The Gundaroo mother of two, who established a hydroponic native flower nursery five years ago, now hopes her promotional efforts will help expand the Australian cut-flower industry.

Last night, her efforts in raising awareness of the native flower industry, and in her own enterprise, were recognised when she won the 2010 NSW Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation Rural Women’s Award.

Horticulture and botany were Lana’s passions as a teenager, so when she returned from overseas and looked for a business opportunity, she was drawn to the horticulture industry and found demand lay in native flowers.

“I didn’t have any formal training in anything,” she said.

But RIRDC had undertaken research on wildflowers and Lana used this to help map out her operation.

Strong performance in field trials led her to flannel flowers (Actinotus helianthi), also known as “white romance”, which, she says, can withstand cold, are easy to grow – and now in demand.

With two unheated greenhouses totalling 720 square metres and 1500 plants, the then 36-year-old started her business in 2005.

The greenhouses helped protect the plants from harsh near-Canberra winters – an amalgam of high winds, storms and heavy frosts – but she also wanted to try something new for the industry: hydroponics.

But because nobody had grown flannel hydroponically, there were no books or trial results to guide the way.

“I had to work it out and in the process I killed thousands of plants,” she said. “I had a hard year.

“I just kept going back to people who grew flannel and those who used hydroponics. I put it all together until I got a beautiful crop in 2006.”

Her persistence was based on the knowledge that hydroponics would provide everything a plant would need.

“You can get superb growth,” she said.

Now about 4500 plants are being lovingly cultivated, with room for another 3000 or 4000.