Is it sacrilege to invoke the impending spring season in the midst of this frigid St. Louis winter? No, it is perfectly fine to turn one’s face up like a sun-seeking plant and to evince one’s perennial hopes. Not only that, garden types will tell you, but you have to get ready for spring planting.
With that in mind, two ladies who just happen to be experts on growing cannabis outdoors have prepared a special evening of prepping for spring—and socializing—with a THC theme.
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Lila Waier of The Garden Shop in Lindenwood Park has joined forces with Aisha Taylor of Royal Highnezz Cannabis Care & Grow Consulting to create the first cannabis-themed edition of “Sip & Soil.”
This grow-room duo welcomes customers to the $50 ticketed Sip & Soil event on April 11 at 7 p.m. at The Garden Shop (3321 Hampton). Attendees will enjoy hors d’oeuvres and make their own THC-infused drinks under the tutelage of Mimi Johnson of Yamz Yum Yumz. Seeds will be available for planting, and each guest will take home a potted plant.
Perhaps the greatest boon of the night will be instruction on keeping those plants alive in the mercurial St. Louis weather. Waier and Taylor are open to serving as “plant doctors” for those who seek further advice after the planting party, too.
The Background
Waier, who took over the former Bayer’s Garden Shop in 2023, recently folded her hydroponic business, Grow Gear StL, into The Garden Shop. “The Garden Shop is a little different from your average garden center now,” says Waier. “We are a traditional garden supply center, and we have growing supplies that work well for indoor and outdoor cannabis projects, too. So we are merging two tribes, you might say.”
Taylor is the force behind the inaugural Canna Kulture Awards, hosted late last year. She instructs medical and other growers via her thriving horticulture business.
Both Waier and Taylor know what it means to succeed as women in a cannabis culture that has had its sexist moments. Indeed, Waier has leaned into a leadership role as co-president of We Are Jaine, a local collective that aims to empower women in the cannabis field with networking, education and advocacy. Both women also take pride in instructing veterans with PTSD on their medical grows.
