We Didn't Know What We Were Doing
So we started anyway.
It began when I gave each of our girls $100 and a challenge: find a way to turn it into more.
Gracie-Mae decided to grow and sell flowers.
Then Dennis contacted us and sent us some dahlia seeds. And things rather snowballed from there.
We learned as we went. We planted seeds, made mistakes, asked questions, experimented, kept the things that worked and changed the things that didn't.
Before long, we were growing 3,000 completely unique dahlia plants, winning awards with our own seed-grown cultivars at the National Dahlia Show, writing a book about our adventure and opening a pick-your-own dahlia farm in Kaikohe.
All from one small idea and a willingness to have a go.
Three years later, we've moved our family and our dahlias south to Moa Gardens in Oamaru. And this time, we're dreaming even bigger.
Because you don't need to know exactly where an idea will lead before you start.
Sometimes something is better than nothing. And sometimes that something grows.
Take The Dahlia Kids Home
A colourful and inspirational 222-page hardback book about flowers, family, learning by doing and what can happen when you simply decide to give something a go.
Filled with original photographs, stories, discoveries, successes, mistakes and plenty of dahlias, The Dahlia Kids was created to inspire other families to follow an idea, try something new and see where it leads.
Hardback • Full colour throughout • 222 pages • 26 × 21 cm