Name: Susie Kawar
Business: Little Mountain Flower Farm
How did you get started as a flower grower/arranger?
I had graduated with my master’s in agriculture and wanted to go into environmental planning. My husband Michael got a job as garden manager at Blackberry Farms, so we moved here. Then I found out I was going to have a baby. I decided I needed to try to find a way to stay at home.
We bought a property with the idea that we were going turn it into some kind of farm. I’ve always grown flowers, and I was fortunate enough to have very good friends who were floral designers. They came and started working with me almost from the beginning. That really informed my style, and the decisions I make now are all from that foundation. It started out with a couple of buckets and the next year I went really big!
What do you make, and how?
Farm fresh floral arrangements for weddings, bridal bouquets, dinner parties, special occasions, and gifts. I’ve discovered specialty daffodils. I didn’t know there were all those colors and shapes; I have a huge patch -- 40 different varieties. I couldn’t have a garden without standards like zinnias, cosmos, dahlias and lisianthus, which looks like a rose but doesn’t have the thorns. All are grown sustainably and without chemicals.
Where are your products offered for sale?
littlemountainflowerfarm.com and Three Rivers Market. I offer dried flowers at Whimsy & a Dream in Knoxville, and Little River Coffee Company in Townsend. A lot of my business comes from my 3- and 6-month subscriptions -- big bunches of one fresh flower variety delivered monthly to your home.
Brief Bio:
Susie Kawar grew up in tiny Neenah, Wis. She went to design school in Atlanta, and earned her graduate degree at Murray State University in Murray, KY. She and her husband Michael are high school sweethearts, together 20 years. Their son, Fields, is named for his great-grandfather. She started Little Mountain Flower Farm, based in Maryville, in 2017.
“I love The Maker City - I love the fact that this is such an electric and creative community. I’m always grateful that we ended up here!”
Name: Savannah Pannell
Business: Flourish Flowers
How did you get started as a flower grower/arranger?
A lot of it was just seeing the Pioneer Woman [Ree Drummond] in person, doing it in Nashville in the summer of 2018. I thought “Knoxville could really use this.” I decided to take a leap of faith; I came home and bought a truck. My husband had some business experience, but I didn’t know anything about flowers or business -- just learned as I went!
What do you make, and how do you do that?
We have a one-acre flower farm in Fountain City -- you can’t see it from the road. We have two separate lots. There’s a learning curve -- still is. We only grow about 30 to 40% of what we sell. We try to provide our own flowers as much as we can. We buy the rest from local wholesalers. My all-time favorite flower is the dahlia. I also like anemones and delphiniums. They are a beautiful blue -- so rare in the flower world.
Where are your products offered for sale?
Our flower trucks are out at least five days a week. We have two -- they are Ford Econoline trucks, 1960 and 1961. We move around every day to a different location, mostly coffee shops. We bounce around to almost every coffee shop! Cultivate in Fountain City carries our flowers. We do the Oak Ridge Farmers Market and events like popup markets and workshops. Check flourishflowersknox.com for flower truck schedule and details about weddings. Also instagram.com/flourishflowersknox/
NOTE: on March 24, one of the Flourish Flowers trucks and all of its contents, including new automatic engine, merchandise and cash box, was completely destroyed by fire. It was the basis of Savannah Pannell’s business, and because of the vehicle’s age, insurance will only pay a fraction of its value. If you’d like to help, visit https://gofund.me/1dac2ab7.
Brief bio:
Knoxville native Savannah Pannell grew up with a mother who was “always in the garden.” She received her nursing degree from UT and worked for three years as an OB-GYN nurse. She started Flourish as a side gig, two years into her medical career. “I had no intention of it becoming a business. It was more about finding an outlet that I could do with nursing.” She and her husband Isaac have two young children, and Flourish Flowers is now in its fifth year. “Once we started it, there was just a demand for it; Knoxville accepted us very quickly. The Maker City culture that was already here welcomed us and that’s how we were able to make it. We’re very grateful.”
Name: Monica Kimutis
Business: Ensemble Gardens
How did you get started as a flower grower/arranger?
I love flowers, and since owning a home and yard I wanted it to be more like a garden -- a peaceful, relaxing place to land. I home school my children and I wanted to do something other than thinking about kids all day. I’m always thinking of things to bring in extra income, using my business skills to make it profitable. I love people, and when COVID hit it was so hard for me to not have that physical connection with them. It’s super fun to give encouragement through flowers, so I started leaving flowers on people’s doorsteps. I made my first sale in 2021.
What do you make and how?
Local, specialty cut flowers. I love growing unique kinds of sunflowers, and I like to grow things that are hard to ship. Zinnias are super easy, and I planted 400 daffodils but not the yellow kind! I have a lot of different fillers: yarrow, Persian cress, Love-in-a- Mist, amaranthus, bunny tail. There’s a lot of different colors. My goal this year is to narrow down varieties.
Where are your products offered for sale?
By delivery, May through October. Follow on Facebook and Instagram
Brief bio:
Monica Kimutis grew up in Boise, Idaho. She spent part of high school as an exchange student in France, then studied international business at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, where she also met her husband, Jared. The couple came to Knoxville ten years ago when Jared took a position teaching religion at Knoxville Catholic High School. Kimutis’ extended family soon followed -- her parents and grandparents all live very close by, and her business takes its name from the French word for “together.” She and Jared have four children under the age of nine. “Even though my interactions with people are brief, the flowers provide a reminder that they’ve been thought of, that they’re not alone. I always look forward to connecting with people to spread some joy.”
For more on where to find goods by artisans of The Maker City, please click here.
