roots_001-550?v=1

Putting down rOOTS

Plant peddler Dee Ferguson gives tips on keeping plants surviving and thriving

Dee Ferguson never really set out to start a plant business. After selling another business in 2020, in between plotting her next steps, she was working with her dad on a genealogy project about their family’s history. 

“As it turns out, that was just part of my DNA because in researching my ancestors, my roots were mainly farmers and they all had a passion for botany,” says Dee. Her ancestors loved plants so much she found multiple historic photos of her ancestors posing with them. 

Dee, whose home was filled with plants, but mainly as a hobby, took it as a sign — this would be her next business venture. 

“I was always a plant gal anyway,” she says. “It was not something that I dreamt about — starting a plant store 5 years ago. It hit me like a lightning bolt with our DNA.”

That’s why she named her plant business rOOTS — her maiden name, which she shares with her botany-loving family tree, is Oots, and it made for the perfect double entendre. 

Dee lives in Parkville and keeps her entire plant inventory in her home. While she’s currently searching for the perfect retail space, she holds pop-ups all over Kansas City — primarily on the third floor of Bella Patina in the West Bottoms on every First Friday weekend. This is a perfect fit because Dee really sees plants as home decor pieces. 

“It was never my goal to sell someone 50 plants that they go home and put on a kitchen window,” says Dee. 

Dee makes sure she sets her customers up for success when they go home with a plant. She says a lot of people come in and feel like they have a black thumb.

“These people feel like they’re plant killers because they bought a succulent at Home Depot with no drainage and it died,” says Dee. Dee wants her customers to feel confident in caring for their new plants. She asks them a lot of questions, such as about the lighting in their home, and then pots each plant in fresh soil in a pot with proper drainage, and sends it home with a QR code of care instructions.

“We want you to be successful because then you come back,” she says.

Dee says drainage is the number one thing to look for when bringing a new plant home, especially for a newbie. It’s why she only sells pots with drainage holes. If a pot doesn't have proper drainage, it can easily become overwatered.

“The number one reason plants die is because of overwatering,” says Dee. “Nine times out of ten, when someone shows me a plant that died, it’s because of overwatering.” 

Dee says the second biggest offender is lack of light.

“Just because a plant is a low-light plant doesn’t mean it’s a no-light plant,” she says. “You can’t put it in a basement with no windows.”

Dee also tries to sell plants that are a little more approachable, such as monsteras, strings of hearts, pothos, or snake plants. These are all plants Dee has in her own home — and the ones in her home have names, like her polka-dotted begonia named Gladys. 

“In every space I have in my home where I want to relax or bring some color in, there are plants,” says Dee. 

Dee once read a study that the reason people feel more productive and creative around plants is that when our ancestors were around plants, they knew they were around a water source, so they could focus less on survival and relax more. 

“It makes me feel like I’m in a safe, creative, fresh environment,” she says. “It makes me happy to see them. Being around them makes me feel happy and peaceful and kind of at home.”

Related Businesses

Related Articles

See More