Eden of the East
Colour reaches people at particular moments. It gathers around a wedding, carries tenderness into a farewell, marks a birthday and brightens an ordinary day. At Flowers by Bell in Traralgon, those moments begin with stems, leaves, careful hands and an idea of who the flowers are for.
The Shakespeare Street florist has grown with the people who carry it forward. Its story began in 2014 as Flowers by Rhi, a daily-bloom business working from a Traralgon garage. Fiona and Bella Cheney took over in September 2020, continued building the business and introduced the Flowers by Bell name in September 2024.
The shop now brings several forms of local creativity together. Fresh flower orders arrive through the week, creating a changing selection of blooms. The team seeks flowers from Gippsland growers wherever possible. Locally made giftware fills the shelves alongside the floristry, giving the work of other regional makers a place in the shop.
Each of those choices strengthens a local chain. A grower works with Gippsland's seasons to raise the flowers. The florist selects, conditions and combines them. A maker contributes something shaped close to home. A customer gives the finished work its destination and meaning.
That meaning changes with the occasion. Wedding florals help a couple give colour and form to a day they have imagined. Funeral flowers are created as personal tributes, including casket arrangements, wreaths and bouquets. Custom work can begin with a particular flower, colour or idea and take the form of a flower crown, a wreath or a cake topper.
The range reveals what a florist contributes to a town. Flowers by Bell works at the meeting point between regional production and personal life. Its materials come from growers and suppliers; its skill gives those materials form; its finished work travels into homes, workplaces and ceremonies across the Valley.
That relationship gives the shop a natural place within the story of Power of Colour. The festival invites people to see how flowers, gardens and creative work can contribute to the character of Latrobe—bringing beauty into shared places, supporting local knowledge and enterprise, and strengthening the connections between the region's towns and countryside.
The connection also opens a contemporary view of Ebenezer Howard's Garden City idea. Howard's work joined the advantages of town and country in a vision of healthy, sociable communities, with nature, useful work, culture and local life considered together. The Town and Country Planning Association's modern Garden City principles continue that relationship through locally accessible work, strong cultural and shopping facilities, healthy communities and the benefits of nature close to daily life.
Flowers by Bell expresses part of that relationship on a human scale. Gippsland-grown flowers enter a Traralgon shop. Local skill turns them into something personal. Regional makers share the shelves. Customers carry the colour into the places where life happens.
For a visitor, the beginning is the shop itself: a place to see what is in season, browse work made locally and discuss flowers for an occasion or an idea of your own. Current opening hours, contact details and enquiries are available through the Flowers by Bell website and its Eden business profile.
Power of Colour asks what can happen when nature, creativity and local enterprise are treated as part of a region's everyday life. Flowers by Bell offers one answer on Shakespeare Street: growers and makers, country and town, work and beauty, meeting in a Traralgon florist and travelling out through the Valley.
Power of Colour
Power of Colour Awards
Celebrating the gardens, gardeners and shared creativity that bring colour and pride to Latrobe. The Awards bring garden visits and judging together with community and industry showcases across one weekend.
Explore the Power of Colour Awards