Local favourites, sharing their insider tips on places and things to do on and around Tamborine Mountain – Your gold coast hinterland!

Alex Griffiths is the creator, owner and passionate custodian of Little Bee’s Secret Garden, located at 8 Kidston Street, Canungra. Visitors to the cozy nook that is home to Little Bee’s Secret Garden invariably come away relaxed and enthused.

What inspired you to open your business and what do you have planned in 2021?

After a rocky start to my forties, my business Little Bee’s Secret Garden was born from the four things that inspire me the most: my children, native bees, gardening, and reading. “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” (Native American proverb)

I began this journey at the Canungra Community Garden, which I also started. I was able to source funding for a colony of stingless bees, and I was done, down the rabbit hole, hook line and sinker in love with native bees. I just loved everything about them: the fact that they look all sugar-and-spice sweet but are truly warriors; the way they carry pollen on their hind legs, their sense of community and getting the jobs done, the matrifocal society, the way they can tumble in and out of their door clumsily like a bad army roll. They are fascinating creatures, and I’m sure everyone would agree!

2021 will see more workshopping and speaking events (that had to get put on hold last year due to COVID-19) and an upgrade to Little Bee’s Secret Garden.

What did you do before opening your business?

I have been (in decreasing order of age) a stay-at-home, homeschooling mum, a police officer, a wedding coordinator for Japanese weddings, and cabin crew for Japan Airlines.

How would you describe your business?

Little Bee’s Secret Garden is designed to inspire all to create bee-friendly greenspaces. It is an open garden designed to be an ideas palette, and the platform for raising awareness of Australia’s native bees. I sell plants, gifts (all bee-focused, of course), bee hotels, and native bees from Little Bee’s Secret Garden.

What is it about your business that you love?

Sharing what I love with others and seeing them get addicted to native bees too; and being in the garden all day.

Is it a business that gives you satisfaction?

I created my business on the premise of combining my passions so that my work would fill my cup, and yes, it does.

If you were not doing this what would your ideal job be?

Presenter on Gardening Australia. I wish!

Interesting facts about yourself?

If I’m eating chocolate, it can only be 70 per cent dark chocolate, and I prefer my coffee long, black and sugar-free. I’m the quiet type but make a great audience as I laugh at all the bad Dad jokes. I have two degrees, the first was a Japanese language degree, and the second was psychology.

What do you do for fun?

Planting flowers and spotting native bees is up there, but I’m loving the bushwalks, and dancing with my kids in the living room.

Final thoughts

Bees are essential workers in the preservation of biodiversity and ecological balance. In fact, the presence of bees is an indicator of a properly functioning ecosystem, and it would crumble without them. Our food security relies upon their pollination services, but they are also essential pollinators of our wildflowers and native plants. The bees’ vibrational buzz is powerfully meditative, and they have taught me far more about myself, humanity, community, and togetherness, than I could ever hope to condense into one small business.