(COLORADO SPRINGS) — There’s a new way to make money online while also enjoying a hobby. It’s the creation of two Colorado Springs gardeners who are taking their pasttime to the next level.
If you spend lots of time in your garden, or just love buying flowers, you’ve got to check out a new website called Local Blooms. It just launched for sales this week.
“We’re really new, and still kind of tiny and building, but I’m excited to see where it goes,” said Rachel Kovacs, one of its two co-founders.
For many, gardening is more of a therapeutic hobby than a full-time job. That’s the case for Kovacs, who works as a children’s cancer nurse. Her love for gardening and sharing her flowers with others gave her the idea to start Local Blooms–it’s a website where all plant lovers across the country can buy or sell flowers locally.
“It’s really easy for growers to list their flowers and sell them, whether they just have one bouquet or they have 100 bouquets. Then people can easily shop on there and buy for themselves locally or across the country,” said Kovacs.
Kovacs’ inspiration for the online marketplace goes far beyond the local economic impact.
“I learned that about 80% of the flowers that we buy, and that we bring into our homes, are actually imported from other countries,” said Kovacs. “And then when they’re imported, they travel thousands and thousands of miles, use a lot of jet fuel. They’re on these huge cargo planes and trucks that need to be refrigerated, and they also get doused with chemicals.”
She added that flowers at the store could’ve been picked two or three weeks ago, while the bouquets on Local Blooms were likely picked that same day.
You can order delivery, pickup, or even make a request for more growers to join in any given zip code. To check it out for yourself, click the link above.
