Sharing the joy- Little Free Florist in 2022

Community Flowers

It is heartening to look through #littlefreeflorist posts in the middle of winter. The colorful flower bunches spur plans and dreams for the upcoming year. Over the 2022 growing season, 240 free minibouquets were shared from the @little.free.florist cabinet across 40 dates from mid June through October.

The flowers that go into this cabinet are meant to be a pick-me-up for passers-by, and often includes unique plant material. This cabinet is partly an extension of my garden education/activism that focuses on bringing city residents closer to nature. It’s also a way to express appreciation and gratitude for my neighbors.

The Little Free Florist cabinet was also used to share seed packets, seed starting kits for The Bee Line, seedlings and even a bit of homegrown produce!

Garden transition

Last summer many of the garden spaces used for growing cut flowers for use in the Little Free Florist had to come out due to an infrastructure project happening in our yard. I had to move plantings into smaller and less suitable spaces. The quantity of flowers I could share was impacted.

As these types of construction projects tend to go, the impact was larger and longer than expected. In fact, it is still going on into 2023. Looking ahead, bed space will still be in transition, and cut flower production will be impacted. I plan to reach out to some neighbors to see if they can spare plot space for the season.

Additionally in 2023, the boulevard ash trees that are plagued by Emerald Ash Borer are scheduled to come down on my street. This will leave the Little Free Florist more exposed to direct sun, which is hard on cut flowers! I found the number of high heat days in 2022 to already shifted my cutting practices; I skipped hot stretches or opted to have them out only at shadier or cooler times. I will continue trialing some changes to the kiosk this season, its location or even my process of cutting and distributing flowers.

Regardless of the landscape changes, the Little Free Florist will continue to be a resource for the Hamline-Midway community in 2023. Winter sowing kits will soon appear for Bee Line pollinator plant seed starting.