A Business Planted in Kindness
Midtown Bramble and Bloom
Marisa Mender-Franklin started a flower-growing business called Midtown Bramble and Bloom.
A woman in the U.S. state of Tennessee was able to start her own flower-growing business, thanks to some generous neighbors.
Marisa Mender-Franklin is a florist, meaning she grows and sells flowers. Mender-Franklin, who was once an art teacher, discovered her love of flowers when she grew them to decorate her own wedding in 2020. The experience gave her an idea: Why not start a flower farm and sell the flowers? There was just one problem. Mender-Franklin didn’t have enough land.
Midtown Bramble and Bloom
Marisa Mender-Franklin tends to some of the flowers she is growing as part of her business.
She decided to go on Facebook and ask her neighbors in Memphis, Tennessee, if she could use their property to grow flowers. She told the radio show Marketplace that within one week, 40 people had offered the use of their backyards. This was the beginning of Midtown Bramble and Bloom, a company run by Mender-Franklin and her husband, Corey Franklin.
The company began by taking small orders for things like bouquets. After a few months, Midtown Bramble and Bloom was providing flowers for weddings.
Midtown Bramble and Bloom
Marisa Mender-Franklin and Corey Franklin co-own Midtown Bramble and Bloom.
Today, Midtown Bramble and Bloom still grows its flowers in neighbors’ yards. The company doesn’t pay the landowners, but it does provide free gardening and lots of flowers. The arrangement works out well. The landowners’ gardens are blooming, and Mender-Franklin’s business is booming.
