Top 5 Melanated Garden Gurus!
Amplifying melanated voices, and listing my favorite gardeners and growers.
Flora is both familial and sentimental to me.
Every person in my family has plants, grows plants, and is obsessed with plants. My grandmother was the arborist and botanist matriarch of the family - everything she touched bloomed and blossomed. Summers were filled with buckets of cherries and grapes that she grew and picked by hand. Fall was full with memories of sitting around snacking on sunflower seeds, grown, picked, and dried by her. During winter, we had jams and jellies galore, picked, cooked, and canned by her. And the spring, best of all, was filled with a constant whirlwind of bloom - from the blooms of the cherry tree, to the blossoming of roses, to the appearance of the dainty Lilies of the Valley that flirtatiously filled the air with their fragrance.
My childhood was a dizzy daydream filled with shades of green, picking daisies, and being infatuated with the fragrance of every flower. In my very own wonderland, even today, I never cease to be amazed by the budding, the blossoming, and the blooming of flora.
My grandmother passed away when I was 12. I never got to learn from her gardening wisdom, and I never learned how to grow a cherry tree. And like every other Millenial, I turn to social media to learn and reawaken the deep-seated need to grow greenery.
As part of amplifying black voices, I wanted to highlight amazing melanated gardeners and growers that have helped me cultivate my green thumb!
I've learned so much from these gurus on social media. How to propagate, how to plant, and how to integrate plants into interior design. It has been exciting to learn from these growers, and I am so excited to share them with you!
My top 5 list:
Hilton Carter - The OG of plants and plant styling, his aesthetic is unmatched on any platform! I purchased his book "Wild Interiors", and I am incorporating it into my decor style.
Garden Marcus - I originally stumbled upon his TikTok account, and this man has the most positive vibes I've ever seen, as well as just a general aura of peace.
Chef Zu - Another grower I found on TikTok, he talks about mushrooms, herbs, and tinctures! He's a herbalist and nutritionist, and he heals with what he grows!
The Bloom Journey / Niyya - Self care through plant care! She talks about personal growth while caring for plants, the best of BOTH WORLDS!
Black girls with gardeners - An account dedicated to highlighting black women that grow and garden. Inspirational, beautiful, and uplifting!
I hope you enjoy following these amazing people as much as I do!
