Meet Ash Burns from Living Colour Nursery

Living Colour Nursery is one of SA’s premier producers of seedlings and bedding plants. Ashley Burns, the general manager of this third-generation business, highlights the role Global Axis plays in their operations. For over 30 years, their partnership has delivered high-quality peat moss essential to nurturing vibrant flowers, vegetables, and herbs.

Read the following Q&A captured with Ashley to discover how Global Axis works alongside their suppliers to support Living Colour in supplying green life to SA’s gardens while adapting to changing consumer trends.

What is Living Colour?

Living Colour is a seedling and bedding plant producer from South Australia servicing the retail market here. We are a family-run business, essentially third generation, and I am a family member. I have been working at the nursery for over ten years.

What is your relationship with Global Axis?

Our relationship with Global Axis stems back almost 30 years. The guys there are just so great to deal with. I look forward to the visits when they come. It’s a great opportunity to catch up and have a laugh.

They provide a peat moss, baled peat moss for us, that we use in our growing media. Everything that we grow at our facility, has a component of the peat moss in it. So that’s the seedlings, the pod of potted colour packs, hanging baskets, everything that we produce has their product in it.

Who does Living Colour supply to?

Living Colour supplies all of the retail garden centres in South Australia, all the big box stores in South Australia. Pretty much anyone who has green life.

Our bread-and-butter product is the seedlings. So, the little punnets of flowers or veg, basil, tomatoes, cucumbers. The vegetable is really a big component of what we do because a lot of people are really deciding to grow a lot of produce at home these days.

Are you noticing that that’s a result of people being more health conscious?

Yeah, I think it’s potentially, a little bit of cost of living. Historically when people’s purse strings are a little bit tighter, gardening can provide a low cost bit of joy in their life.

How do you work together with Carmine and Michael?

Carmine and Michael really help us work on our schedules and our plans in terms of a peat moss supply. They are really on the front foot when it comes to planning and scheduling and making sure that we have what we need when we need it.

I don’t know if there’s another supplier that we deal with that’s as organised and as easy to deal with as they are.

The partnership between Global Axis and Living Colour Nursery showcases the power of collaboration in driving innovation and sustainability in horticulture. Together, they are nurturing growth, both in plants and in relationships that span decades.

Want to hear more? Watch the full interview with Ashley here.