Meet the woman out to connect people with plants — and pollinators

Carla Michel wants you to grow beautiful plants.

Prairie grasses, flowering perennials, plants that attract butterflies and bees and that wave in the South Dakota wind. She wants you to look out at your yard, or a spot in your yard, or a tiny area you’re thinking of doing something with, and imagine it as a blank canvas where you can paint the prairie.

“I’ve been an advocate of native plants since before they were the cool thing,” said Michel, who owns Carla’s Flower Farm. The greenhouse, which sits in a parking lot east of Phillips Avenue between 41st Street and Interstate 229 in an area that looks as far away from the natural world as possible, has been selling annuals and perennials for five years.

Michel grew up on a farm outside of Sioux Falls, and she graduated from South Dakota State University with degrees in art and landscaping.

She worked in landscaping for a few years and then realized it’s less about plants and nature and more about hardscaping, as she calls it. She wanted to create areas that help people and pollinators.

Michel grew up in the garden with her grandmother, she said. “She would go for long walks and enjoy nature, and I got that from her.”

So her flower farm at 501 E. 41st St. was born. She pieced it together from remnants of Loila’s Garden and Perennial Passion, which operated for several years in Sioux Falls. She buys from two local growers – Mensch out of Avon, South Dakota, and Bluebird out of Clarkson, Nebraska.

That’s important because what they grow grows well in the area, doesn’t have to travel far and is meant for this climate.

She took her love of plants and art, and combined it with her love of the outdoors and hiking to build a business that aims to bring joy to homeowners while also, just maybe, bringing the prairie back to the Midwest.

The first step is to show people how to plant – and that means getting rid of the plastic ground cover and rocks.

“There’s no way to work around the plastic,” she said. “Plants are in clay soil and homeowners think, ‘oh I just don’t have a green thumb.’”

But that’s not true usually, Michel said. Instead, they need to change how they’re planting and lean in to the kinds of plants that grow best here. “Plants are unhappy with rocks next to them,” she said.

You might have noticed the ongoing movement toward native plants and away from super-manicured lawns – some homeowners deemed it “No Mow May” recently, allowing grass to just grow.

“Sioux Falls has come a long way,” Michel said. “I’m trying to get customers excited about bees and hummingbirds. When they are excited, then they’re willing to try some new ideas.”

Part is making sure the space is right, and part is making sure the attitude is right – or, as she said, “rethink pretty.”

Think waving grasses that turn golden in the fall, with wildflowers in waves through them. She recommends prairie dropseed, a native grass for prairie gardens. “They play such an important role for the insects and create a stronger plant community,” Michel said.  “People just want things that flower. But if you look at the landscape, start with grasses and sedge, then put in two or three plants that bloom for color.”

She is an avid Facebook user, letting fans know when trays of flowers or plants are arriving – trays of pasqueflowers sell out the day they arrive, she said. If you didn’t get any, she recommends trying spotted bee balm instead as a great alternative.

She said not to be afraid to try new things. Start with a small patch in your yard, buy perennials in 2.5-inch pots – smaller, less expensive and easier to plant – and begin creating your prairie.

And those little plants will grow quickly. “You’ll be amazed at them in September,” Michel said.

When Todd Paulson decided to convert half his lawn to designated native gardens, Michel helped.

“I learned that I needed to plant densely to suppress weeds, but I was daunted at the potential cost,” Paulson said. “Fortunately, I discovered Carla’s Flower Farm and her huge collection of small potted plants. Small plants are much more affordable and allowed me to plant densely and try many exciting species of prairie plants native to our area. My garden is now mature, beautiful and bustling with butterflies, birds and other pollinators.”

It’s all about finding joy in your landscape, Michel said. “If you aren’t seeing bees and butterflies, you’re missing out.”