The Plant Economy is a growing business for man who wanted to bring Black representation into gardening

Many people reconnected with nature during the pandemic. For one metro Detroit man, his plants became his therapy - and then - his business which has grown faster than he ever imagined.

Aaron Dawson is the owner and founder of Plant Economy. He says it started with a life-long love of plants combined with the pandemic, provided an opportunity to plant new seeds - and see a whole lot of growth.

"I wanted something that spoke to positivity and gratitude - so I jumped on Etsy and others and I didn't find anything that resonated with me," he said.

But he did find something else.

"What I also found was a lack of representation for Black people in this space, so I was like - let's create it," Dawson said.

And so he and co-founder Bianca Burns did just that. - creating pots with sayings like ‘black with plants,’ ‘talk growth to me’ and ‘planted in faith.’ All of them, pots with a purposeful message.

"We focused on creating plant products designed to encourage wellness and prosperity for Black people specifically," Dawson said. "Detroit Is The New Black made perfect sense for us to partner up with."

Detroit Is The New Black on Woodward Avenue welcomed them into their retail space - but it didn't stop there. Their product is now sold at Home Depot.

"We plant a lot of seeds and we do a lot of growing, and for us that's been Home Depot," Dawson said. "That's been our retail partnership with Detroit Is The New Black."

Dawson says the success has come because of collaboration of working with other businesses, empowering other people, including some of the young men he has worked with over the years as program director at the Bing Youth Institute.

Operations specialist Timothy Anderson and content creator Davon Traviern, who is 17.

All that positive messaging generating positive outcomes...it's all about planting the seeds and watching them grow.

Their product line also include bags and clothing - to learn more, go to planteconomy.co