One of Niki’s earliest gardening memories was when she was five years old and her grandmother stuck a rose stem into the ground and put a plastic pop bottle over it to create a protective cloche. She can’t recall if the rose cutting succeeded in taking root, but many years later in 2017, Niki started growing tomatoes, cucumbers, ornamental corn, lavender and borage in the Czech Republic.

Niki moved to Turner Valley in 2020 and gradually transformed a garden with a deer and thistle problem into a colourful and productive place with a greenhouse, raised beds for veggies, rock garden, gravel garden and a thriving apple tree. In 2025 she met Maddie through her daughter’s daycare and together they joined forces and bought CoCreative Seeds from Aussie-bound founder Barb Hazenveld.

Niki’s goal is to continue Barb’s legacy of growing dependable and productive seeds, to harvest and dry as many herbs as she can grow, and to spread the word that gardening know-how should be passed down from generation to generation.