14950 SW 212th St, Miami, FL 33187
NURSERY
Cultiva Miami
Our Place Within Lion Farms
Cultiva Miami operates as the nursery within Lion Farms, serving as the site where our plant production, propagation, and research take place. Nursery offers ready-to-plant edible crops.
Our nursery stocks are selected for culinary importance, taste and regional performance. Grown under carefully managed nursery conditions with science-informed nutrient and environmental practices to ensure optimal health and reliable establishment once transplanted into South Florida soils.
How We Support Growers
Cultiva Miami works with home gardeners, chefs, students, and small producers who want access to uncommon edible plants and guidance on how to grow them successfully. Whether you are planting a single tree, building a garden, or exploring research-based cultivation, we offer plant material, knowledge, and hands-on support rooted in real growing systems.
Tissue Culture & Plant Cloning Lab
At the core of Cultiva Miami is an in-house laboratory where we perform tissue culture and plant cloning. This allows us to propagate rare and culturally significant crops with precision, maintain clean genetic stock, and ensure consistent quality from the earliest stages of growth. What begins in controlled conditions is gradually transitioned into real soil, real climate, and real cultivation systems.
A Research-Driven Nursery
• Edible plants and cultivars selected for quality and resilience
• Propagated material grown on site
• Limited availability based on growing cycles
• Educational opportunities through workshops and seminars
Meet the Team
Daphne K. Sugino, Ph.D.
Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Daphne’s passion for plants grew from a family tradition of cultivating crops for home-cooked Japanese meals. She earned a B.S. in Environmental Science from Loyola University Chicago and completed her Ph.D. in Earth Systems Sciences at Florida International University, where her research focused on how vermicompost influences medicinal compound production in plants.
Jordan Prats , Ph.D.
Born and raised in Miami to Vietnamese and Cuban parents, Jordan’s love for plants began in the kitchen, shaped by meals prepared by his Cuban and Vietnamese grandmothers. A lifelong foodie, Jordan pursued undergraduate and graduate training in environmental studies before completing his Ph.D. in Earth Systems Sciences at Florida International University. His doctoral research examined how pruning influences plant stress, growth, and chemical composition in industrial hemp.
Research in the Field
During our doctoral studies at Florida International University, Lion Farms became a living research site, where we examined vermicompost-based soil systems and the performance of tropical food crops under regenerative management. What began as research now guides every cultivation decision at Cultiva Miami
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Growing the Taste of Home
Our Story
Living in Miami, we were surrounded by a variety of cultures, but not always by the foods that shaped our homes.
Between me and my partner, our roots span Puerto Rican, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Cuban traditions, where meals centered on fresh herbs, tropical fruits/ vegetables, and flavors passed down through generations.
Despite Miami being one of the most international cities in the world, many of the ingredients we grew up eating were difficult to find. Cultiva Miami was created to bring those foods back into our gardens, our kitchens, and our community.
What We Do
Why “Cultiva”
Cultiva means “to cultivate,” but for us it also means restoring access. Grocery shelves represent only a fraction of the world’s edible plants. We focus on rare and culturally significant edible fruits, vegetables and herbs so people can reconnect with flavors from their childhood, their heritage, and gain the tools
We both earned Ph.D.s working side by side, combining fieldwork, laboratory analysis, and applied research to understand how plants respond to management, environment, and nutrition. Our research examined how organic fertilization, pruning, and plant stress shape growth, yield, aroma, flavor, and medicinal compounds in crops such as turmeric, basil, and industrial hemp. What became clear was simple: how a plant is grown directly shapes its chemistry, taste, and cultural value.
Our foundation is shared science.
Science Is Inseparable From Food
Our academic training was deeply informed by personal experience. We grew up in households where food carried memory and meaning, and where growing your own ingredients was sometimes the only way to preserve tradition. At Cultiva Miami, we use data, analytical tools, and controlled systems not to industrialize food—but to make it tastier, more meaningful, and more accessible.
A Research-Driven Nursery
Cultiva Miami is a research-driven nursery rooted in community. We propagate rare and exotic edible plants through careful cultivation and tissue culture, prioritizing plant health, resilience, and quality. We refuse to compromise on transparency, responsible growing, or food integrity. Our work blends regenerative practice with scientific precision, balancing innovation with nostalgia for our favorite meals.
We Grow for Miami
Our plants are for home gardeners, chefs, families, researchers, and anyone interested in taking part in their own food production. By offering culturally meaningful crops and sharing the knowledge behind them, we aim to strengthen local food independence and celebrate the diversity that defines this city.
Cultiva Miami’s Tissue Culture Lab is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities dedicated to the micropropagation of exotic, edible plants, with a primary focus on bananas. Plant tissue culture is a sterile, in-vitro technique that allows whole plants to be regenerated from small pieces of plant tissue under controlled laboratory conditions, producing genetically uniform, disease-free plantlets at scale. This approach is especially critical for bananas, a crop with a long history of clonal cultivation, limited genetic diversity, and widespread losses due to disease and cultivar extinction. Through tissue culture, we aim to preserve rare and culturally important banana varieties and make resilient, high-quality planting material accessible to growers, helping safeguard the future of exotic fruits while expanding what can be grown and shared in South Florida and beyond.
Cultiva Miami offers hands-on workshops focused on practical, science-informed food production techniques. Topics include vermicompost production, vermicompost tea brewing, and foundational planting and propagation methods for edible crops. Workshops are designed for home gardeners, small farms, and anyone interested in improving soil health and plant performance using low-input, biologically driven practices.
Workshops and Classes
Workshops are scheduled for groups of 8–10 participants or more, typically priced at $38 per person, with all materials included (materials and resources available may vary depending on workshop selection). Sessions emphasize applied learning, allowing participants to leave with both the knowledge and confidence to implement these techniques at home or on the farm.
Preview of our nursery
Availability varies by season
Cilantro
Habanada
Tomato
Lemon Balm
Inventory is currently in development.
Our upcoming catalog will document the plants currently in production at Cultiva Miami, including banana cultivars, rare edible crops, and tissue-cultured material. Availability will reflect developmental stage, propagation method, and seasonal cycles rather than mass inventory. This system allows us to maintain plant quality, genetic integrity, and transparency in how each plant is grown.
Looking forward, Cultiva Miami is about cultivating resilience.
We envision a future where Miami’s gardens and plates reflect its people, where science supports flavor, tradition, and nutrition, and where growing food feels empowering and personal. If there’s one thing we hope you take from our story, it’s this: food carries memory, and cultivating it is an act of care, science, and belonging.
Sales @lionfarms.com
(305) 467-0304
14950 SW 212 Street Miami, FL 33187 USA
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