My name is Melanie Davis and I am the owner of Red Garden Basket Designs in Athens, Ga. I began gardening while receiving formal, online education in growing specialty cut flowers. During this time, I quickly became fascinated by sustainability and conservation growing practices like seed-starting and sustainable soil. I noticed the cheap grocery store flowers that had been harvested by underpaid workers in third-world countries and wondered about the environmental impact from the planes and trucks that transported them out of season. 

Determined to create change, my husband and I turned our home into a permaculture garden, building raised beds where we amended the soil and plant a variety of seasonal blooms for different times of the year. Before I knew it, I had an urban micro-cut flower farm that was home to a pollination garden and other natural means of organic growth. I had always been fascinated by watching my Mother, Grandmothers and Aunts tend to their gardens, and now I base the foundation of my creations on the teachings I learned from these important women in my life.