Lavender Field in Royal Oak to Add to CSA Success, Bouquet Program Announced

(Crystal A. Proxmire, April 29, 2017)

Royal Oak, MI – Taking vacant lots or laws of green grass and turning them into Community Supported Agriculture is bringing new life to areas of Detroit. And the trend is growing in the burbs too, with Urbane Apartments digging in.

On Saturday volunteers from Detroit ABloom prepared the grounds for a field of Lavender Plants from Klatz Farms in the greenspace behind Urbane’s Crooks South location.  And they are partnering with the apartment community’s administration to offer a special bouquet-a-week program to those who want to support the CSA.

“There are a plethora of urban gardens in Detroit, most offering fruits and vegetables. When we came across Detroit Abloom and met Tom Milano, Nancy Weigandt and Julia Griffin, we quickly became friends,” said Urbane CEO Eric Brown. “What we really like about Detroit Abloom is that they specialize in the pioneering of flower farming in Detroit as a means to transform vacant blighted land into beautiful and productive landscapes. From our meetings and talks, we have evolved a partnership between Urbane and Detroit Abloom to bring this idea of sanctuary gardens into our Urbane community. We are beyond jazz-a-rooned.”  By partnering with Urbane, Detroit ABloom is doubling their lavender yield.  “And our Royal Oak neighbors can enjoy the beauty and fragrance of lavender,” he said.

Urbane has over a dozen locations through Metro Detroit, many of which have green spaces they are hoping to transform.  “The overall concept is to create gathering places for both our Urbane Apartment residents and our surrounding neighbors,” Brown said.

In addition to the lavender field in Royal Oak, they’ll be planting Moringa Trees (aka Miracle Tree or Tree of Life) at various Urbane communities. The leaves will be harvested, dried and made into a powder for smoothies.  Ad there will be dahlias – over 100 varieties will be planted at Detroit Abloom locations through Metro Detroit including at Urbane communities.

Detroit Abloom is one of two projects directed by The Garden Detroit, a Michigan nonprofit organization. They have a two-acre urban farm called The Garden at Freud and Newport, where they have been growing flowers and vegetables for the past six years. And then they operate Detroit Abloom, a cut flower business located on nine vacant lots on the 200 block of Manistique that they purchased from the Detroit Land Bank Authority in 2015. Both projects are located in the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood on Detroit’s lower east side.

The CSA bouquet-a-week program will help Detroit Abloom get established for the season.  By paying in advance for this program, the CSA will be funded and in return, participants will receive a fresh flower bouquet every week. Program details below:

Brown is excited about the program.  “Detroit Abloom bouquets are inspired by seasonal diversity and will connect you to the spring, summer and fall seasons in Michigan. These flowers are not your typical supermarket, generic flowers from South or Central America or Mexico.  As the season progresses, their bouquets evolve from springs’ pastels to include a great variety of summer beauties, field foraged cuts such as Queen Ann’s Lace and Mugwort and reach a season end climax with stunning arrays of perfect dahlias.

Every one of their flower bouquets is a unique creation. Nancy and Julia hope that you will be just as amazed with the colors, textures, shapes and scents of their organically grown flowers as they are. When you receive one of their bouquets, feel free to bury your face in it without any worry of pesticides. Their bouquets are created with love for you and your home or workplace.”

There are two 10 week programs available.  Here are the details:
#1 Spring to Summer, June 8th through August 10th  $200.00 ($20/week and a one-time $10 bucket charge),
#2 Summer to Fall, August 17th, through October 19th   $200.00 ($20/week and a one-time $10 bucket charge).

Bouquets will be available weekly on Thursdays after 4pm on at these two pick-up locations:

310 West Sixth Street, Royal Oak (Urbane Underground-Downtown Royal Oak)
313 Newport Street, Detroit 48215 (Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood)

Call  (248)-767-4460 to get signed up for the 2017 Detroit Abloom Flower Season and you can have Fresh Flowers each week. Or email EricBrown.Urbane@gmail.com.

Urbane Apartments is a proud advertising sponsor of locally-driven projects like Detroit Abloom and Oakland County Times.

Learn more about Urbane communities at http://www.urbaneapts.com.

Learn more about Detroit ABloom at https://www.facebook.com/detroitabloom/.