About Solar Aster

Alan Silverwood started Solar Aster in the spring of 2017 as a Saturday stall at a neighbourhood farmers' market, selling whatever he'd bought at the Ota flower market that week. There was no grand plan. He'd spent the previous eight years working in wholesale, watching flowers get bought in bulk and sold without much thought for what was actually good that week. The stall was a way of doing it differently, on a small scale, with no middleman between the market and the person who'd put the flowers on their kitchen table.

By the end of 2018 the stall had a waiting list for Christmas wreaths and Alan took on a small shop unit. The first winter was tight. He learned quickly that a florist's busiest days (Mother's Day, the year-end and New Year, and the March graduation season) can carry a quiet month if you plan for them, and that the customers who come back every week are worth more than the ones who come once for a big occasion. He started the subscription service in early 2019 partly out of practicality: it meant he could order more confidently from the market and waste less.

Solar Aster now handles everything from a single stem for a friend's birthday to full wedding flower packages. Alan still does most of the arranging himself, with help from one part-time assistant on busy weeks. The shop is open Tuesday through Sunday. He buys from the same Ota flower market stalls he's bought from since 2017, and supplements with a local grower he's been buying from since 2020, particularly for dahlias and sweet peas in the summer months.