One Lot.
Then Six.
Quilen and Hannah Blackwell started Chicago Eco House in Englewood, turning neglected lots into growing space. Southside Blooms launched in 2019 as the flower side of that work — a farm-to-vase florist that reinvests in the same neighborhoods it grows in.
What started as one lot has grown into a network of solar-powered urban flower farms across Chicago's South and West Sides, with the shop now expanding into North Lawndale. Every arrangement starts as a seed in Chicago soil — grown, cut, and arranged by local young people who are paid for the work.
The name on the door is honest about what this is: a florist first, a jobs program built into every bouquet second — or maybe it's the other way around.
