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Hundreds of flowers grow on the roof of the Robert Debré hospital in the 19th arrondissement in Paris. These cosmos, dahlias, centauries, amaranths were sown or planted by Félix Romain and Tran-Phi Vu, the two young founders of the Urban flower farm.
The flowers are picked every day. They are assembled in bouquets. Individuals order these bouquets two days or two hours in advance. They come to pick them up on specific time slots. Home delivery is also possible, but not before the end of the working day of the flower growers, who are very busy with their 1,500 m2 of cultivated roofs.
Tran-Phi and Félix studied together, and it was a promotion friend who made them aware of a fact: French flower growers are closing down one after the other, unable to face competition from the Netherlands. , producer country and transit hub for most cut flowers sold by florists
Félix Romain and Tran-Phi Vu therefore took an interest in floristry: “We both love garden flowers, wildflowers, the ones you can’t find at florists. The project was born from a desire: that of cultivating the flowers that we wanted to see in a bouquet. Flowers which, too, do not have to respect strong logistical constraints of transport or cold chain. “
Félix and Tran-Phi started their activity in May 2019. The task is complicated: the soil has never been cultivated and they have unpleasant surprises in store. In the earth, they find a lot of landfill, but also garbage and plastic bags. It is necessary to disburse, decompact, clean, and especially enrich a soil deserted by earthworms and other very useful bugs.
To bring the land back to life, they call on local resources: “The company which takes care of the green spaces of the hospital gives us green waste. This waste interests us and they do not have to go to the recycling center, and pay to get rid of it. We also have a partnership with the park located in front of the hospital. We recover part of their grass clippings, dead leaves from the mulch to put them on our plots and thus improve our soil. “
Life, earthworms, pollinators are finally back on the roof of the hospital …
Félix Romain, urban floriculturalist
Félix Romain and Tran-Phi Vu are working on the opening of a new site in Vitry-sur-Seine. Other flower farms have been set up in Paris, so much the better. When buying a bouquet from a florist, consider where it comes from and how it is produced. Roses grown in greenhouses require a lot of water; Coming from Africa, Kenya in particular, they travel thousands of kilometers by plane. Not terrible for the carbon footprint.
So, at your florist, do not hesitate to ask where the flowers come from and prefer flowers produced locally, when possible. One way to support the French floriculture industry.
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