Paraparaumu Beach florist shop's random acts of kindness

Anna Gibbs in her florist shop. Photo / David Haxton

A Paraparaumu Beach florist shop is surprising people with random acts of kindness.

The Wilderness, in Seaview Rd, has been putting bunches of flowers in various places for unsuspecting people to discover.

If someone sees the flowers, and takes a closer look, they will find a small card saying the flowers are for them to take home.

The simple gesture is all about giving back to the community and just trying to brighten someone's day.

Shop owner Anna Gibbs said the gesture, called a karma bouquet, had been made three times so far in Waikanae Beach, Paraparaumu Beach and Raumati Beach.

"We had a quiet day one day so we thought we would go and drop a bouquet off randomly on the street somewhere.

"We have such nice customers come in that we thought it would be a nice thing to do. I lent the bouquet on a fence post and put a note on them."

The gesture gained quite a lot of interest on social media.

"We found out who got it and they sent us a lovely message."

Anna said the shop got a lot out of it too.

"It's like getting a big hug.

"People say such lovely things to you and you've done such a simple thing."

Anna looked forward to carrying on the initiative.

"We will keep doing it randomly when we get the chance."

And she hoped it would spur people to "pass the karma along".

The Wilderness has been in Seaview Rd for about eight months.

"We use local flowers where possible and we've got a local guy, Mike King from Finders Eaters, who forages for us which gives us a bit of a point difference.

"He gets a lot of our foliage."

Anna has been in floristry for about 15 years, after studying at Whitireia Polytechnic, Porirua.

One of her jobs used to be operating a flower caravan in Waikanae Beach.