Hao Nguyen

TOKOROA

For the last 30-odd years, Hao Nguyen has owned and run the White Flower Bakery in Tokoroa. And for a while, she says, right opposite that bakery was a plant shop. Every day she would admire the plants on display and eventually decided to treat herself to a schlumbergera, or a colourful Christmas cactus. “And it was beautiful,” she says,

“so since then I have collected more and more.”

So many, in fact, that her home started to overflow with more schlumbergera, ZZ plants, succulents and cacti, lilies, orchids, tradescantia, African violets, begonias, philodendrons and more. So she started to bring the overflow into her bakery and display them around the shop.

“I brought in a few,” she says. “And customers admired them and asked how I kept them all so healthy and beautiful. So I brought in a few more.”

Soon she had about 20-plus plants on display in the bakery at any one time and customers enjoying sitting down among them for their lunch. Soon people started asking Hao for advice on their own houseplants as well as sharing tips with her. Some customers offered to swap cuttings or plants they had propagated, or ask her to visit their homes to see their own collections. Connecting through her plants with fellow plant lovers led to several friendships being formed, Hao says.

“I looked forward to going to work each day and seeing my lovely plants,” she says. “I loved being able to share them with my customers. And after a busy day, I would go home and relax by watering my plants there.”

Tragically and unexpectedly, Hao’s husband Trung died earlier this year. He had worked in the bakery with her – he was the baker, in fact – and helped her a lot with looking after her plants. “He knew I loved them so when I asked for help he never said no”. Many of the customers that had, through that shared love of plants, become friends have helped support Hao and her family through such a sad time, she says, and her plants have become more important to her still.

“I have all my plants around me,” she says. “They make me feel so much better. Because I look at them and they remind me of him. That’s the way I remember him.”

“To me it’s an amazing feeling to see the new growth. I think I am lucky to have houseplants around me as they give me so much energy.”