Sunrise Orchard and Irises was established in 2007 when Garry Griffin and Maggie Asplet purchased a six acre property in Ormond, on the main highway about 20kms north of Gisborne.  A mostly young orchard with its main crop being export Meyer Lemons supported with Parent and Late Navel oranges which are sold at the local Farmers Market.

Added to this operation is an Iris nursery focusing mainly on Tall, Median, Standard and Miniature Bearded Iris. Maggie travels to America each year where she makes crosses on cultivars there and then the seed is sent out here.  2020 will see the first major flowering of existing new hybrids.

A substantial number of Dutch Iris bulbs and a few hundred Daffodil bulbs were also planted to provide cut flowers for sale at the Farmers Market.

A large part of our operation is participating in the Gisborne Farmers’ Market, which we attend each Saturday morning.  At the market we sell a selection of our fruit, walnuts, watercress, irises and a wide range of lemon honey, jams, jellies, marmalades, chutneys and sauces.

We share our orchard with our beautiful Samoyed dog – Bella along with our tabby cat, Charlie.

2019 has seen the introduction of chickens to be sold when ready to lay.  These are the hy-line variety which are designed to lay maximum number of eggs.  Chickens are 16 weeks old when sold and should be laying for you within the next couple of weeks.

To see our different products, check out our website. We look forward to hearing from you.

Garry Griffin and Maggie Asplet