Local florists at Urban Buds tackle waste and share spring planting tips

The local farmer-florists behind Urban Buds, Karen “Mimo” Davis and Miranda Duschack, have defied the odds.

Only 14% of farmers are women — and even fewer are Black (a mere 1.4%). Plus, small-scale farms are more likely to fail than restaurants. Despite those challenges, Urban Buds is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

“The statistics were stacked against us from Day One,” Davis said on Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air. “I think it's about our tenacity and will to make it happen. And the flowers themselves are so beautiful. It's a totally different product when you buy a locally grown flower.”

Their business didn’t look promising at first. The Dutchtown property they bought had a rich history as the site of John Held Florist, a farm that grew flowers for nearly a century throughout the 1900s, but the greenhouse had since fallen into disrepair.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st-louis-on-the-air/2022-04-05/local-florists-at-urban-buds-tackle-waste-and-share-spring-planting-tips