Urban Buds: City Grown Flowers is located in the Ducthtown neigborhood of Saint Louis, MO; just 7 miles south of the Arch.
We farm unique specialty cut flowers and select foods for the local market. Beauty, stewardship, and quality define us.
04/23/2025
With Mother’s Day right around the corner, Urban Buds is happy to announce that our Mother’s Day offerings are ready for you to pre order! Buy an important woman in your life flowers to show your love, appreciation, and recognition to the strong woman that sacrificed so much to bring you into this world. Remind her that she is resilient, but also soft, beautiful, and delightful as our city grown flowers. Go to citygrownflowers.com/shop, or click the link in our bio to secure your flowers in advance.
04/23/2025
Happy Earth Day!
With urban farming, it’s imperative that we take care of our land. We are landlocked here in the city so we have to be extra diligent in taking care of our soil. While planting our new lilacs today, I was reminded of the great lengths we go to do so. Although no beautiful flower pictures were taken today, for me, these pictures you are about to see are just as exciting and worth a thousand words. Pictured is one area where we have been working the soil for 14 years. Rich black soil, in an area we are just breaking ground, is a stark difference with the red clay soil which you can see inthe next picture.Caring for the earth, for us, is an everyday occurrence, from using cover crops, to practicing no-till methods. Today, we also uncovered a site that was taken out of production that we’ve have tarped for a year to help eliminate a bindweed issue. Today, on Earth Day, we removed the tarp, giving us a clean, blank canvas to plant new crops. Giving back to the soil that gives us so much beauty on our postage stamp farm is everything for us. If we exhaust the soil, there will be no more bounty of flowers. It’s quite the symbiotic relationship. Today we also came across the first snake of the season on the farm. It’s another indicator of a healthy habitat! We also cover crops such as buckwheat, australian winter peas and oats to give back to Mother Earth, who gives us so much. We also have an intricate system of using beneficial insects that we release to combat our pest issues, opposed to harsh, harmful chemicals that are not good for the bees or the staff. Our purpose in being stewards in this small piece of paradise is to leave it better than we found it. It is one of our daily goals. Digging in the dirt today was definitely confirmation that we are headed in the right direction. Wishing all my flower friends again a Happy Earth Day!
practices r
04/16/2025
Flower farming sometimes feels similar to an extreme sport. There are the times when you get the “gut punch” so bad that you can’t breathe, and your loved ones who hate watching you suffer gingerly ask “isn’t there an easier path”? There is a deep drive for me to get up and get back out there to go at it again and again . Practicing and practicing. Then the breakthrough moments happen; the overwhelming joy is just as guttural as bringing me to my knees with tears of thankfulness, and the surge of adrenaline just takes my breath away, marveling at the beauty!! I was wowed with tears walking in the greenhouses this morning!! I can’t remember any flower that has truly given me this much elation since cutting my first Lisianthus in the early 90’s when it was a brand new crop on the market.
Years of trying despite the chagrin of everyone on the farm, I kept at it. And finally this week, here we are. We are harvesting these amazing lupins and other crops that are just as stunning. All the woes of winter are fading away with each new crop blooming. Everyday, there’s a new gift on the farm. This week, in addition to my favorite new crop lupins, foxglove, beautiful pansies, sweet peas, and roses are coming into bud. These blooming magical flowers are bringing us overflowing joy. The only reminder of the horrible hail storm just a few weeks ago is our fence. But we’ve found a contractor that will start the repair next week! And thanks to our best bud Tim the old debris is cleaned up and hauled off! So we don’t have to walk by it, reminding us of stressful times, we are moving forward!! Thanks for the love.
04/13/2025
People are always blown away about how long our flowers last, and that’s because we go to great lengths in caring for the flowers post-harvest. At market, far too often, we cringe seeing you stuff your newly purchased flowers into your market basket while trying to juggle the dog, coffee, and the kids. We often wonder what condition the flowers actually make it home in. One or two broken stems, maybe? We want to help you have the same excellent post-harvest care from your bouquet purchase all the way to your vase. We have an easy fix. Urban Buds is pleased to collaborate with The Flower Bag Company; these fair-trade-verified crossbody carriers feature an innovative conical design with a secure tie that keeps flowers protected and hydrated longer. Just like we’ve always focused on sustainable growing practices, these reusable bags reflect our commitment to eco-friendly floral solutions.
Available in two convenient sizes, one for our standard market bouquet and bunches, and one for our Happy Bouquets for all of your Easter purchases.
Have you ever had a crop that you wanted to keep all to yourself and didn’t want to sell?
I have spent years trying to crack the code on growing lupins in Missouri. I’ve attempted them more times than I want to admit, at the eyeball rolls of every staff member. It’s been a real goal of mine to offer amazing lupins, and I’m so proud that this is the year! Even though I’m sick of these dark cloudy cold days, I think they really benefit the lupins. We’ve been watching them coming to into bud for weeks now and we finally are harvesting our first blooms, with many more buds coming.
Feels good to be able to say “I told you so!” to the staff who are totally blown away and as proud as I’am! This feels like a real milestone reached in my flower journey. We will have the first few blooms for the early birds tomorrow . To say that I am feeling accomplished is quite the understatement. These are sure to go fast! Get to the market early tomorrow for the best selections. I’m definitely patting myself on the back for this one. I have to mention that these have been a real team effort, even with the eyeball rolling. We did it, team!
04/06/2025
Thank you so much for braving the weather yesterday coming out for the opening day of It was wonderful seeing everyone!! More on that later!!
If you missed us yesterday absolutely no worries, we got you!! Today from 10-2 we are popping up at with a whole new batch!!!
It’s our Tulips on top of tulips festival!
These tulips are not the standard tulips you see in the grocery store I promise you that! These tulips put the “T” in S-P-E-C-I-A-L-“T”- Y!! Grab a coffee, fill a bowood box for the garden, and a bundle of flowers for table!! A perfect kind of Sunday!!! See you soon!!
04/01/2025
Happy New Year!!! We consider the start of the Tower Grove Farmer’s Market a New Flower Year and we are throwing a Flower Festival!! We have braved the hardest winter that we have ever experienced. It seemed to go on forever, and then old man winter gave us a swift kick in the rear on the way out, with a hail storm!! We are bruised but not beaten. We are so excited to start our 14th season at the first THIS Saturday!!! YAY!!
To celebrate, we will have our “Tulips on Top of Tulips Festival” - YOU PICK! Pictured is from our last “you pick” earlier this spring , and it was so much fun! As you know, we grow specialty tulips, different from standard varieties. Bring the kids; let them pick tulips while you take a pic! I mean, we are BRINGING IN THE SPRING!! Bouquets and bundles, tulips, poppies, ranunculus the size of baseballs, our mesmerizing double face anemones, and oh snap! I almost forgot our snapdragons too!
If you’ll miss us Saturday, no worries! You can still be a part of the fun and join us Sunday for our “Tulips on Top of Tulips POP-UP”! That’s right, we are doing it again 10-2! Happy New Flower Year to you all! We can’t wait to see you!
03/25/2025
Not sure why taking time for myself is so damn difficult. I was fine with it being “for” August’s spring break. The last three days of my trip, I had saved the time, just mom & I.
I had big ideas of what we could do with our time together, but felt the need to step back after seeing her exhaustion from all the activities of the previous week with family, friends and her pure excitement of her grandson’s visit. It was a lot! What a wonderful time that we will all cherish. The passed three days it’s been lots of rest & sleeping most of the day. It’s a challenge for me to sit with the idea of just us being in the same room together is “enough” and a gift that I deserve to have.
Fighting the demon mind game of “Well, I could be home farming if she’s just going to sleep our time away!”
What a gift to make her breakfast and just sit talking. Today as I started our goodbyes, I told her I have to get back to work. Surrounded by our flowers all week, and as the very first person, who literally took me by the hand and walked me into my first greenhouse ever! She asked “Where do you work?” It cut deep, but confirmed it didn’t matter what we did or didn’t do. This time is for me; This is our time! I want no more “farming regrets” especially pertaining to my family. I will be here when she wakes in a few hours giving her a sweet kiss, with all my love!
Pictured is an amaryllis that was one of her Christmas gifts from me three years ago. I taught my brother how to care for it (dude, give it water once in a while!). What a gift that I’m here when it’s starting its 3rd year of blooming. Lessons in being still, finding the positive in the little things and knowing I’m worth all of this.
Taking the time for self care, pouring into myself is the only way to keep the beauty coming from the heart. I’m a slow learner, but it’s settling in! Appreciating the small stuff today!
03/16/2025
We want to thank you all for your love and offers for support. It has been truly overwhelming and our hearts are so lifted by our community far and wide.
Yesterday, running on sheer wind, we were able to clean up the farm as best we could. Thank you to the Urban Buds team, , .duschack, Anne and, who rallied and jumped in to help.
Thank you to farmers and who collected a food basket for us. It arrived in the middle of our clean up, just when we needed it.
Miraculously, none of our newly planted babies were affected by the storm. We had no crop damage.
Most of you see me Mimo with the beautiful flowers, but there’s a whole backend to this business that you don’t see.
This morning, our insurance inspectors came and took measurements and pictures of the damage of the broken panes in the greenhouse, plus the damage to one high tunnel and our alley fence. Kudos to .duschack who did the research 14 years ago, finding an insurance company that specialize in these vintage glass greenhouses. Their expertise gave me comfort - they asked questions that showed they were knowledgeable about these structures. So far, we don’t know what we don’t know.
We’re going to keep on doing what we know how to do - which is being adaptable. Farming is about adaptability, perseverance and the tenacity to bring beauty to our people. Is it stressful, do I have melt downs? -Yes absolutely, it’s all part of it!!
Part of my farming journey at this point is trying to find some kind of balance. I have a scheduled trip to visit my mom with August during his spring break, leaving tomorrow, and I’m going. In the past, an incident like this would lead me to cancel this visit. I’m learning to farm differently and that people and things I care about are equally important.
Meanwhile, let’s all of us - cross our fingers, toes, eyes and eyebrows so that our temperatures stay moderate.
If you need flowers this week, and who doesn’t, our online store is open and we have amazing beautiful flowers right now. All of my favorites. The first session of the Best Buds Flower Club begins this week, so order now.
We aren’t going to miss a beat!
03/16/2025
Taking a breath to pause and thank everyone for their kind words, notes, text, and emails over the destruction we’ve experienced. The St. Louis community always shows up and shows out. I appreciate being wrapped in your support and love. So much going on right now, so much more to say.
We lost somewhere between 50-75 panes in our glass greenhouse. We lost a fence. One of our high tunnels was damaged. Water pressure on the south side of the city is nonexistent.
This storm continues to wreck damage and take lives across the country.
Guys, understand, we knew exactly what we were getting into when we purchased a glass greenhouse. This was our biggest fear, our #1 fear, to experience hail. And now its happened. After 14 solid years without an incident this major.
Today we spent a lot of cleaning. I’m off to bed now. More to come tomorrow.
Love,
Mimo
❤️💪🏽🌷💐🪻🌻
03/13/2025
In celebration of spring and 314 day we are sooo happy to announce the return of our 100% STL grown, 314 Urban Buds bouquets. With fragrant stock, fat snapdragons, drumstick anemones, everyone’s favorite ranunculus, our specialty tulips and other sweet treats that don’t add calories to your waist line!!
Order online .com
or visit Saturday 10-1 (online ordering guarantees your flowers).
We are over the moon! It was a long hard winter and the flowers popping makes all that a fading memory! Come see us and let’s celebrate together and be awed by the beauty grown right in our own hometown! Happy 314! ❤️
03/13/2025
Yes this is our first harvest of Ranunculus! Which means we need a helping hand!! Come join our field crew!
Main duties include everything needed to bring flowers from seed to sale; including sowing, planting, weeding, mulching, harvesting, and processing.
Duties will also include Farmer Market sales and flower design. Rotating Saturday and Sunday availability is a must.
We are a small crew, and each person has an integral role to play. We ask that you make the commitment through November.
————————
An ideal candidate possesses the following:
-An interest in flower farming, urban farming, and/or horticulture.
-At least one season’s farm, gardening, garden center, landscaping, or horticulture experience.
Candidate Requirements
-Strong work ethic, self-motivated, with the ability to work independently and quickly.
-A fast learner who accepts direction and pays attention to detail.
-Ability to work in all weather conditions, including the heat and humidity of St. Louis summers.
-Ability to lift 60 pounds repeatedly, as well as perform other physical tasks such as bending, kneeling, etc.
-Reliable transportation.
—————————
$16 per hour. Merit and longevity bonuses offered. Full and part time work is available.
To apply, email us your resume and a cover letter to [email protected] with the subject line “2025 UB Employment”.
No phone calls please.
03/12/2025
Have you ever been in “Awe” of something? Stopped in your tracks at the beauty, the majesty, the wonder of something? I’m not talking about the obvious things like being in Awe of the Grand Canyon. I’m talking much closer to home and finding the Awe on the “regular,” in your daily life.
I find myself so lucky raising flowers - I get to have the experience of Awe on the regular a couple times a week - even more heightened this time of year. With the greening up of spring and the flowers unfurling into summer blossoms. It’s just one continuing state of Awe until summer when the heat just fries it right out of us!!!
Until fall when it returns again.
Well how interesting that there is documented research that these moments of Awe actually have underlying health benefits.
Research at Northwestern University suggests it has tremendous health benefits that include calming down our nervous system and triggering the release of oxytocin, the “love” hormone that promotes trust and bonding. It pulls us out of ourselves, instantly diverting negative thinking, turning focus on the wonder, our inner curiosity, and the idea of something beyond our own comprehension.
Flowers are an easy, cost effective way to to bring Awe into our daily life. Watching these living buds unfurl, bloom into their full glory and through their transition to death. That is Awe!
Awe can move us into a positives actions. One of the photos above is actually a painting created by after being in Awe of poppies used in our design for event Art In Bloom. Thank you for sharing your Awe with us, we are in “Awe” of your work! Thanks for saving us when I was afraid our poppies weren’t gonna bloom in time. The poppies used are a combo of Urban Buds & .
Come and be in Awe with us this Saturday from 10am to 1pm! A even better health saving is
Becoming a member of our Best Buds Flower Club and have 6 weeks of “Awe” delivered to your door or picked up at the farm. .com
03/05/2025
I am deeply honored, and it gives me great pleasure to share with you that this Thursday a new series about flower farming called The Beautiful Pursuit will be released by Floret Flowers. I am over-the-moon thrilled to be included with so many of my flower friends to bring you this story.
This is a three-part series that takes a REAL look at the realities of flower farming, dispelling the myth of harvesting flowers in a free-flowing flowered frock. Can you imagine Mimo in a flowered frock? Well, you won’t see that, but you will see some interview clips with her, as well as some videos from our farm and community.
The documentary gives a real behind the scenes look at what it takes to bring beauty into our communities. Sharing with you the bottom line truth, when you buy flowers from our farm you’re not only receiving the best beautiful, blooms you’re also supporting a way of life. That requires true grit, tenacity, dedication resilience, and an unwavering commitment to sustainability. This series shows why your support means so much to Farms like ours.
We hope you enjoy this inside peek and gain a true appreciation for what goes into the flowers sitting on your table. You can preview an about video from Erin in our stories
Enjoy!
let us know what you think.
02/27/2025
Hey flower fam. It’s a been a minute since I posted. It’s a mixed bag, between being absolutely slammed from one event to the next and not sure how I’m feeling about Instagram anymore. The best way to stay in touch, is through our newsletter. It just makes sense to focus on the product that we actually own!! You can sign up on our website. I do like the IG stories because they’re easy. So however you like to stay in contact - pick your options.
Here’s some cliff notes.
The tulip festival last weekend was a hit!! You were ready for some color in the house!!! A huge shout out to Lizzy and the team at . It really was a fantastic time!! No we are not out of tulips, a fresh batch with anemones, snapdragons and other flowers will be available this Saturday and what a gorgeous day it’s going to be.
It’s a busy weekend. If you haven’t heard,
. We are one of 30 participants interpreting artwork in flowers. Mimo’s art piece she is interpreting is called Street Musicians at the Door in gallery 235. I will be there to greet you Friday from 6-8pm.
I’ll be busy as a bee between Art in Bloom and . Hope our paths cross this weekend. It’s definitely a flower filled weekend!! Enjoy!!
02/23/2025
Yesterday‘s “PICK YOUR OWN” tulip festival was totally beyond any of our expectations. The Tulips on top of tulips display was stunning. To be in community again with the flowers was just flat out food for our souls!!! Love that people lingered around the display. We are ready for day two!! Grab the kids, grab the camera, grab a coffee or a cocktail ( you probably can’t grab a reservation!) Let’s not forget It’s time to plant some seeds. So take a spin seed racks and come linger with us. 10-3 or until sold out. Come early for best selection and view the tulip on top of tulip display. Swipe for pics from yesterday.
02/22/2025
Tulip festival set up, ready and waiting for you! Today & tomorrow 10-3
Locally grown 6.5 miles away by come and take a photo and grab a bunch to go!!
02/21/2025
We’re sad to see Missy go. We’re hiring an administrative assistant. Part time 20-25 hours per week. We’re looking to hire immediately. For details on how to apply, see the job posting on our website. https://www.citygrownflowers.com/jobs-admin-asst
Looking for motivated, jack of all trades in the admin department! - excited to jump in and give us a hand. Assist in planning and coordinating farm events. Front facing correspondence with our life style providers❤️. The most important job next to growing the flowers!
Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Urban Buds: City Grown Flowers posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Our story is one of land, community, culture, and love. Urban Buds: City Grown Flowers are proud farmer-florists supplying the highest quality flowers in the St. Louis area. We also handcraft and stage gorgeous floral arrangements for life's most important events.
Urban Buds: City Grown Flowers is located in the Dutchtown neighborhood of St, Louis, Missouri, on a historic farmstead with a rich flower history that dates to the 1870s. Together, we (Karen “Mimo” Davis and Miranda Duschack) have transformed an overgrown lot and property left fallow for years into a productive flower farm. Surrounded by a sea of concrete, we tend our oasis of green....and pink and yellow and orange and red. Our flowers not only bring color and vibrancy to our community, but also great joy to those that receive them.
We grow more than 70 different kinds of flowers on our farm - from ruffly ranunculus and daffodils in the spring to colorful kale and dinnerplate dahlias in the fall, we specialize in growing flowers that are "locally grown, not flown." Environmental sustainability is paramount, so our flowers are grown with the use of Integrated Pest Management techniques, cover crops, compost, minimal tillage, and drip irrigation rather than harmful chemicals. The flowers are grown in our field, in a high tunnel, and in a heated glass greenhouse. It's pretty impressive for two ladies in the middle of the city. Our flowers are lush, fragrant, unusual and beautiful; there's nothing quite like them anywhere in St. Louis.
Tucked within our field of flowers are beehives that hum with activity. Our bees produce a rich, fragrant honey that carries with it the many flavors harvested from Urban Buds' flowers. Miranda is a fourth generation bee keeper, so the connection to this trade runs deep in her connection to the farm. As consumers and farmers in an urban environment, we are committed to helping bee populations rebound. Save the bees!
Our greatest joy is growing and arranging flowers for weddings. We know just how meaningful it is to incorporate seasonal, locally-grown flowers in your special day. In June 2014, we were one of the first four same s*x couples who successfully challenged Missouri's gay marriage ban. "From this day forward," we pledged to bring beauty, joy, and love through flowers to all couples choosing to celebrate their love with friends and family.
You can find us with our flowers at Tower Grove Farmers’ Market, selling to area florists, and designing arrangements for weddings and events. We are also the parents to an amazing young man that makes farm life even more exciting and enriching! We think his presence adds some extra joy to each of our flowers!
Urban Buds: City Grown Flowers is located in the Ducthtown neigborhood of Saint Louis, MO; just 7 miles south of the Arch.
