At the ribbon cutting ceremony last year for Roots + Fire Water, Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld asked if the owners, Denice Rhodes and Amanda Battles, would offer help to people who tend to kill houseplants.
It turns out he wasn’t the only one with that question.
As the mother-daughter team celebrated the botanical shop’s first anniversary on Saturday, July 1, Battles explained that professional plant care services have become a key part of the business.
“We had a lot of people come in asking about repotting,” she said. “We started a monthly re-potting day. People can come to the shop and we’ll re-pot their plants for them or we can go and re-pot them in their house.”
They also provide instruction on plant care to help customers keep their tropical plants healthy. They developed their own soil mix to help with plant care.
During the grand opening last year, Rhodes and Battles said they planned to connect the shop to their family’s farm in Mississippi. That project is moving forward, Battles said.
“Last year was us planning out the field,” she said. “This year we’ve done some planting. Everything in our store will be 100% sourced from our family farm. That’s our five-year plan.”
The farm will soon provide teas, herbs and a selection of tropical plants, she said.
Battles said the shop has gotten good support from customers for hosted tea parties. This year, they held a special party on International Tea Day, something they plan to make an annual event.