A couple of months ago, I stumbled upon a post about flower farms in Gauteng and became obsessed with the idea of picking my own flowers on a farm. I spoke about it to my friend Fiver, who is always up for a flower adventure, and she was game. So last Friday, Fiver and I (together with Fiver’s brother and his partner, who are visiting from Germany) finally missioned north for a twilight flower-picking at Femme Pétale Flower Farm.

Fiver wanders the fields at Femme Pétale.

Before I proceed further, can we have a moment of appreciation for the name “Femme Pétale”? Could there by any better name for a woman-owned flower farm? Is there any way that a farm called Femme Pétale could be anything other than fabulous? I thought not, and I was 100% correct.

Teneale Coetzee, owner of Femme Pétale, gives us some flower-picking tips.

I love everything about this farm and the story behind it. Teneale Coetzee, Femme Pétale’s owner, started out as a floral designer for weddings and other big events. After experiencing some health challenges, Teneale decided she wanted to stop using flowers grown with artificial chemicals, but realized that sourcing local, organically grown, seasonal flowers was nearly impossible. So she started growing her own flowers and the business took off from there. Teneale now runs courses on floral design and flower-growing, sells seeds and other flower-related paraphernalia, and hosts events at her lovely farm outside Pretoria.

I don’t know if Teneale hosts floral photography events, but she certainly could. These fields are a photographer’s dream, especially in the late afternoon/evening.

Our Visit to Femme Pétale Flower Farm

Flower picking, I realized, is not something one can rock up for unannounced. Most farms have specific days and times of the year (obviously) when the public can visit, and you often have to book in advance. Femme Pétale offers flower-picking on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, and Teneale (who is very responsive and addressed me as “My Angel” in every Whatsapp message) told me the evening picking is the best. So we booked on a Friday evening, even though we knew the traffic from Joburg would be bad. The traffic was indeed terrible — we left Joburg at 3 and arrived at the farm around 5 — but it was totally worth it.

At the farm.

The flower-picking experience at Femme Pétale costs R450, which seemed a bit steep to me at first. But like the long drive at rush hour, it turned out to be totally worth it. The price includes 30 blooms, although no one really counts, plus the bucket that each of us received on arrival. A bunch of flowers of this size and variety would probably cost close to the same amount at a florist, but without the delightful experience of picking them myself.

I can’t put a price on how blissful it felt to wander aimlessly and endlessly among so many flowers, snipping whichever blooms I wanted and taking a million photos. It’s an experience of pure joy and relaxation.

There were so many beautiful dahlias in bloom.

Flowers, flowers, flowers, and perfect late-afternoon light.

The struggle was real when it came to choosing which flowers to snip.

My flowers and me. (Photo by Fiver)

Fiver’s haul, which — as you can see — made her very happy.

Another look at my bouquet.

We took our time picking, and also took a break to have a drink and enjoy the vibes. (Femme Pétale sells wine and charcuterie boards.) We stayed until just before sunset, then enjoyed a much shorter, traffic-free drive back to Joburg.

This was a 10 out of 10 experience. If you want to go flower-picking at Femme Pétale this year, do it soon because the picking season ends in a few weeks. Bring some garden shears with you, if you have them.

Everything else you need to know about Femme Pétale is on the website. Happy picking!