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At a glance, Algies Bay retiree Elvie Perrin is your typical grandmother – a shock of grey hair, spectacles, scarf and a fleece cardie, of course.
Elvie potters about her terraced garden tending to the plethora of plants, flowers and vegetables, regularly has visits from her grandkids, and offers visitors cups of tea.
But there’s something unusual that sets her apart from other nanas – she’s also a prolific TikTok content creator, posting two videos a week.
Her channel, Garden with Elvie, has close to 39,000 followers, hundreds of clips and nearly 650,000 likes.
She uses the short-form video sharing platform to mainly offer tips and advice for gardening and growing food, which has clearly struck a chord with younger viewers, the next generation of green thumbs.
Elvie’s popularity on TikTok is enough to put her grandkids to shame.
Her most-watched clip, a video about using beer to eliminate snails and slugs, has reached nearly one million views.
She says the seed was sown, so to speak, when her granddaughter came to stay.
“Rebecca was about to study law at Auckland University but got caught in lockdown and came up to live with me. She said, ‘Nana, you love your garden and I know nothing about gardening, why don’t you go on TikTok?’
“So she videoed me and I was on it straight away. Now I do all sorts of things. When it’s holidays, my grandchildren come and help me in the garden. People really enjoy those.”
Even at the beginning of her TikTok career, Elvie says she wasn’t nervous in front of the camera as she’s always been in public life and worked for 15 years as a councillor for Papakura.
Most of the time it’s a family member behind the camera, such as one of her daughters or
granddaughters.
“I’m not very good at filming my own ones – I should probably try harder,” she admits.
Elvie says she’s built up her followers over time, and her videos resonate with people because she’s “bright and cheery” while some of her younger viewers see her as a stand-in grandmother.
She’s even been recognised in the street, both locally and abroad.
“We went out for a meal in Brisbane and a guy said, oh you’re Garden with Elvie. And at the Four Square in Snells Beach, the lady at the counter said, ‘my daughter follows you’. I don’t mind that.”
And where do all her ideas for content come from? Divine inspiration, she says.
What’s surprising is that Elvie hasn’t monetised her TikTok channel, given how many views her videos get – she’s like a rare flower in this regard.
“I could and people have asked if I would use their product. But I don’t want to do that. My aim is to encourage young people into gardening and just be bright and personable.”
This goes a long way towards explaining why Elvie’s one of the most popular grandmothers on the platform.
Her easy-going approach is summed up perfectly by her catchphrase that she always signs off with, “Cheerio.”
You can check out her TikTok channel here: https://www.tiktok.com/@gardenwithelvie
