Moa Gardens

04/09/2026

August flew past in a whirlwind of fun,
With jobs to be finished and things to be done.

And somewhere amongst all the muddle and weather,
We started to see it all coming together.

Jen 🐝

Ps. Lexi is videoing a guided tour today, so stay tuned!

04/09/2026

Did your granny grow dahlias?

We used to hear this ALL the time when people visited our old dahlia garden called Green Footed Kiwi.

“Oh! My granny used to grow dahlias!”

And then the wonderful, and often inspirational stories would start. Always with big smiles.

Where they grew. What colours they were. Grandad's vegetable garden. Flowers on the kitchen table. And, remarkably often, tales of slugs, earwigs and bunnies!😂

It's funny how one completely ordinary thing can suddenly bring back a memory you haven't thought about for years.

And it got us thinking. How many of those little stories do our children actually know about their grandparents? In fact, I have no idea if my mum, or grandma grew dahlias as a kid. I know my mum grows them now...but I don't know any stories from the past.

That's something we've been thinking about a lot while Milly has been creating Letters to Grandma Moa.

Let's get the conversations started.

Have a read here 👇

Why do dahlias bring back so many memories? A story about grandmothers, childhood gardens and how little things can start wonderful family conversations.

02/09/2026

Gracie & Bumblebee 🐶

We’ve been practising “Side”!

When I say “Side”, Bumblebee comes to my left side and sticks with me until I say “Clear". He still needs a bit of work, but he's getting pretty good!

I’m hoping it will be really useful when we’re out and need to pass people, dogs or bikes.

Now...

What is the best trick you think I could teach Bumblebee? Hard, funny, cute, useful... Anything counts! I want to hear it.

Gracie 🌸

30/08/2026

What's this?

It's not a Dahlia shoot!

Yet it is in one of our dahlia rows 🤔

Lexi 🎨

29/08/2026

🌸 CARD CLEAR-OUT! 🌸

We're making room for some new things at Moa Gardens, which means we have heaps of Milly and Gracie-Mae's greeting cards to clear out!

So we've made up some rather ridiculous lucky-dip bundles. 😂

20 cards + 20 envelopes for $50 — including postage anywhere in New Zealand!

The cards originally sold for $7 each, so that's $140 worth of cards for $50 delivered.

You can choose:
🦋 Milly's Lucky Dip — 20 of Milly's hand-drawn designs
🌸 Gracie-Mae's Lucky Dip — 20 of Gracie-Mae's flower and nature photography cards
😍 Mixed Lucky Dip — a mixture from both girls

The designs will vary depending on what we have left, so each pack will be a bit of a surprise.

These are from our previous card range and still have our old Stripey Caterpillar and Gracie-Mae Photography branding on them ... hence the clear-out!

Milly's drawings and Gracie-Mae's photography aren't disappearing though. They'll both be very much part of what we're doing here at Moa Gardens. 💚

$50 delivered NZ-wide. Available while our current stock lasts.

👉 Find them in the Shop at https://moagardens.co.nz/collections/shop

Gracie-mae photography The Stripey Caterpillar

27/08/2026

They’re ready! 💌

After rather a lot of wrestling with our website today 😂, you can now officially subscribe to Letters to Grandma Moa.

Every month, Milly will write and illustrate a new letter from Moa Gardens. It will arrive full of stories, little adventures, things happening in the garden and, of course, Poppy, Willow, Sage and Rocket.

But something someone said this week made us realise these letters might become something more than we originally imagined.

After reading September's letter, they instantly wanted to send one to their daughter overseas and make it a family thing, with everyone taking turns to reply.

And we love that idea.
We love that Milly's letters can inspire conversation between generations.
We love that these mischievous little Moa siblings can connect real people in real life.

Send one to Grandma (or Grandad). Send one to the grandchildren. Send it across the world to someone you miss. Read the same story and ring each other afterwards. Or just have one arrive in your own letterbox each month.

After all, a little letter can start a whole conversation.

Monthly letters are $20 NZD, or $220 for a full year, with postage included worldwide.

Milly's first September letters are ready to go. 🌼

Have a look here →https://moagardens.co.nz/pages/letters-to-grandma-moa

27/08/2026

Gracie & Bumblebee 🐶

Rainy day = brain work for Bumblebee

Since we can’t do much outside today, we’ve been practising one of his brain games.

I put a treat on either side of me, and instead of going straight for it, Bumblebee has to go around the stool to get to the right side.

He is already getting bored of this one! Do you know of any other fun brain games like this for rainy days I can teach him?

Gracie🌸

26/08/2026

My first Letters to Grandma Moa are ALMOST ready to go.

But I still have one more thing to do before they go!

Who knows me well?
Who has been the most observant?
Who has the fastest fingers!

I'll send the first person to write the answer in the comments below one of my first Letters to Grandma Moa letters.

❓What do I need to do to make these letters ready to send?

Hint...it's not put the stamp on!

Doesn't matter where you are in the world. I will post a letter to you on Friday and you can be one of my new favourite people 🤣

I'll let you know tomorrow who answered my question correctly!

Milly 🦋

24/08/2026

Tell me you can see it!! 🥳

It's a little tiny dahlia shoot.

Of course now the sun is shining I couldn't resist digging up a couple of tubers to see what was happening.

I did not have a good feeling when we planted our tubers this year.

New place.
Different soil.
Unfamiliar weather.

Not to mention the fact we dug our tubers early, while they were still growing in Northland late summer, stuck them in a hot container for two months, then watched them shrivel and dry out before we planted them just before an unfamiliar Oamaru winter.

But here we are.

Not even September yet. And we have shoots.

I wonder what this one will be 🤔🌸

Show me your shoots! It's happening!!

Jen 🐝