Flint Urban Flower Farmer Grows Joy and Beauty to Share With The Community

When most Flint residents look out their windows, they may see their neighbors mowing their lawns, pet owners walking their dogs, kids playing in the yard or sometimes an empty lot. When Janie Case Beuthin and her neighbors look outside in the spring, summer, and fall, they see rows and rows of flowers.

In the heart of the Mott Park Neighborhood, in a once empty lot, residents will find tulips, peonies, snapdragons, zinnias, and more. Case Beuthin launched Twig End Farm, an urban flower farm on less than an eighth of an acre, in 2018 to help bring beauty, joy, and colorful blooms to people’s homes.

“I love being outside. Once spring comes and I’m starting to work in the gardens again, I wake up in the morning, and I just have to get back outside. There’s the big open sky! And all the birds are singing. It’s gorgeous,” Case Beuthin said. “And then when I work that up close and personal with nature … it’s just unexplainable.

“I love that I get to follow the growing process from the very beginning, from planting the seeds all the way through tending to and finally harvesting the flowers. But then I get the absolute joy of arranging our garden-fresh blooms, foliage and seed pods. Putting our bouquets into people’s hands and seeing the delight on their faces is one of my very favorite things.”

Putting Down Roots

Case Beuthin has always loved flowers. As a child she was always eager to know the names of flowers and learn which ones she could pick and which she couldn’t. She didn’t always know she would become a farmer and florist, but the right circumstances created the perfect opportunity.

She grew up in the Flint area and moved out of state after graduating high school. In 2011, Case Beuthin and her young family moved back home to put down roots in Flint and be a part of the community they loved. They were excited to move into the Mott Park Neighborhood, but their home was surrounded by five empty houses.

Thankfully, over time most of the homes were slowly purchased and renovated, except for the blighted home next door. In 2015, the house was torn down by the Genesee County Land Bank, leaving an empty lot. That’s when Case Beuthin and her husband decided to adopt the lot through the Land Bank’s Adapt-A-Lot program and bring it back to life.

“My husband Ryan had big dreams of sustainability and growing our own vegetables. Year after year I took over the space with more and more flowers. Vegetables feed the body but flowers feed the soul. Eventually it was all flowers, and he encouraged me to think about selling them,” Case Beuthin said. “The first flowers I sold were to the Flint Crepe Company; buckets of blooms for them to make little arrangements for the tables. That started in 2018, and the flower farm literally blossomed from there.

“That winter, I won a scholarship to take an online flower farming course, so with the knowledge I gained from that class and the passion I already had for gardening, I dug right in.”

Community and Connection

Case Beuthin has always loved Flint. Moving back more than a decade ago allowed her to get to know this unique city as an adult. Then becoming a small business owner in Flint showed her a different side of the city.

“It’s a supportive and uplifting community,” she said. “Running the business helped me lock in and put down deeper roots into the community through the relationships I’ve built. It’s a privilege to be from Flint and working in Flint. It’s a special place, but it’s really hard to put that into words.”

Twig End Farm has grown and evolved over the years. From 2019 to 2025, residents have enjoyed spring and summer flower subscriptions. Several different types of hands-on flower workshops were held either at the farm or at Queens’ Provisions in Flint. Residents could also take tours of the farm and learn more about the process of growing a lot of flowers in a small space.

There are some new and exciting things on the horizon for Twig End Farm in 2026. Starting Mother’s Day weekend, Case Beuthin will be set up in the pavilion at the Flint Farmers’ Market, selling her garden-fresh flowers. She also just launched the Flint Flower Club, a flexible flower subscription program. By joining, members receive eight flower club cards, each redeemable for one unique market bouquet, and then receive a ninth flower club card as a bonus for signing up. More information about Twig End Farm’s flower sales and workshops is available online.

“People will sometimes come back and say, ‘Janie, your flowers lasted for two weeks!’ Or they may say, ‘Your flowers made my mom so happy.’ What I love most about growing flowers is the people I meet along the way,” Case Beuthin said. “I love that flowers literally bring people together. It’s magic.”