments on last pink flower ‘that’s not ‘Linda’s baby’ variety)

I had bought one of her collections last year before realising what she was like and 3 of them had gall’s disease, threw them out. Luckily were in pots so didn’t mess up my garden beds. I did hear that last year was bad for gall’s disease for growers in general

 

[Yellowsubmarine]

Another week another chaotic panic advert for Labour - this time for a florist with just a week before her Dahlia fields open to the public. Not sure what decent florist would want to work Saturdays and Sundays for £12 an hour - seriously, Tesco and Aldi pay more for cashiers and shelf stackers.
Never known anyone so unable to hold on to employees. Whatever happened to the PA who was going to solve ALL her organisation problems? How long did she last - 6 weeks??
I admire anyone who starts a small business and puts the hard graft in to make it work. It’s not easy. But I do feel she needs a reality check about how many years that can take - many small businesses don’t make a profit for the first 5 years or more. She always wants to sprint before she can crawl and so there are mess ups every week. It feels a lot like she’s selling a soap opera of dramas and tears these days rather than a credible flower farming business.

 

[OhhBacon]

Another week another chaotic panic advert for Labour - this time for a florist with just a week before her Dahlia fields open to the public. Not sure what decent florist would want to work Saturdays and Sundays for £12 an hour - seriously, Tesco and Aldi pay more for cashiers and shelf stackers.
Never known anyone so unable to hold on to employees. Whatever happened to the PA who was going to solve ALL her organisation problems? How long did she last - 6 weeks??
I admire anyone who starts a small business and puts the hard graft in to make it work. It’s not easy. But I do feel she needs a reality check about how many years that can take - many small businesses don’t make a profit for the first 5 years or more. She always wants to sprint before she can crawl and so there are mess ups every week. It feels a lot like she’s selling a soap opera of dramas and tears these days rather than a credible flower farming business.

It appears someone in the comments agrees with you!

The job description is huge and the pay is shocking, which experienced florist is taking up that offer!!!!

I don't think she really wants to run the business, she really just wants to take pretty shots for Instagram and share some inspirational quotes. The actual hard work and organisation of running the business is totally beyond her. I would love to know how they bankroll it all because it can't be making money?!

 

[softkitty]

I have wondered how she is feeling now that her bestie Tom is living his best life offering the same service she does for her reel rockstars with a women who actually runs a successful business. £12 is shocking for that job of a florist. Surely weekends are a florists busy time?

 

[Alicolacreme]

I can only imagine the rows in that house, she said a few days ago that her husband was having doubts about it, he must see first hand just how unorganised everything is now that he’s quit his job

 

[AutumnDays]

She once said she doesn’t business plan, instead just runs with her ideas which results in mayhem. She jumps from one thing one thing to another - pyo flower farm / buying the bus / dahlia boxes / flower shows / flower markets / wholesale field / buying or renting office cabin / buying expensive irrigation system / merchandise / talks of franchising / talks of flower subscriptions, etc, etc. Looks to use volunteer labour or hire staff to actually do all the work, persuades her husband to join her venture. I wonder how much of a profit can she possibly hope to make. This year alone - flower farm delayed opening / banned from some RHS flower shows / no mention of London markets now. She can‘t blame the weather on everything - last year she went on holiday while the wholesale field wilted in the heat, this year she was late sowing the pyo flower farm, especially given she didn’t start the tubers off under cover. Farming is tough as do weather dependant but surely she was aware of that.

Instead of wanting everything in five minutes, it might be wiser to concentrate on the pyo flower field, include a few rows for market/florist sales and the dahlia boxes. Won’t make her a fortune or enable her husband to work on the venture full time but it would be manageable and doable. Do more of the manual work herself and accept that her Income will be during the two/three month flower season and when she sells the dahlia boxes. She could do a floristry course and make Christmas floral arrangements/run workshops for an extra bow. Build up slowly while also remembering dahlias are a trend at the moment, don’t have a great vase life and grow other flowers also.

 

[Alicolacreme]

She once said she doesn’t business plan, instead just runs with her ideas which results in mayhem. She jumps from one thing one thing to another - pyo flower farm / buying the bus / dahlia boxes / flower shows / flower markets / wholesale field / buying or renting office cabin / buying expensive irrigation system / merchandise / talks of franchising / talks of flower subscriptions, etc, etc. Looks to use volunteer labour or hire staff to actually do all the work, persuades her husband to join her venture. I wonder how much of a profit can she possibly hope to make. This year alone - flower farm delayed opening / banned from some RHS flower shows / no mention of London markets now. She can‘t blame the weather on everything - last year she went on holiday while the wholesale field wilted in the heat, this year she was late sowing the pyo flower farm, especially given she didn’t start the tubers off under cover. Farming is tough as do weather dependant but surely she was aware of that.

Instead of wanting everything in five minutes, it might be wiser to concentrate on the pyo flower field, include a few rows for market/florist sales and the dahlia boxes. Won’t make her a fortune or enable her husband to work on the venture full time but it would be manageable and doable. Do more of the manual work herself and accept that her Income will be during the two/three month flower season and when she sells the dahlia boxes. She could do a floristry course and make Christmas floral arrangements/run workshops for an extra bow. Build up slowly while also remembering dahlias are a trend at the moment, don’t have a great vase life and grow other flowers also.

This is another point also! Dahlias were a fad a couple of years ago that are slowly being replaced by other blooms. She really put all of her eggs in one basket with them!

 

[Yellowsubmarine]

My prediction is that she will decide the Dahlia Fields are too much work for the income they bring in - so I wouldn’t be surprised if she decides to close the fields after this season is finished and instead go full pelt on building the Dahlia Beach brand in garden centres and online. She knows that marketing is her main strength and not the actual growing or breeding of new strains of Dahlias. Soon customers will cotton on that they can buy better quality tubers for half the price elsewhere.
It’s one thing to love growing flowers in your garden but a completely different thing to scale up and grow commercially for a business.
All the lip syncing to songs and inspirational “failing is an opportunity to learn” cheesy quotes don’t pay the bills. At some point she’s going to have to take a long, hard, cold look at the realities and decide whether this is really giving her the income and work life balance she says she wants.

 

[Mildred500]

I am so interested to find this thread. I’ve been following her for a little while as the farm is in a bit where I take my kids to soft play! At first I really liked the idea, I grow dahlias myself in the garden so would be nice to see fields of them! I am no expert in growing and actually forgot to dig up a lot of my tubers last winter….. but mine are all huge and have been out for weeks so I was a bit confused when she said hers aren’t doing very well? We have had the same weather!

 

[sixdinnersid83]

Farmer Gracy were great this year for me. I can’t tell you how how I want to push our squeaky voiced grifter in to a large compost bin, head first.