Founded in the early 2000s by three agriculture students, Tiger Garden has developed into a multipurpose shop.
Love was sweet on MU’s campus this Valentine’s Day, as students entered the Agriculture Building empty-handed and left with ornate handmade bouquets of flowers, giant teddy bears and boxes of chocolates.
Flowers sit on a counter in the hallway connecting Tiger Gardens and a classroom in Columbia, Mo., on Feb 8, 2023. Students in the class focused on creating their own flower arrangements. (Photo/Hannah Schuh)
Tiger Garden, MU’s hole-in-the-wall, student-run floral shop, was busier than ever last week during its “Love is Sweet” Valentine’s Day special. Students received a free box of chocolates with their order if it was placed before Feb. 10, and a free teddy bear if they picked up their order on Valentine’s Day. Students could also win a giant teddy bear by correctly guessing the number of candy hearts in a jar.
Founded in the early 2000s, Tiger Garden has developed into a convenient small business for students to buy a special gift for their loved ones. Students can order floral arrangements handmade by Tiger Garden employees along with other goodies online, by phone, or in-person.
Pots of growing anthuriums sit in the Tiger Garden’s Wedding and Events room after being returned in Columbia, Mo., on Feb 8, 2023. Flowers used in larger events are often returned after the event, allowing for Tiger Gardens to donate many of the used flowers to a hospice. (Photo/Michael Baniewicz)
“It basically started off with three students (who) just took a few orders a day and delivered them themselves,” Tiger Garden student Lleader Amara Limberis said. “But now it has developed into a fully functioning flower shop.”
Tiger Garden now gets around 15-20 orders per day, with a massive uptick to around 50-100 during seasons like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and sorority initiations.
Junior Khloee Kinion watches as senior Amara Limberis shows where tissue paper is located during their re-organization session in Columbia, Mo., on Feb 8, 2023. Limeris has been a member of Tiger Gardens’ staff for five years. “I feel like it kind of turned into a passion a couple years ago, where I thought, maybe I can do this as an occupation when I graduate,” said Limeris. (Photo/Hannah Schuh)
Floral arrangements vary by season — more rose-heavy for Valentine’s Day and more tulip-heavy for the start of spring. Though Tiger Garden receives most of its cut flowers from wholesalers in Springfield and St. Louis, some are grown in hands-on labs in MU’s plant science courses before they are displayed in their own sales. Materials to plant and grow your own garden are also available.
“We have a cool season and warm season plant sale, which is basically like your fresh fruits or vegetables that you can grow in your garden, or just blooming plants to spruce up your landscape,” Limberis said.
MU Plant Growth Facilities Manager Michelle Brooks teaches two lab courses that provide flowers for Tiger Garden to sell — Greenhouse Management, which grows poinsettias and mums during the fall semester for Tiger Garden’s cool season plant sale, and Greenhouse Crops Production, which grows bedding plants and hanging baskets in the spring semester for their warm season plant sale.
A teddy bear waits to be picked up alongside other goodie bags in Columbia, Mo., on Feb 8, 2023. Tiger Gardens ran a Valentine’s Day special in which customers could earn extra goodies, like this teddy bear or chocolate. (Photo/Hannah Schuh)
However, Valentine’s Day sales are run completely by Tiger Garden, with their own themes centered around love. The “Love is Sweet” theme this year saw boxes of sweet candies, red balloons with sweet messages, giant smiling teddy bears, and red, white and pink floral arrangements made mostly of roses.
“It has to be a well-oiled machine to operate correctly,” Brooks, who occasionally helps out during Tiger Garden’s busier seasons, said. “There’s lots of different facets — the folks who are taking orders from the customers, and those who are creating the arrangements, and the crew that does the deliveries.”
For Limberis, though, creating arrangements from cut flowers is second nature now. With previous experience working at a flower shop in high school, she applied for a job at Tiger Garden her freshman year and has stuck with it all four years. However, Limberis said that most Tiger Garden employees go through floral design courses at MU before they apply.
“You learn the basics in the class, like how to make a greenery grid or ensuring proper cutting for your flowers so [they] actually get hydrated from the water [they’re] sitting in,” Limberis said.
Despite the extra stress during busy seasons and complicated nature of designing and creating these arrangements, Limberis said she still enjoys working with a diligent staff and seeing customers’ reactions to the arrangements they create.
“They just get so happy, and it makes you feel good,” Limberis said.
Edited by Egan Ward | eward@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Lauren Courtney