UPCLOSE

Up Close with Cara Mullen

WALDO GREENHOUSE co-owner and operator

THERE ARE GREEN INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS DEDICATED TO THEIR CRAFT, MADE OBVIOUS BY THEIR CAREER CHOICE. WE ARE CURIOUS ABOUT THE INFLUENCES TOWARD THEIR CAREER, AS WELL AS OTHER INTERESTING ASPECTS OF THEIR LIFE.

Company: Waldo Greenhouse and Flower Garden Transformations (woman-owned landscaping company)

Owners: Cara Mullen (featured here) and Craig Fischman

Products/Services: Greenhouse inventory includes house plants and tropicals, annual bedding plants, trees, shrubs, vegetables (plants and fresh Amish produce), and herbs. More than 75 percent of our plants come from farmers and growers within 250 miles of our greenhouse. We also stock soil, compost, mulch, pest control and fertilizers, pottery and other accessories like gloves and spades. Christmas is a festive time around here with trees, Christmas Cactus, décor, handmade wreaths, German wassail, cookies, and finding Snoopy for a chocolate bomb. We’ll help plant containers for you, or teach you if you’d like. Also, we offer Landscape Design using pictures of your own house.

Staff: Waldo Greenhouse employees four full-time employees. Cody Noyes, who is an expert with seeds and growing seeds up. He has been with us since we opened. Nick Smith is graduating soon with a degree in horticulture. He has also been with us since we opened. Both guys have a little competition going on with their tomato plants. Both help with landscaping. We have a few part time workers. Ex-marine Louise Kendrick knows her plants! Libby Moore a school teacher and loves to design. Meg Holcolmb, a single mother, knows her plants and is a blast to be around.

Background: Cara’s ancestors and grandparents were farmers in the Kingman, Kansas area since the 1862 Homestead Act. She was blessed with a green thumb, love for plants, and nature. Yep, for some, it does come naturally. She attended Kansas State University then Indiana University, and graduated with a degree in Biology then received certifications in Medical Laboratory and Cytogenetics. She ended up at Indiana University due to her husband at the time being in the military. From Indiana, Texas, Kentucky, Arizona, and Germany, she always made her house a home by building flower gardens.

Cara worked for several years in various careers as a medical technologist, cytogenetic technologist, surgical pathology and morgue coordinator, ethanol plant manager, and ethanol plant consultant. All while raising three children as a single mother and assisting them with college. She also has gone to Haiti twice to help with their sustainability with a non profit group. In 2016 she obtained a certification in horticulture and opened a woman-owned landscaping company. In 2019 Craig and Cara purchased the greenhouse business from Angelo Casa.

Of strong interest: We are working to offer more native plants, include them as much as possible in our landscape designs, and teach the importance of biodiversity. Native plants are usually non invasive, plus natives are easier to grow and less expensive to care for–easy on the gardener and the gardener’s budget. And of course, birds, butterflies, and pollinators need native plants. For example, did you know that pollinators facilitate the reproduction in 90 percent of the world’s flowering plants?

When the work is done: Cara’s favorite outdoor activity is squeezing in more landscaping plants at home. Home looks like Disney exploded with flowers. She has also taken over the neighbors’ yards. Spare time she spends with her family, that includes two adorable grandsons, as well as two rescue dogs that will likely greet you at the greenhouse when you visit.

What’s trending: During the pandemic, there has been a growing realization of the need for horticulture therapy and the happiness plants bring to people. More people work from home and want to relax in a beautiful space. Maybe it’s the need for house plants to soften the background of a room where zoom meetings occur. Perhaps it is time to turn the dream of having a patio herb garden come into fruition. Also people are interested in gardening with their kids and growing their own food. Clean food! We do not use fertilizers or chemicals on our vegetables, herbs, or fruit trees. If I wouldn’t feed it to my grandsons, then I wouldn’t feed it to your family.

What every gardener and homeowner should know: Please don’t hire landscapers who are not degreed or do not have several years of experience. So many times, people go with cheap and that’s what they will get. After a few times replacing everything that has died you might as well have hired a professional. Landscaping isn’t just throwing a plant in a hole. Different plants have different requirements when it comes to sun, soil, and water.

Little-known secret: Epson salt is a great fertilizer to soak your plants in. Especially ferns. About two tablespoons a gallon once a week.

Contact information: Located at 436 W. 85th Street, Kansas City, MO 64114; ph 816-444-7661. Beginning April 1st, our hours of operation will be 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. Email us at waldogreenhousekc@ gmail.com. Waldo Greenhouse | Facebook www.waldogreenhouse.com Flower Garden Transformations | Facebook We are also on TikTok, Twitter, and LinkedIn.