We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Hammy Sorkin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Hammy below.

Hammy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Let’s start with inspirations and heroes. Are there any historical figures you look up to?

I’m gonna cheat a little here and provide an active researcher I look up to — Clarence Ntesa. As a teenager I moved to Namibia to attend university there, and while I left before completing my conservation degree, I gained more experience and knowledge than I ever thought I could. Universities in Namibia (and a lot of other parts of the world, as I understand), focus heavily on experience rather than book memorization. We took a LOT of field trips to learn directly from the world around us. This is where my love of arid botany really took off. Ms. Ntesa was a professor who really stood out to me- she genuinely cared about her students, their education, and making the world a better place. I mean, what kind of 18-year-old university student would look forward to visiting a water sanitation station? Or a landfill? Yet, she showed us how much we can learn from it.
The Namibian classroom is so different from American classroom. I did end up moving back to St. Louis to complete my degree (I was a teenager who moved by myself to a foreign country, after all). I am so lucky and happy to have been able to move there to begin with, but also to continue some of the relationships! Thank you to Ms. Ntesa, all my other lecturers, and my classmates for teaching me and learning with me. Education is such an important part of any culture and I’m so happy I got to learn from you, Ms. Ntesa!!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

I’m a horticulturist specializing in succulents and cacti. Like I said, living in Namibia as a teenager really helped boost my love of arid plants but the botany was always there. My maternal side of the family owned floral shops, hence the name Widmer: anyone around STL for a while will recognize it!] there’s a stray. The reason I started my business was because I got frustrated that stores would sell plants in ill-fitting growing medium, unhealthy plants, and plants with no information. So many of them die within a month of bringing it home. What sets me apart is I’m the only nursery in St. Louis that provides a species ID tag for every single plant, including if it’s toxic to pets or not, and care sheets! I also do free online consultations if anyone is having plant trouble. I mix my own growing media to fit the plant — I don’t go with the cheapest available, but the best for the species. My goal is to keep plants alive and accessible.
When I can, I also have “pay what you want” sections so that anyone who wants a plant, but can’t purchase one, has access! If someone does choose to pay, I donate 100% of it to charity (typically Metro Trans Umbrella Group to help transgender people in STL).

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I had been growing plants in my apartment for years. I LOVE propagating plants, so I would often propagate them and give them away/sell them. Before Covid, I was working multiple jobs including my horticulturist job. When Covid hit, I started working exclusively with plants. I realized it was something I was good at, something I liked, and something St. Louis needed. So I expanded: I bought more grow lights, starting marketing myself, and a few months after I decided to start it I had my “grand opening” in my parents’ front yard (todah, Ima v’Abba!). The launch was successful and I kept improving from there, by hiring graphic designers and collaborating with local artists. I also want to shout out to my mom for starting my Instagram!

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

My expertise. There are lots of resale plants businesses around, which honestly I think is great! But Widmer Botanicals is around 75% grown by me, here in St. Louis and not imported. Meaning they’re stable plants and I can advise exactly how to grow them, since I’m the one who grew them! I’m also a huge extrovert, and there are quite a few people I’m known to stand around my booth with chatting for a long time! I’ve built so many friendships through this business that strengthen my connection to this city. I love you, St. Louis!

Contact Info:

• Website: widmerbotanicals.com
• Instagram: @widmerbotanicals
• Facebook: Widmer Botanicals
• Other: Just a note: I don’t list live plants on my website, only art and supplies. Feel free to DM me for what’s available!