12
Miranda’s
great gardens YOU
growth industry by Sue Newman
T
Miranda Sinton, the reluctant gardener.
PHOTOS TETSURO MITOMO 290712-TM-024
hree years ago, if you’d asked Miranda Sinton what she’d be doing today, the last thing she’d have said was making a living from plants. Today she owns a garden centre but admits that other than growing vegetables, she still can’t call herself a gardener. Three years ago Miranda Morrow was part way through her OE with the man who’s now her husband Matthew Sinton. They were skiing in Canada, the States was next on the list and life was simple and care free. That all ended with a phone call from her mum. Her parents Nicky and Mark had bought a building, they couldn’t find a tenant. They needed help. That building had been a garden centre and they thought it would provide her with a new business opportunity – perhaps in plants? The offer came from left field. Miranda knew nothing about gardening, had never run a business before and the deal was that whatever she did, it had to happen quickly. Add to that, the business option meant a return to Ashburton, something she thought she’d never do. To her surprise she found herself toying with the idea, playing with possibilities. It was an idea that wouldn’t go away. “It instantly appealed. I knew I’d enjoy it, it was something I could sink my teeth into, something big – and it’s been an amazing journey.” Persuading North Island farmer and high country shepherd Matthew that building a new life in Ashburton could work was probably the toughest part of the deal. She won him over, sold him on the idea of starting a new career himself as a dairy farmer and the deal was sealed. Looking back, Miranda says she had no idea she’d signed on for something that would absorb
almost every waking moment of her life and something that would see her grow from reluctant to passionate gardener. “Plants are extremely easy to fall in love with. I’ve read a lot of gardening books and it’s amazing in three years when you work every day with plants how much you learn, they’re an endless pool of knowledge.” She’s also amazed at how, with the right opportunity, you can almost in ignorance, fall into something, tread water at amazing speed until you start swimming and then finally begin to enjoy the water – once you know what you’re doing. “When we came into this we didn’t know much about business, much about anything really. It’s been a massive learning curve and the only way we’ve survived is taking each day as it comes.” As a couple they haven’t had a honeymoon, get to spend very little time together, and haven’t had a weekend off together in three years, but the rewards from owning and running their own business are immense, Miranda said. “It becomes addictive, however, owning your own business is hard work and you don’t realise that until you do it.” Their survival, she said, had everything to do with parental support, customer support and the willingness of gardeners to share their knowledge. “There are a lot of passionate, very knowledgeable gardeners around Ashburton and they’ve been a huge support. I also read a lot of gardening books. It’s amazing in three years what you learn when you’re working in it every day.” While she now has a huge store of gardening knowledge, Miranda says she’s no closer to becoming a gardener in the practical sense. Lushingtons consumes most of her life and if there’s any time left over she spends that catch-