Milly and Gracie-Mae Leong have started a business creating artworks and photography prints of dahlias and monarch butterflies. Photo / Jenny Ling
Milly and Gracie-Mae Leong have started a business creating artworks and photography prints of dahlias and monarch butterflies. Photo / Jenny Ling
A pair of creative Northland sisters is carving out a flourishing career path connecting people with dahlias, butterflies and nature.
Milly and Gracie-Mae Leong have established The Stripey Caterpillar which celebrates their love of the herbaceous perennial plants, and monarch butterflies, through their artwork and photography.
Milly, 14,does the hand-drawn artworks which are printed on to large canvases and wall prints in themes of New Zealand flora and fauna, and Kiwiana.
Gracie-Mae, 12, captures photographs of dahlias, butterflies and bumblebees on camera which she then prints on to canvas and creates prints.
Milly’s creations won her a top prize at the Young Enterprise Scheme (YES) Trade Fair at the Old Packhouse Market in Kerikeri on August 16.
This year’s fair saw teams from 18 Northland schools showcase their business ideas, from jewellery and kids cookbooks to BBQ rubs, and bath bombs.
Gracie-Mae's photographs include a variety of colourful dahlia flower heads.
Milly entered the Stripey Caterpillar concept and won Best Trade Fair Presence Award, which celebrated stall presentation, promotional materials, customer engagement, and overall impression made on the judges.
She was also chuffed at being the youngest and only home-schooled student there.
“I was pretty happy with that because there were just under 80 stalls there and all of them were older than me,” she said.
“We had a very big stall, full of colours and textures which was really attractive to people.”
“The Dahlia Kids”, Milly and Gracie-Mae featured in the Northern Advocate in 2021 after starting a business growing and selling dahlias from their lifestyle block on the outskirts of Kaikohe.
The property, called the Green Footed Kiwi, hosted dahlia pick-your-own experiences and was run with help from their mum and youngest sister Lexi-Rose.
Since then, the girls have had success breeding dahlias and have won several trophies at the National Dahlia Show.
That includes the Northl Island show in Hamilton in February 2024 where they won best cactus dahlia.
Milly and Gracie-Mae with a variety of their nature-inspired artworks and photo prints. Photo / Jenny Ling
While they have put their dahlia-growing business on hold for now, the sisters are selling their nature-inspired products at the Kerikeri Packhouse Market, and the monthly Saturday market in Pakaraka.
Milly said her $250 cash prize from the trade fair will go towards her new goal, to create a “butterfly house”.
This will be a large enclosed area where she plans to grow dahlias and other ‘butterfly-friendly’ plants like swan plants, echinacea and daisy flowers.
The butterfly house will be used for conservation and education purposes, with people being able to experience and release monarch butterflies.
Ives praised her daughters’ positive attitudes.
“It’s their attitude that makes a difference. It’s their enthusiasm for it.
“They’re learning the value of money and the value of hard work.”
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues.
