Meet Kimberly Hyde | Owner of Beet + Yarrow

@beetandyarrow

Photo By Denver Headshot Co

Hi Kimberly!  Can you tell us your story leading up to owning Beet + Yarrow?

My name is Kimberly Hyde, and I was a graphic designer turned plant-lover and now business owner. 13 years ago, I wanted to put my creative energy toward anything “plant-y” and chlorophyll making. I actually started as a residential veggie gardener, plant caretaker in office buildings, and floral designer wherever I could. Floral design had the most traction (and customers) for me, so that’s what led me to starting a floral design business.

Rae Scott Photography

Are you from Colorado? Which neighborhood did you eventually choose to call home?

I am from Longmont, Colorado, and we now live in North East Park Hill (the name according to zillow) because it was the only house we found in Denver city limits that we could afford at the time. It had six bedrooms, and we wanted to be able to rent out a few rooms affordably, which we’ve done for six years now. We’re on the north side of MLK, where most houses are one story and a lot made of cinder block. I guess I prefer the less fancy side of this neighborhood, and am actually proud of it. My neighborhood has a distinct rich history. My house was a day care before we lived here, and we’re surrounded by a Seventh Day Adventist Church and a mosque. I have grown to love my neighborhood and community–an economically and racially diverse blend, with some families that have been here for generations. And almost daily, a neighbor will walk by while I’m working in my yard, and make sure I know the history of my neighborhood and my house. “I used to work in the kitchen at this daycare,” “I’m 60 years old and we moved here and I went to this daycare when I was 4 years old, when this neighborhood stopped being red lined.” “There was a black panther headquarters three doors down from you. They were responsible for the free and reduced lunch that public schools offer.” (There’s even now a book and documentary about some of the history, and really Denver’s history in general, based around The Holly square, a half mile from me).

Rae Scott Photography

Beet + Yarrow is located inside The Source in RiNo- why did you choose this area for your business? What do you like about being located in the Source and in the RiNo Neighborhood?

The main reason I’m at the source is because I had a friend who was part of the project in its original concept who asked me to be here. I liked this neighborhood, because there wasn’t a whole lot here when this project started. The first Source building was vacant, and the land under the now hotel was bare. That  concept of new ideas in old buildings is the sort of city development that I’m drawn to. The Source was really the first Market Hall like it in Denver, and it was cool to be part of the shared space and energy that a market hall offers. Now there are so many other market halls like it, with their own unique attractions, but we’ve settled ourselves in and enjoy having been here since the beginning.

Rae Scott Photography

What are some of your favorite floral arrangements? Or some that are the most popular?

I love our new spring collection, and it’s a toss up between the “Moons Over my Hammy” and the “Premium Short Stack” as my favorite. “Moons” is designed with very seasonal flowers, so you really won’t be able to get these same blooms past June, and I love the airy wildness of the “Short Stack.”  (And yes, we named these with a breakfast theme. Maybe we were hungry that day).

Rae Scott Photography

How does Sustainability play a part in your business?

While I wish I could say our business had this beautiful sustainable model, I’ve found it’s nearly impossible to do flowers sustainably year round in Colorado. And it’s a tricky issue. We get some of our flowers from South America with fair trade labels on them, but without investigating the farms directly, unfortunately this label is not that comforting to me. We buy as much as we can from local growers, and I even grow a few things in my own yard for the shop during the five short months of growing weather in Colorado. Even so, local flowers are a small fraction of the flowers that we buy. We do compost our scraps, we don’t use plastic in any of our packaging (except on days when below freezing temps necessitate a plastic bag of protection over the arrangements). We also recycle packaging that we receive, and we use dried discarded stems to attach notes to the flowers rather than the plastic sticks that are industry standard.

Rae Scott Photography

What challenges have you experienced on your journey? 

I think I’ve experienced most of the challenges. Fresh flowers are a hard business to make money in. We have an expensive, perishable product, expensive labor, and customer satisfaction can often be left to an individual’s “sense of taste”. I made very little money for the first five years, and thankfully was able to hold on long enough to get through those early years of struggle. But the biggest challenge was having my babies and becoming a mom while running a business. I didn’t have childcare for the first 2-3 years of my daughters’ lives, because we couldn’t afford it. My babies have both napped in the shop, and I had to nurse and change diapers during work meetings.

Rae Scott Photography

What are some of your favorite products you sell other than Flowers?

I actually buy a lot of our other products for myself! I love our juniper ridge body wash, our bespoke loose leaf teas, our planting soil, our rotating hand made ceramics, and even our floral lego sets (side hobby)!

Rae Scott Photography

What are you proud of accomplishing in the past year? 

We had two orders-of-a-lifetime last year where we designed dressing room flowers for Lizzo and Elton John!

Rae Scott Photography

How would you describe the Personality or “Vibe” of Denver? 

Denver is like a 17-year-old who wants to be this cool large coastal city, but hasn’t realized it was born with its best traits. It might be the perfect mid-size city and I think there is an opportunity to tap into its history and blend of cultures, and come up with creative solutions to past problems. If it can hold off pricing everyone out. Also, Denver has some nice views and a general lack of bugs.

Rae Scott Photography

Reach Out to Beet + Yarrow for More Info:

 Website/ Instagram to Follow:

@beetandyarrow, or beetandyarrow.com

 

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