My Secret Garden is a flower and gift shop located across the Hagatna Boat Basin, next to the newly opened café, Fu’una Cultures. The flower and gift shop caters to a variety of requests and do their best in creating a floral arrangement that is right for the customer.

Melanie Toves, My Secret Garden’s manager, as well as one of the expert florists, explained that the shop has a welcoming atmosphere to anyone who comes in.

“The shop has a comforting ambience, it’s very relaxing when anyone comes in,” Toves said. “Prior to the pandemic, customers would come in and have a seat on our couch and relax for a bit while they wait for their order.”

According to Sierra Gonzales, a former employee of My Secret Garden, the name is a play off of the old movie, My Secret Garden. She describes the interior of the shop as being an old traditional tea party.

“Not only does My Secret Garden specialize in flower arrangements, but retail items are readily available for gift giving ideas for any occasion,” Gonzales said.

“There are crystals at the shop as well for those who are interested in that kind of thing,” Gonzales said. “I think that’s what adds to the peaceful aura.”

Although the pandemic hit most businesses, including My Secret Garden, the employees have been slowly returning to work.

“The shop was entirely closed at the beginning of the pandemic,” Gonzales said. “It was doing poor and I couldn’t work there anymore because of the loss of business.”

“Our contract with the funeral homes is what keeps us from closing,” said Ashley Meno, one of the other main florists. “It may be a sad thing, but the increase of memorial services has brought us business.”

Recently, My Secret Garden has been taking advantage of social media to stay in touch with their regular customers.

They post a variety of their creations onto their Facebook and Instagram pages and take orders through direct messaging.

According to Meno, the website is still in the works, but it will launch once it is complete.

Before the pandemic, My Secret Garden was one of the more popular “go-tos” for big events. They created arrangements for weddings, funerals, proms, graduations, and many others.

“I think what was best about the shop was the reactions we received from guests at wedding receptions and proms,” Gonzales said. “You never realize how much of an impact you can make just by making a room look amazing with flower arrangements.”

The employees always had their hands busy with major events, being in operation for more than 20 years. Their busiest days are usually around the holidays, like Valentine’s Day.

“Before we would have, at the least, 50 people come into our shop to order flowers for their special someone,” Gonzales said. “Not only were the orders coming physically, but there were probably 200 more orders coming from people online or over the phone overseas.”

“Regardless of the amount of orders coming from clients, locally or internationally, when people ask for 100 percent of our efforts,” Toves said. “We’ll give you ten percent more than what you asked.”

According to Gonzales, the willingness of the three employees working hard in the shop is what makes My Secret Garden different from other local flower shops.

“We work with the customer to get where they want,” Toves said. “And we ensure that we make it better than they imagined.”

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