Seed-cession Planning: Samantha Kennedy New CEO of Meadow Flowers Australia
Samantha Kennedy, daughter of Meadow Flowers Australia founder Maurice Kennedy, will take the reins of her father’s company.
Samantha, an experienced lawyer, telecommunications executive, and business leader, is thrilled to be carrying Meadow Flowers Australia into the next phase of its development.
“Maurice established this business when he was in his eighties,” she said.
“What started as a small operation run out of his garage caught on very quickly. His product is much loved and has a wide application.”
Samantha says her father’s story should serve as an inspiration.
“My father grew up with next to nothing in a coal mining town in the north of England,” she said.
“This has perhaps gone a long way to inspiring his determined entrepreneurial spirit and an optimistic outlook on life and work. I look forward to harnessing his special energy as I carry the company forward.”
Samantha said Meadow Flowers Australia is representative of two things she holds particularly dear.
“Family is extremely important to me, and to be able to take my father’s work forward is a privilege,” she said.
“That our brand is evolving at a time when we need to be especially conscious of the way we manage biodiversity is particularly poignant.”
Now based on the Gold Coast, Meadow Flowers Australia was founded in 2014 when Maurice was running a lawn growing business in the Bowral, New South Wales.
“I saw people struggling to fill unused garden space with lawns in difficult growing conditions,” he said. “It required way too much trial and error and time-consuming maintenance. I knew there had to be a more efficient way.”
One day one of his sons teased him about how he was making life way too hard for himself.
“Lawn is too much work, Maurice” he said. “You should just plant some meadow flowers instead.”
And just like that, a wildflower business greening back yards, Council nature strips and places such as Sydney’s Royal Botanic gardens was born. Field of Blooms – Gardening Australia (abc.net.au)
Meadow Flowers Australia sells stunning flower seed mixes for all types of garden areas – from planter boxes on balconies to full gardens, nature strips and full fields. The results are long-flowering and consistently beautiful.
The company’s seed mixes are carefully balanced, so they germinate together but offer staggered flowering periods for sustained effect.
Seed mixes include varieties suitable for different soil types, full sun or full shade environments and native and aromatic mixes designed to attract bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects.
About Maurice and Samantha
After 40 years living in Sydney, Maurice Kennedy and his wife Jenny moved to Bowral in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Inspired by the beauty of gardens in the region, Maurice established a lawn maintenance business, Velvet Lawns. Soon after, at the age of 81, he started Meadow Flowers Australia. What started as a curious experiment soon blossomed into a successful and popular small business. Maurice relocated Meadow Flowers Australia to the Gold Coast when he and Jenny moved to Queensland to be nearer to family.
Samantha Kennedy enjoyed a lengthy career as a lawyer before taking on a number of executive roles in the telecommunications and ICT sector. She is also a business broker and a highly sought-after executive mentor. Samantha is married to former ABC broadcaster and media and communications professional, Matthew Webber. They live on the Gold Coast with their two daughters.
Meadow Flowers
9 Healy Court
Australia
COMTEX_435244992/2764/2023-06-15T17:26:30