2023 Speaker Profile: DEE HALL

Dee Hall continually finds creative ways to bring her seasonal flowers to customers in her Norfolk, Virginia, community. Beyond her CSA subscriptions and everyday deliveries, Dee builds community with fellow flower farmers. She will discuss how she developed Mermaid City Flowers by growing flowers in her own residential garden and on "borrowed" property of her neighbors. You'll also hear about Black Flower Farmers, the organization she founded in 2021.

Dee Hall’s car is full of soil. Shovelling it onto to a new growing space is on her to-do list for the day, as is ordering new business cards and checking in with florists to get a sense of their upcoming orders for Mother’s Day. Such is the typical day of Norfolk, Virginia-based flower farmer and proprietress of Mermaid City Flowers—as in there is no such thing as a typical day.

Innovation and creativity are part of the fabric of Dee’s life and business as an urban flower farmer. Now in her fourth year, Dee currently grows on her own property as well as five other sites, including her neighbor’s yard. That neighbor was the first to offer up his space. “He loves flowers, but he’s not great at growing them,” says Dee. He saw was she was doing and invited her to have her flowers spill over into his yard, which was well-equipped with raised beds,