IONA van der Pasch with granddaughter Marley, in Isa's Orchard.
FLORISTS often buy in most of their flowers, but not Ōtorohanga’s Iona van der Pasch, who has created her own garden – “Isa’s Orchard”.
Part therapy and part innovation, it supplies her business while providing a serene haven for friends and family to relax under the cherry blossoms, with tūī, bumblebees and dragonflies flitting by.
The shop, Moss & Co Floral Design, opened four years ago. Iona worked happily for other florists in the area, but when a mentor retired it was time to grow, so to speak.
It quickly became a social hub: as well as flowers and gifts, Iona set up inviting, cosy chairs perfect for a chat and a coffee.
And as the business flourished, Iona kept thinking of fresh new ideas to stay current and provide a unique point of difference.
So, two years later, in 2021, amid the Covid lockdowns, she asked her parents for part of the family land on Peacock Rd, to create a garden.
“I missed growing things. I’d get all these beautiful flowers come in already packed and processed.
“But I missed going through the sowing of the seeds, watching these little babies come out, talking to them and then planting them out. Watching them mature and being able to cut them. And people appreciating them when they go out into bouquets. It’s a whole life cycle.”
Her family supported the idea.
“It all fell into place, which made me feel like it was meant to be.”
“Now, if I run out of flowers, I can just whip home and grab some more and come back.”
She can also get creative with her gardening choices, keeping up with bouquet trends among brides, and providing something out of the ordinary for occasions such as Mothers’ Day.
The biggest trend right now is pastel, watercolour flowers, Iona said. Pinks, soft blues, lemons and blush colours.
More vivid offerings include a dark raspberry and white coloured dahlia one called Bumble Rumble.
“It’s the cutest little dahlia. The bumblebees love them.”
The name Isa’s Orchard pays tribute to Iona’s Scottish grandmother, Nanny Isa, short for Isabella, and the plot having once been home to her grandparents’ fruit trees.
Iona’s family story began on the other side of the globe.
“My dad’s parents came out from Scotland; they still had their very broad accents all through their life.”
As a returned soldier, her grandfather was offered a block on Peacock Rd, outside Ōtorohanga. That set of grandparents began farming there – but they also loved ornamental plants.
Her other grandparents, in Te Awamutu, also gardened. They had a “massive big veggie patch – but they always had to have their flowers”.
Both loved the classic European blooms – camelias and snapdragons, pansies, gladioli, lavender and daisies. And they passed on the passion.
They also made little flower patches for Iona and her sister, Islay, – one patch a repurposed tyre.
“We always had a place in the garden we could put our own flowers into,” she said.
Her grandparents, mum and dad showed them how to nurture the plants: Iona’s earliest garden memory is of planting pansies into the tyre full of dirt.
“I’ve still got such a soft spot for pansies. I love their little faces.”
Today, flowers are part of the family. And when the shop is quiet, they even provide company.
“I’ll entertain myself in here. At times I’ve nearly been caught by a customer singing a little song to a snapdragon,” she said. The song? Whatever comes into her head.
There are 10 flower beds in the garden – raised off the ground, which came in handy during the record-breaking wet weather in 2022-2023.
But there was nothing manicured about the garden, Iona said.
It’s a passion project, and it’s about freedom for her floral friends, not about straight lines.
The blooms grow “really wild in my flower beds – I don’t want to contain them with nets over the beds just to keep the stems and heads straight.” “I love them doing their own things. It’s like ‘just go for it. Grow how you want to’.” She focuses on flowers that grow quickly – like cosmos and daisies – cute with a lot of colour. Sunflowers are also a hit. Other flowers are grown because they can be dried, because “it’s good to have multi-purpose flowers,” she said. Working in the garden is Iona’s meditation. “I’ll leave the shop in the afternoons and go home and just get my hands dirty. Growing things is my release. As soon as I go into the patch – time stands still.” Her dog, Gypsy the foxy, and cats keep her company, often sunning themselves beside her as she plants or weeds. “The flower farm makes my heart sing. Although I do love being at the shop and doing my floristry too.” Yet the business is a structured environment, run to schedule. “It feels as though you’re constantly on to the next thing.” So, the garden provides balance too. Things are going well, but Iona isn’t ready to stop here. She can see herself perhaps opening it to the public one day, so locals can enjoy it on a Sunday: “It’s just so full of potential.” She also dreams of having granddaughter Marley’s birthday parties in the flower patch – beautiful little girls’ tea parties, suppers or afternoon teas. And maybe even weddings. Gardening is a seasonal pleasure, so what’s Iona’s favourite time of the year? Any time that isn’t winter – from now, October, to when it starts cooling at the end of autumn. “That’s when the flower farm comes into its own. I’ve had snapdragons and poppies all over the winter, but it’s not until it gets a bit warmer that they start shooting off again.” Right now, the bloom extravaganza is yet to happen. And she will remain cautious until after Labour Weekend given last year’s “really heavy late frost”. Iona’s children have embraced the family tradition. Her boys have “taken on more than what I’ve given them credit for.” They have asked Iona to help them choose flowers for their partners. Daughter-in -law Sarah has also dabbled in flower gardening. Iona’s fondest hope is that the fifth generation of her family, Sarah’s daughter, little Marley, will follow in Iona’s footsteps as a gardener. And like her own grandparents, this doting young nana is doing all she can to foster the little one’s delight in the beautiful life of flowers.
