Come See About Them — Black Bottom Garden Pays Homage to Detroit Roots  

Photo provided by the Black Bottom Garden Center  

Four local Black women are out to make a difference with the work they’re doing with the rich, God-given soil under their feet, and they’re bringing others in on their passion for produce, flowers and gardening needs in Detroit’s North End community.  

The semi-new Black Bottom Garden Center, a co-op which opened in May, is run by co-owners Carol Trowell, Jerry Ann Hebron, Imani Foster, and Djenaba Ali.  

The group, ranging from their mid-40s to early 70s, is passionate about creating a community impact that will “last for generations to come.”   

“We are a self-determined group of multi-generational women who collectively pooled our resources to bring forth sustainably grown and sourced products for your garden needs,” according to its website.   

The cooperative of worker-owners oversees cultivating seedlings that have grown in Detroit’s fertile dark soil.   

Their name pays homage to the local area, the residents and the legacy of Detroit’s Historic Northend and Black Bottom neighborhoods.  

“The name of the soil in the area is known for Black Bottom soil — known for its richness and black dirt,” Ali told the Michigan Chronicle, adding that Black Bottom Detroit residents were displaced, along with Black-owned businesses during the I-75 and the I-375 expressway during the 1950s.   

Ali added that while the gardening center is not particularly in the Black Bottom area impacted decades earlier with the “urban renewal,” it still was important for the group to choose that name because it “resonated.”  

“[That name is] something meaningful and represented Detroit — overall something that would stand out,” Ali said.  

Trowell and Ali spoke to the Michigan Chronicle about their work in the new gardening center in the North End area of Detroit that offers edible plant transplants, compost, compost tea, soil, seed packs, house plants, flower transplants, as well as monthly classes on gardening and food preservation.   

Ali said that the gardening center is doing well but slowed down a bit around July but will pick up as the gardening center changes inventory.  

“[We are now] transitioning to fall flowers and perennials like mums and other flowers that go through the fall,” Trowell, who has been gardening since she was a kid, said.  

Ali added that the inventory switch includes moving over to house plants and that anyone can garden – from the new green thumb folks to those more experienced playing in the dirt.   

“For the experienced ones, it’s more moving toward not just gardening,” Ali said, adding that a lot of gardeners are moving toward the trend of specialized gardens and incorporating flowers and not just have vegetable gardens.  

Ali also said that gardeners might make a specialty garden for salsa and plant tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and more.

For beginner gardeners, she added that it’s about taking baby steps.  

“If they’ve been gardening a long time — or for beginners — just making sure we’re incorporating more things and [being] confident,” she said.  

Trowell said that confidence is key when gardening because some people “think they can’t grow certain things” or only grow a certain type of produce like Roma tomatoes.  

“They don’t know tomatoes grow in all colors and sizes,” she said, adding that growing produce during this day and age could make all the difference by adding new nutritional options.   

“Being that COVID hit and stores were running out of things, prices escalated … Especially with people being at home, working from home … a lot of people also found out they kind of loved it,” Trowell said of gardening. “When you’re able to have a child or young adult plant something and watch it grow — that gets to be amazing to them.”   

Ali said that it’s time to put the power of produce and planting into the hands of everyday people.  

“It’s just time — it’s shifting, it’s really time to make that connection,” she said, adding that it‘s important to make connections between the food people eat, and see how they grow. “We sell and grow herbs and we had a curry plant; as much as I love curry I never thought about it being a plant and it smells so wonderful… we have to stop always putting the responsibility on these big corporations to give us healthy food …it’s time for the average person — whether you have a porch, a little balcony apartment studio or yard – all sorts of ways and techniques now to grow our own things.”  

Trowell added that the community welcomed the gardening center with “loving arms.”  

“Most of them are so glad we’re here because there are no garden centers here,” Trowell said of the North End, adding that there is a second one opened on the city’s Northwest side. “One lady bought all her flowers she needed to dress her backyard up for her wedding.”  

Ali added that their garden center “fills a need.”  

They also hope to fill their need in an even greater way by purchasing a brick–and–mortar building and rehabilitate it to the tune of $300,000 in the near future.  

For more information, find them at https://www.facebook.com/blackbottomgardencenter.