Cool Businesses: Local Color Flowers and Butterbee Farm

Last week, I had the opportunity to visit Local Color Flowers, a gem of a business located in Waverly.  Owner Ellen Frost is a floral designer who uses only locally sourced flowers.  Genius!  "LocoFlo" is the only East Coast florist with this claim to fame. Here are some of her Independence Day creations. 

 

Speaking of Independence, many Baltimoreans appreciate locally-owned, independent businesses like Local Color Flowers because they enrich our lives with their unique goods and services ... and because they are often owned by our neighbors!  In addition to Ellen and her husband, Local Color Flowers has eight part-time staff, all of whom are city residents.

LocoFlo designs floral arrangements for weddings and special events, delivers individual arrangements in the Baltimore area, hosts periodic "popup" retail markets at its cool space on Brentwood Avenue in Waverly, and has its own flower CSA ("Community Supported Agriculture"), which is a way for interested consumers to purchase flower arrangements for the season in advance and pick them up from LocoFlo on a regular basis.

Laura Beth Resnick, owner of Butterbee Farm and one of LocoFlo's suppliers, farms at the Whitelock Street Community Farm in Reservoir Hill, where she sells flowers from 10-1 on Saturday mornings, and in Clifton Park.  You can also find her work at the Farm Alliance Stand at the Waverly Farmers Market.  Butterbee Farm already needs more land, and its 2013 Flower Share program is full.  Way to go, urban farming!