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Ep. 8: Mastering the Art of Cut Flower Gardening with Master Gardener Stacy Ling
2.7k Plays10 months ago
In this episode of the Backyard Bouquet Podcast, we have the pleasure of hearing from Stacy Ling, a master gardener and published author. Stacy is also a home and garden blogger who shares her passion for gardening and helps beginners find their inner green thumb.
Stacy’s gardening journey began over 25 years ago when she was inspired by her neighbor's beautiful cottage garden. Despite having no prior gardening experience, Stacy started small with houseplants and gradually expanded her gardening skills. She eventually moved to a home with more space and began planting perennials, annuals, and shrubs, creating beautiful gardens that brought her joy.
In this episode, learn the importance of starting with easy-to-grow flowers to build confidence and success in the garden. Stacy also shares her experience with winter sowing, a method of starting seeds outdoors in containers, which can be a simple and effective way to grow flowers.
Join us as we delve into the concept of companion planting and how certain flowers can attract beneficial insects and deter pests. Stacy emphasizes the importance of choosing flowers that thrive in your specific growing conditions and offers tips for selecting the right plants for your garden.
Stacy's newly released book, "The Bricks ‘N Blooms Guide to a Beautiful and Easy-Care Flower Garden" offers practical advice, design tips, and growing techniques for both beginners and experienced gardeners. Stacy's goal is to inspire and empower readers to create their own beautiful flower gardens and find joy in the process.
Whether you're a seasoned gardener or just starting out, Stacy's insights and passion for flowers will inspire you to let your backyard bloom.
In this episode:
- 00:02:00 - Stacy's background
- 00:05:30 - Learning from failures and the importance of perseverance
- 00:09:56 - Starting a cut flower garden and recommended flowers for beginners
- 00:13:42 - Winter sowing
- 00:19:46 - The importance of companion planting
- 00:23:06 - Flowers and plants that bring joy
- 00:26:07 - Involving children in gardening
- 00:30:26 - Favorite flowers for arranging bouquets
- 00:34:26 - Using fillers and greenery in flower arrangements
- 00:36:54 - Spreading joy through flowers and sharing with others
- 00:38:36 - The release of Stacy's book
- 00:53:39 - Stacy's advice for starting a garden
Learn more:
- https://stacyling.com/
- https://www.instagram.com/bricksnblooms/
- Buy Stacy’s Book: The Bricks ‘ N Blooms Guide To A Beautiful & Easy-Care Flower Garden
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Backyard Bouquet podcast, where stories bloom from local flower fields and home gardens. I'm your host, Jennifer Galitzia of the Flowering Farmhouse. I'm a backyard gardener turned flower farmer located in Hood River, Oregon. Join us for heartfelt journeys shared by flower farmers and backyard gardeners. Each episode is like a vibrant garden, cultivating wisdom and joy through flowers. From growing your own backyard garden to supporting your local flower farmer,
00:00:32
Speaker
The backyard bouquet is your fertile ground for heartwarming tales and expert cut flower growing advice. All right flower friends, grab your gardening gloves, garden snips, or your favorite vase because it's time to let your backyard bloom.
Meet Stacey Ling
00:00:55
Speaker
Please join me in welcoming today's guest Stacey Ling of Bricks and Blooms to the podcast. Stacey is the author of the newly released book, The Bricks and Blooms Guide to a Beautiful and Easy Care Flower Garden. And she's also a home and garden blogger who writes the blog Bricks and Blooms from her 1850 farmhouse located in zone 6B in northern New Jersey.
00:01:19
Speaker
Stacey is a master gardener who's been gardening for over 25 years and she enjoys sharing her passion to help beginners find their inner green thumb as well as discover a love for all things, plants, and flowers. Stacey loves to bring the outdoors inside her home where she decorates with a comfy, casual, and cottagecore style. I can't wait for you to learn more about Stacey in today's episode of the Backyard Bouquet. Welcome, Stacey. I'm so glad to have you here today.
00:01:48
Speaker
Hey, thanks for having me Jen. Oh, it's such a pleasure. Thanks for joining us today. So wow, you have been gardening for 25 years. You have a lot of knowledge to share with us today. I'm really excited for our listeners to hear from you. So to begin, will you give us a little bit of a background about yourself and how you became a gardener?
Stacey's Gardening Journey
00:02:13
Speaker
Sure. So,
00:02:15
Speaker
25 years. Wow, like I feel so old. And yet I feel so young. So I started gardening. Actually, I was in law school. So I was studying to become a lawyer. I was in my second year, my husband and I moved in together, we lived in this like really small condo.
00:02:35
Speaker
And i had a neighbor who had like if she had she lived in a town home she had like some property and stuff whereas i didn't have anything i just like almost like a little apartment.
00:02:46
Speaker
So anyway, so she had this beautiful cottage garden in this really small space. She was able to grow the coolest flowers and I just thought that was so awesome and I wanted to be able to do that. I had zero gardening experience. I don't come from a family of gardeners, although I believe like my grandmother and stuff did, but I really wasn't around that.
00:03:06
Speaker
And she just really inspired me to kind of start growing things. And so it was like in the middle of winter when I started really talking with her about it. And so I decided to start growing house plants and did not have any success. Like I killed my first rubber plant, which is supposed to be one of the easiest plants to grow. And I somehow managed to kill it. I think I over watered it.
00:03:29
Speaker
You're not alone. I mean, clearly I have changed my ways, but it took me a while to get there. So I failed a few times with some houseplants and, you know, spring came around and I was like, you know what, we had this little small space outside and I
00:03:47
Speaker
I said I really want to try growing something and so caroline recommended my friend caroline my neighbor she recommended growing in patients because it was a little bit of a shady area they're really easy to grow easy to find easy to care for and so i did and i found success with those and like that was it for me i was like i am a gardener now
00:04:08
Speaker
I need to plant more things. And that small little patch turned into a little bit more the following season when I tried to use another neighbor's spot that allowed me to kind of garden there. And then I really got into it and I said to my husband, we've got a booth. I need property.
00:04:29
Speaker
We moved and then my interest in gardening just exploded. From the moment we moved to our home 25 years ago, I just started planting perennials and more annuals. And then I started planting shrubs and creating new gardens and new spaces. And that just took over my life. It's been the best hobby for me.
00:04:52
Speaker
So if I'm hearing this right, you started out as a hobby gardener. You were a professional attorney and in your spare time you turned to gardening.
00:05:03
Speaker
Yes, yes, exactly. And it was just, you know, it's a great place to find solace, even if you're weeding, like just to listen to the birds and be outside in nature and digging to the dirt. Like there's something very therapeutic and zen about being out there with your flowers. It's just, I really enjoy it and it's a great space for me to unwind.
00:05:26
Speaker
I love it. After college, I went into corporate America and I was working 12-hour days. What kept me going was I just longed for my garden. I had a very small garden bed, but I would race home, water my flowers, and then on the weekends, I would see what I could pick to fill the house with. It was truly therapy. I love that that's what got you started.
00:05:51
Speaker
Did you have any training? I know that you are now a Master Gardener. Did you become a Master Gardener right away or how did you come to that point in time? It took me a few years to become a Master Gardener. We moved to our former family home in Chester, New Jersey.
00:06:09
Speaker
I was very interested in gardening. My kids were very young. So I was a really busy mom. I was a stay-at-home mom. I gave up working in law to raise them and just kind of run the house. And gardening was a part of my life. As much as raising them, it was very much a part of my life. And this is a little dark, but I don't want to get too dark. I had a friend that my best friend, actually,
00:06:35
Speaker
took her life.
Finding Purpose in Gardening
00:06:36
Speaker
And I, and I, I kind of took a pause and I said, like, she needed something like I have gardening, she needed something and I need to do something more with this in my life. And so I decided to become a master gardener. It was something that I always wanted to do. And just that
00:06:54
Speaker
You know, after being upset about it and kind of working through it, I just decided I really wanted to pursue this passion and have that really fuel me and just live a life of joy with something that I love to do. So I.
00:07:10
Speaker
My mother-in-law my mother and other family members came and watched my kids so I could study to become a master gardener and So I did it through the Rutgers Cooperative Extension here in New Jersey, and it was just a really great experience
00:07:27
Speaker
Wow. Well, I am so truly sorry for the loss of your friend. And I love how you took something so sad and heartbreaking and were able to find joy and spread beauty into the world. Yeah, that's been my goal. That's been part of my why ever since just we got to make the world a beautiful place.
00:07:48
Speaker
Absolutely. I love that. So let's touch on the why. So you grow flowers to spread joy. Can you tell us more? How do you find that you are spreading joy through flowers? So through the years raising my kids, being in play groups, going to PTO events, hanging out with my friends,
00:08:10
Speaker
So many women and I'm going to say women because that's mostly who I was chatting with would tell me how they killed things. They don't know how to grow anything. Oh dear ate all my plants. So I can't grow anything in my yard and like I made it my life's mission.
00:08:28
Speaker
To help my friends and neighbors and stuff grow things and just enjoy the same thing that i enjoy because it brings me happiness so i would for a little while after i got my master gardener certification i have small design business so i was helping them like pot of some containers and teach them how to grow things and things like that and like that.
00:08:53
Speaker
Eventually that is what took me to blogging because i felt that i could reach more people on a larger scale that way sharing the joy of gardening in an easy way like cuz i like to work with. No maintenance flowers aside from dahlia i know they're not easy but are you not hard to grow but there.
00:09:16
Speaker
They're a little more work, you know, than, say, like, rubeckia or, you know, coneflowers or something like that. So I just I wanted to show them that there is a flower for them to grow or a houseplant. I love that. And yes, dahlias are a diva. There's a reason that they're called a diva of the garden. So for those that are listening right now, I love that you've shared that you have killed plants in the journey.
00:09:44
Speaker
I've killed a lot too. I sometimes think that that's the best teacher. Can you think of a plant that either early on or recently you have at first killed in your gardening journey or struggled to get it to thrive and now you have found success in growing it? This guy right here, my Boston Fern,
00:10:07
Speaker
This is an indoor plant. You can grow it outside too. To start off with an inside plant, Boston ferns, I tried to grow them for years in my home and they just would never survive the winter any year. They just wouldn't survive. I told people over and over, we're not friends. We, not buddies.
Learning from Gardening Failures
00:10:30
Speaker
But I decided after years of struggling with them and just tossing them after they would die,
00:10:37
Speaker
stop growing them. And then a couple of years down the road, I thought to myself, you know what? What actually went wrong? What's wrong with why it didn't grow? Because I can grow other things. So what is it with ferns? So I did a little research on it. I learned that they like a little bit more humidity. And so what I decided to do was I bought a humidifier
00:11:02
Speaker
And I grew it with a humidifier right under it. And I got that fern to survive in my old home. My old home, I think, was a lot drier than here. It seems to do a little bit better here. But I learned that it survived. And then once the weather warmed up, I moved the plant outside. And it just flourished. So that was kind of like a lifecycle for this plant, was it would start to look a little sad by March. But then once I got it back outside,
00:11:31
Speaker
it would flourish so as long as i had some humidity in the air in my home it managed to keep more of the green that in the past so that was like a learning experience for me to understand this particular plan and now like even though like by march it'll start losing its foliage a little bit and stuff but then i'll move it back outside and it'll get new fronds and furls and it'll just be beautiful.
00:11:56
Speaker
Our listeners unfortunately can't see this beautiful plant that's sitting behind you right now. But as we're chatting, you have this gorgeous fern. And I'm actually envious because in my greenhouse right now, I have one. I bought it this summer at our local hardware store. It was on clearance at the end of the season for like $20 and it looked perfect. I had it outside all summer on our porch. It was actually sitting next to a hot tub. So now I'm going, oh, that's why it was really happy.
00:12:22
Speaker
It's in my greenhouse now and it's turning brown and it's super unhappy. But you said something that really stood out to me. When I asked you about plants that you have struggled to grow in the past, you said that when you struggle with a plant, you look back.
00:12:37
Speaker
and think on the experience and ask what went wrong. So many times, I think as gardeners and as farmers, we say, oh, that plant was really frustrating to grow and we just give up on it. And instead, you ask the question, what didn't go right? And so you really dug in.
00:12:57
Speaker
And I think that's huge. I think that's a piece that a lot of us miss is we just get frustrated and we give up instead of looking back to see what we could have done differently. So that's super helpful on that plant in particular. And I know that you on your blog have so many awesome tutorials on getting started on some of the easier flowers. So if someone was to be starting a cut flower garden today,
00:13:23
Speaker
From your experience in 25 years of growing gorgeous gardens, what would you tell someone that wants to start a new garden this year?
00:13:31
Speaker
Starting a new garden or a cut flower garden? A cut flower garden. Thank you for the clarification.
Starting a Cut Flower Garden
00:13:36
Speaker
Okay. So if I were starting a cut flower garden, I definitely would want to start with flowers that are easy to germinate from seed, as well as easy to grow. Something that you don't have to spend a lot of time on in the growing season, aside from cutting your flowers, of course.
00:13:54
Speaker
But, you know, something like a sunflower or a calendula, you know, zinnias are great, cosmos are really easy to grow, straw flowers. I tried last year, I decided to level up my game, my indoor seed starting game with Lysianthus. And that was like a buzzkill. It's a hard one.
00:14:18
Speaker
It really, really is. And I, you know, I kept losing seedlings throughout the winter, little by little, and then I got a few of them outside and they just didn't make it. And like, I like if I were to say, if someone were to say, I want to grow a lithianthus, and they've never started a cut flower garden before, like, don't do it.
00:14:39
Speaker
Yes, I agree. So it's really important to start with ones that are like no fail, like sunflowers, you know, something that you can do with ease. And I would even recommend doing ones that you can direct. So with ease outside, so you don't have to invest in all of the seed starting equipment and doing all that, although there is winter sewing too, you could do that. And that doesn't require a huge investment.
00:15:05
Speaker
I think that's great advice. When you're starting out, you want plants that you can have instant success so that you feel good about your garden and you want to continue going because it can get really frustrating if you try and start Lusianthus, for example, as your first flower. I've actually bought them as plugs and I have seeds this year. I plan to hopefully get them started.
00:15:27
Speaker
this next week and we're recording this in January. I know that this will be airing in February. So by the time this airs, hopefully mine are starting to germinate, but it's a 12 plus week process. So it's a lot of time babying the seed, whereas a sunflower within just a couple of days, those flowers are going to germinate and you're going to feel happy and good about yourself knowing that you are growing something.
00:15:51
Speaker
So thank you for that advice. So you just mentioned sewing winter seeds. What are some seeds that people could consider sewing right now?
Winter Sowing Techniques
00:16:01
Speaker
Oh, I had the best luck with sweet peas.
00:16:04
Speaker
larkspur, snapdragons. I'm actually going to try this year to do a couple of new things too. I'm going to try doing perennials out there. Like, oh, what's these that I get, fox gloves. I think I want to try oringium and like a few other perennials that I think would do well with winter sewing. But I have but I did, like I said, the sweet peas and the larkspur and the snapdragons, they did amazing. I did those three last year. Did you just sew them directly into the garden?
00:16:34
Speaker
No, I did like I so save your chicken rotisserie containers or your milk jugs and then you use those as like a little mini greenhouse and you put some soil in there and then you just saw your seeds you put your cover on make sure there's you know air air can get in and then you just put it in
00:16:53
Speaker
like a protected area so that it gets the elements and it gets watered and it's subject to everything outside and eventually those seeds will sprout and you'll be growing flowers. It's really easy and it removes that hardening off process that we have to do after we start seizing doors, which
00:17:13
Speaker
at, you know, I want to grow a lot of flowers. So having to do that. So winter sewing is like a great option to be able to grow more stuff and not have it be overwhelming. Yes. Yeah.
00:17:28
Speaker
That's the key to make it not overwhelming because if it's overwhelming, you're not going to want to do it. You just said something that reminded me, I totally forgot that last year I did that with my larkspur. For three years, I have tried to grow larkspur and I have been unsuccessful and it's driven me crazy because I'm a flower farmer. I'm going into my sixth year. Most things I can sew and they germinate pretty easily.
00:17:55
Speaker
Lark spur is one that I've struggled with and it's because they like it cool. And they need the winter sewing and I try sewing them even in my greenhouse and seed trays, but it just is too warm for them. So last year I tried two methods. I one took one seed packet and I just chucked the seeds on a row where I wanted them.
00:18:15
Speaker
and they all germinated. The other thing I did is we, where we live, almost all of our lettuce comes in those plastic clam shell containers. So just like the rotisserie chicken. And I saved the clam shells because I was like, we don't, they don't recycle them where we are here. So I was thinking to myself,
00:18:31
Speaker
How can I repurpose these? So I saved the solid clam shells, filled them with soil, drilled the holes. I just took a hammer and a nail, hammered holes in the top of the clam shell. And then I sprinkled the seeds on top, watered it first time. Oh, I also added drainage holes on the bottom so that water didn't sit in the container. And then I put it in a spot that does not get wind because I was afraid that it would blow over.
00:18:58
Speaker
totally forgot about them for months. And all of a sudden I came back and there they were. They were growing. They didn't germinate right away because they had to sit there and wait their time over winter. And then all of a sudden they sprouted and I was able to pick them up and I sewed them into the garden.
00:19:16
Speaker
And I had so many beautiful arcs for last year. So I love that tip. That's a great suggestion. So if you're listening, save your clam shells from your salads, save your rotisserie chicken containers. There's lots of ways that you can seed start without having a greenhouse or an indoor space, especially for those cool flowers. What about your sweet peas? Do you start those inside or do you start those outside?
00:19:40
Speaker
I started them inside for two years and didn't, like they just didn't do great when I would move them out. And so when we moved here, I started winter sewing them and they do fabulous. They do fabulous. So I will not go back to indoor seed sewing with those again. I will do them winter sewing every year, which makes it easier anyway, because they're already ready to go outside and you can just take those little plants and plant them right in your garden. It's just the easiest thing.
00:20:06
Speaker
Yes. So while I'm spending time hardening off other plants that I started indoors, I'm now putting these already in. I didn't have to go through that process. So it really does lighten the load, I feel, too. Another flower you mentioned was calendula.
00:20:23
Speaker
I have only grown that once, and I stopped growing it because it was so sticky.
Companion Planting Benefits
00:20:27
Speaker
Can you talk to us about calendula, how you start it, how you grow it, how you harvest it? Because that's one that I'd like to add back to my mix this year. I'm really into ones that are fragrant or can also double up as an herb and that are edible flowers. So I love calendula, and I'm going to add one more benefit on with them. They are great as a plant partner.
00:20:51
Speaker
Last year, they pulled aphids off of some of my other plants and they just stayed on this one calendula section in my garden and they touched nothing else. They were amazing.
00:21:05
Speaker
Yes, they're really good for that. I had them in my garden with my snapdragons, my larkspur, they had already died back, but like they were near all of my dahlias and zinnias and stuff. Because I have, I have a, I call it the potaget garden, but it's like half vegetable garden and half cut flower garden. So it's a, you know, it's a beautiful kitchen garden.
00:21:28
Speaker
I love it. And so I grow both edibles and nonedibles in there. And so, you know, having that and like borage did the same thing I felt. So they really are good at drawing some of those bad bugs away. So it's a really, it's like another organic way of gardening, you know, if you plant them with a purpose. So I started growing them, I want to say like three years ago, and I, I
00:21:54
Speaker
I direct sew them and when I air quote direct sew them, that means I use these little like peat pots and I put soil in them and then I just plant the seeds and I keep them in like the little trays because here I've got a lot of mulch and stuff and I don't want to be bothered with pulling mulch back and doing all that. So it's just easier for me to use the little peat pots because you can just plant them direct in the soil and not disturb the seedling.
00:22:21
Speaker
And that's been very effective for me. So I've been growing them now for a few years. And last year in 2022, a bunny just took them all out. So be careful because there are some wildlife that will eat them. The bunnies like them. But last year they didn't, last year they didn't touch them and I had a great year with them. And they, I learned a lot about growing them last year as a, as a, as a plant partner.
00:22:45
Speaker
I think that's something that's not talked about very often. What are some other plant partner plants that you grow in your garden that would be helpful for those listening? So borage is another one that's new to me. I started growing it last year. I hadn't grown it before. Um, it's really beautiful. It gets, I would say about as tall as sunflower. So like three to three and a half feet ish.
00:23:10
Speaker
really pretty small blue flower so if you want like a bluish flower they also got some aphids on them and so i felt that was really good because then again they weren't going on my other plants and they bloomed before the calendula did so you know i i would grow it for that but i think it's also edible as well i haven't i haven't eaten them myself but
00:23:33
Speaker
I did find that the stems were a little prickly so i had planted them last year in my raised garden beds thinking i didn't want rabbits get to them but i don't think i would have a problem with that so i'm just gonna put it in the ground. This year and there are another one that you can direct so they start really easily.
00:23:52
Speaker
I know they sell so pretty easily too. I have them popping up all over. I have actually, um, they are popping up all over in my field from a previous grower. Have you had any experience using them as cut flowers? I've never tried using them in a bouquet before.
00:24:09
Speaker
I didn't I didn't use them for that last year. They I had only grown like I grew a few and I kind of like the aphids were going on them and not touching anything else. And so I was like, you know what, if this is what your purpose is, you're pretty.
00:24:25
Speaker
You look good and your great companion plan so that's kind of what i use it for last year i'm curious to see what happens this year you know like every year is a new experience and a new you know it's another time to learn something about them so i may be able to do something different for me. I'd love to be able to cut them that's why i originally started growing up.
00:24:45
Speaker
We don't have enough blue flowers. The other blue flower after I had that, it hasn't really popped up in my garden very much in the last few years, but at first it did. I planted in that same area Chinese forget-me-nots. I know why they're called forget-me-not because you will never forget the seeds.
00:25:04
Speaker
I have them self-sewing everywhere. Forgive me, this is probably going to be a plug to encourage people not to grow them. They're great as long as you don't let them go to seed, but if they go to seed, those little seeds
00:25:20
Speaker
are so prickly and I have gone through so many pairs of gardening gloves, so many shirts where they are just covered in the seeds and I can't get them off. So I stopped growing them other than those that self sew and magically appear because I didn't like being covered in their thorny little seeds.
00:25:42
Speaker
I wish we had more blue flowers. So I might have to re-look at the borage and if nothing else, use it as a companion plant to trap the aphids because I don't use any chemical sprays. So I think that's a great alternative. So thank you for that suggestion. Companion planting is a great, you know, it's a great thing to try, especially like nasturtiums are another good one. I grew them two years ago last year. I don't think
00:26:05
Speaker
I lost my seed packet, so I didn't plant them. But two years ago, I had them, and they were beautiful. I like to put those in salads. The flowers, they have that little peppery flavor to them. So they're fun to grow for that. But they're also great as a companion plant, too. They're great around your tomatoes and other plants. I don't know. I like planting flowers around my edibles, because it makes them look a little prettier, right? Exactly.
00:26:30
Speaker
One of my goals this year is to expand our vegetable garden so that I'm growing more things that our family can eat. So I love that suggestion. I'm going to have to try planning some, I can't even say the word. Mr. Thank you. It's a hard one for me.
00:26:46
Speaker
marigolds. Those also look great in the vegetable garden and do well. There's so many things to grow. I plant marigolds in between my dahlias. I'll just randomly plant them and then I plant them next to my tomato plants. I usually do the white ones next to the tomato plants because they never get big enough to be really great for bouquets.
00:27:06
Speaker
I mean long enough stems for cutting for bouquets but they're perfect next to the tomato plants and they just have that beautiful white color that just adds a little bit of sparkle. How do they do with the dahlias?
00:27:19
Speaker
They're great. They usually grow really tall and I tend to plant them right on the edge of my rose. So because I am a commercial grower, I plant in rows and my marigolds, I usually put them at the end of the rows. However, since we're talking about companion plants, I'm curious if you've tried this this year instead of doing marigolds in between because I was battling
00:27:41
Speaker
wireworm and garden symphons, which I'm going to a conference in a few weeks on and I will hopefully be able to share the information because I know I've had a lot of people ask me how I'm battling them and I'm still researching them because they did a lot of destruction on my dahlias. I put Elysium. Am I saying that right? Sweet Alyssum. Sweet Alyssum. I sprinkled seeds.
00:28:06
Speaker
the base as soon as my dahlia started coming out of the ground and I did an experiment. I only did it on half of the dahlia field and I sprinkled the seeds and I had the lowest pest pressure I have ever had in my dahlias in that section. I still had spider mites and aphids showing up in the other area, but the sweet alyssum
00:28:29
Speaker
I struggle with that word. I don't know why. There's just some flowers that I could never pronounce. You should have heard me trying to narrate my book. I couldn't say half of these. I'm glad I'm not the only one. Sometimes I'm like, why can't I say these flower names? But I am going to do the sweet Alyssum again because I was so impressed. I never tried it as a cut flower, but it just looked so beautiful and it kept the weeds at bay.
00:28:55
Speaker
In that section, I had to do such little bit of weeding that it was the perfect companion plant for that area. Now, I will say that I've had a few people reach out and say, well, you know that is invasive, and it's important to do your research and find out what is invasive in
Pest Management Strategies
00:29:11
Speaker
your area. So it may not be a right solution for everyone, but for me, it worked really well.
00:29:16
Speaker
So your dahlias were already breaking ground, like so they started peeking through the ground and that's when you sowed the seeds? Correct. And all I did is I bought a 25 pound bag from Johnny's, took my hand and I just literally threw the seeds down the aisle and it spreads. And I had drip irrigation so they had plenty of water. And so by the end of the season, there was this beautiful hedge of white flowers at the base of all the dahlias.
00:29:46
Speaker
And the aphid pressure was, aphid and spider mites was so minimal in that space. Oh, I want to try that because I bet it looks pretty too. It was gorgeous. It does spread. So that's my word of caution. Okay. So we've touched a lot on companion plants. Let's talk about some of the showstoppers of the garden.
Dahlia Cultivation Tips
00:30:08
Speaker
Do you have a favorite flower that stands out in your garden?
00:30:12
Speaker
So right now I'm really smitten with dahlias. I love growing them, I love cutting them, and I probably buy way too many. Who doesn't?
00:30:23
Speaker
Last year, my favorite was Kogen Fabuki, and she was really beautiful. She would start out as like a creamy yellow and develop into this beautiful pink with these gorgeous petals. And it's just a thrill to watch a flower just grow, bloom, evolve, and change in appearance. Just to go from a yellow to a pink, I just think is so wild.
00:30:50
Speaker
She's been on my wish list. I haven't gotten that one yet. I got her on a whim last year. I was like, oh, you know, let's try this one. And I love her. I did overwinter some, but I also bought a few more just in case they don't make it. So do you leave yours in the ground or do you dig them up? No, I have to dig them up here. It's too cold for them. So if I want to save any of them, I got to dig them up and store them.
00:31:17
Speaker
which I've done okay with, but I'll just buy new. Do you divide your tubers or do you leave them in clumps and then replant them? I've done a little of both just to kind of play around and see what works for me, but I kind of prefer dividing them so that I have more plants.
00:31:35
Speaker
Sure, it is nice to divide them. It's a way to make your money go a little bit further. I was kind of thinking about it when I was walking the grocery store aisle the other day and it, I think it was the Lay's potato chips and I don't know if they still have the saying where it's like, you can't just have one. I feel like it's that way with Dahlia's. Once you buy one, you have to have another and then you have to have another. There's so many fun ones to grow. Like it's addictive. It really is. It's a good type of addiction.
00:32:03
Speaker
unless you're on a budget, then maybe not so much. She wind up buying too many. Same thing with seeds though. And like, you know, purchasing my seeds for the cut flower garden, like I definitely bought way more than I need, but I just figured, you know, I'll plant a lot. I'll do a lot of winter sowing and I'll just save whatever I don't use. So it'll be fine. So you just said you save what you don't use. How do you save your seeds?
00:32:30
Speaker
I saved the seed packets in a little file cabinet that I have in my library, and they seem to do fine there. They're in a cool, dark place. It doesn't get too hot. They're not in any kind of sunlight, and they do okay there. I have kept some in the refrigerator too out in the garage, so whichever spot they get in is where they go, but those are my two places.
00:32:55
Speaker
I love it. Yeah, I have way too many seeds and I pre-bought all of my seeds this year before I knew that I wasn't going to be having our field to use this year. So I now am categorizing my seeds and some of them are going in the freezer, some are going in the fridge and some are going in a dark place. Those that are going in the fridge and freezer, I'm using those little silica gel packets and I'm putting them in the Ziploc bag with them so that no moisture gets inside of them. And then I'm going to have to figure out
00:33:25
Speaker
I'm hoping to sell all the straw flower but I've heard that straw flower is one flower that the seeds don't store well that your germination will drastically drop if you keep them. Too long so don't buy too many straw flower seeds.
00:33:39
Speaker
Yeah, that could be. Last year, I used an older seed packet from the year before and I still grew a lot. But I didn't like, look at how many I could have grown versus what I actually grew. I grew enough for me here. So I probably didn't notice that. But
00:33:58
Speaker
I'm sure that could be. Yeah. So we've talked about your favorite flower is the dahlia. We've talked about sewing cool flowers. You have a gorgeous garden full of all kinds of flowers.
Bouquet Composition Recommendations
00:34:13
Speaker
Do you have any recommendations? One thing I've noticed is that as people are starting a cut flower garden, it's really easy to be drawn into planting the focal flowers like the dahlias and the sunflowers and the zinnias. But then when we go to make a bouquet, we are lacking the filler flowers and the greenery to fill it. Can you tell us what filler and greenery flowers do you grow in your cut flower garden?
00:34:42
Speaker
So I love Solosia. Solosia is so pretty. Amaranth is another really pretty one. They have a lot of texture, a lot of bold colors. Amaranth, you can get the spikes or you can get the beautiful tendrils. And Solosia, there's so many varieties of Solosia that they're really beautiful.
00:35:05
Speaker
uh sedum autumn joy is another one that I like yarrow is another good filler right because of the little little tiny flower has they just add so much texture dara's another good one um I also have I like to use like I have some summer blooming alliums here alliums alliums yes alliums yes summer blooming alliums and uh and with the I'll even use the dried heads as a little bit of filler just because they look
00:35:34
Speaker
Kind of cool, you know? Some greens that I have here are like Solomon's seal I like. I think that looks really pretty, especially if you have a lot of it. Ivy, a lot of English ivy. I've got some ivy here. And I started growing eucalyptus last year. It didn't really do so great, so I probably wouldn't do that again. I was hoping that would be a nice green for me, but basil, like the aromatic basil.
00:35:57
Speaker
I've used hostas before like just taking some hosta foliage because that foliage is really beautiful. I also like like rhododendrons and pulling some azalea foliage and nine bark because of the color on that foliage too. Those are kind of my go-tos I would say.
00:36:18
Speaker
Wow, you have so many options in your garden between your focal flowers, your fillers, and your greenery.
Spreading Joy with Flowers
00:36:26
Speaker
Can you tell us what do you do with all these flowers you grow?
00:36:31
Speaker
So I love to make bouquets and centerpieces for my home. When my girls are away at school and they come home, I love to leave little bouquets in their room or if they go away for a weekend or something like I just like to kind of spruce up their rooms and give them a little smile when they come home.
00:36:48
Speaker
I also put them all over my house from my kitchen to my living room, my front entry hall, even my porches. I just love to have flowers and I love to cut them because obviously the more you cut, the more they grow. But I just like to spruce up my home with lots of fresh blooms. I love it. Do you ever share them with anyone else?
00:37:10
Speaker
I do. I'll walk them down to my neighbors. I'll give them to friends. My daughters like to make, well, they like me to make arrangements for their friends. You know, if we're going to my sister-in-laws or something, I'll bring a bouquet. You know, stuff like that. So.
00:37:26
Speaker
You mentioned earlier that you grow because of the joy and then you just said that the more you cut your flowers, the more they give you. So the flowers are bringing you joy and you are spreading so much joy to others between your gorgeous pictures on social media
00:37:43
Speaker
where you are sharing your beautiful arrangements. I've seen so many beautiful tablescapes that you have made. And then spreading the joy to your children and your family and neighbors. I think that's the beauty of flowers is that no matter what the situation, they just have this special ability of bringing joy to our lives. So I think that's really a great thing that you are doing with your flowers.
00:38:12
Speaker
Thank you. I couldn't agree more. There's a flower for everyone. There's some flower that speaks to someone somewhere. They're just wonderful. There's just so many to love. You mentioned that you will fill your daughter's rooms with flowers when they come home. You have three daughters and they are all grown up and out of the house now, is that correct?
00:38:38
Speaker
Well, they're not all out of the house. I have my oldest graduated from Bucknell. She lives back home with us as she's going to grad school at Rutgers. My middle daughter is wrapping up her last year at Ohio State, so she's actually out of the house.
00:38:53
Speaker
And my youngest daughter just started her first year at ramapo here in new jersey so she kind of lives there during the week and comes home on the weekends which is really nice too especially for me since it's the last one and i guess we're like empty nesting or starting to empty nest so it's not so it's not so traumatic. All my kids just leave but yeah they're they're all out of high school.
00:39:17
Speaker
Okay, so you started your garden before your kids were born and then you really dove into it when they were little. Did you involve your kids in the garden at all?
00:39:30
Speaker
I tried to I have pictures of my youngest Tori in her little green crocs with her little plastic watering can, watering flowers. And she's got her little hand tucked on her hip just so I call her I call that photo the sassy gardener because she just looks so sassy standing there with her little watering can.
00:39:50
Speaker
My middle daughter probably took a little bit more of an interest in growing stuff and doing stuff in the gardens, but they've always liked to go out and pick stuff. In my former home, we grew lots of berries and they used to go in the back and just pick those berries off. I know they enjoy it, each one in their own way.
00:40:11
Speaker
I love that. For those that are listening that have young children at home, what advice would you give them for encouraging them to garden with their children or helping introduce gardening to their kids?
00:40:24
Speaker
So I think a great way to do that is to start again with some easy flowers to grow like a sunflower. My middle daughter when she was in second grade we started sunflowers together and there was a sunflower contest at her school and she won because we grew the biggest
00:40:43
Speaker
Flower head and iced it's one of my favorite photos of her today holding she was so proud holding her little because they had to bring the flower head into school and it's just one of the cutest pictures and she was just beaming with pride that like she grew this you know and so i think doing stuff like that is really fun and.
00:41:04
Speaker
you know, kind of making it fun for them and involving them and showing them, you know, how things grow and how they thrive, right? I mean, because even just like with regular life, even just taking care of ourselves, like, you know, it's the same thing, taking care of a plant, you got to feed it, you got to give it water, you got to keep it happy. And it's the same thing with people. So it's really like, kind of like the circle of life. It's a good life lesson for them.
00:41:31
Speaker
Absolutely. And a little bit cheaper than a pet. Absolutely.
00:41:38
Speaker
good way to ease into that. I know I have a nine-year-old, and we spend a lot of time in the garden together. And there's so many life lessons that we can teach them about resilience. And just the time together being able to be with your children is a really special gift, that time that we can never get back. So I think that it's awesome, although not all three of your daughters may be hugely into the garden. I know that
00:42:04
Speaker
The fact that your house has been filled with gorgeous flowers, you have these gorgeous houseplants, and the life lessons that you're teaching them, they're going to remember those flowers forever. Especially for me, it's the scents. The scents bring back so many memories. So do you have any flowers you grow that bring back any specific memories for you?
00:42:25
Speaker
I mean, the sunflower is definitely one bringing back that memory of my daughter, you know, with her growing sunflowers with her. I remember we once did a science fair experiment with growing pothos. We were and oh, actually, we did a science fair experiment to see whether seeds would germinate quicker if you put them in the microwave. Oh,
00:42:49
Speaker
And I actually don't remember what the result was. I'd have to ask her and see if she remembers. She's very, she's very scientific. She might remember. I actually don't remember. But it was a good science fair experiment. Oh, I love it. It was, yeah, but that was like, it was a fun thing. Even just them going out in my garden and cutting me a bouquet of my black eyed Susan's, I remember thinking, oh, they're not crawling back after you cut them.
00:43:15
Speaker
But it was just so sweet. And they were so proud of these little bouquets that they brought inside. So that's a good memory.
00:43:25
Speaker
you just brought back a memory for me that I'd forgotten about when my daughter was about two, her friend and her were playing in our backyard. And we had a small yard at the time and I look out and while I was there, but I was tending to the dahlias and this other little patch, they're just yanking out all the flowers by the roots and they're like, look at our bouquets. And at that moment I decided going forward, my daughter gets her own garden and whatever gets planted in there, we usually just buy a wild flower mix.
00:43:53
Speaker
now that she's older. This year, she has some very specific dahlias that she's going to put in there that she's going to breed. But she learned early on that that was her garden. We tended to it together. We weeded it. We watered it. But whatever was planted in there, she could take her kid-friendly scissors and her and her friends could cut any flowers they wanted and make their own bouquet. And it was such a good learning lesson because
00:44:18
Speaker
She then had that freedom to be creative. Watching them make their bouquets is just so special. It's such a good hands-on experience for them that if you have children and you're listening, I encourage you to go out and give your kids a space this summer where they can also sow their own seeds and make their own bouquets.
00:44:39
Speaker
So your three daughters are in college.
Insights from Stacey's New Book
00:44:43
Speaker
You are busy these days writing your blog with lots of great home and garden content. And today is a huge day for you. Your book is officially out in the world. Your book, The Bricks and Blooms Guide to a Beautiful and Easy Care Flower Garden is available to all of us. Can you tell us about this book and the process and creating it?
00:45:09
Speaker
I am super excited that this is finally out in the world. I was working on this all last year, and I still remember working on it as a Word document. So to see it now in person, in my hands, is just such a thrill.
00:45:24
Speaker
What inspired me to write this book is exactly my why I wrote this book for my friends that, you know, thought they killed things or didn't think they can grow flowers for whatever reason. And I really wanted to share my approach to growing flowers because, you know, especially you just touched on it before, when you're a busy mom raising kids or, you know, maybe you're working full time, you have a busy life,
00:45:54
Speaker
Having a flower garden can be a lot to manage. So if you're working with easy care plans and you kind of take that approach of growing, what works for you after learning your light conditions, your soil conditions, and understanding what
00:46:11
Speaker
your locality can grow then you can find success growing flowers and i really wanted to teach that. To my friends family and people that follow me my audience and new people that are you know that don't know me i wanted to bring that knowledge and joy so that you can find the same happiness and growing flowers and creating a beautiful space.
00:46:34
Speaker
I'm really excited to dive in and look at your book. I know you've put so much time and effort into it. Can you tell us what are we going to find inside this book?
00:46:47
Speaker
So in this book, you're going to get a lot of confidence just to do so, especially if you feel like you've got a what we've what some people say a black thumb instead of a green thumb. I don't believe anybody has a black thumb. There's a green thumb in there somewhere. You will feel confident after reading this book that you can go out and grow flowers.
00:47:11
Speaker
I give you all the tools to get started. And if you already have been on a journey of growing flowers, you're going to learn some design techniques like butterfly gardening, designing a garden for hummingbirds and other pollinators, deer resistant gardening. I share how to do a cut flower garden, as well as we deep dive into some of my favorite easy care flowers to grow that you can start with.
00:47:40
Speaker
It sounds like it's the perfect book for anyone that's starting a garden. What about those that already have a garden established? Will they be able to get some tips and tricks from it as well?
00:47:51
Speaker
Absolutely, because you'll be able to dive a little bit deeper into design and learn a little bit more about containers and choosing types of containers to use and just like little tips and tricks to help you do things in a much simpler way.
Embracing Continuous Learning
00:48:13
Speaker
like especially like gardening in summer and you know growing things in really hot weather and keeping them alive or keeping your flowers blooming when it's really really hot outside and you just don't want to be out there watering like you'll find lots of little growing tips like that and even just you know we were talking about my fern earlier you know digging deep and
00:48:36
Speaker
thinking through problems that you may have had growing other plants and saying to yourself, what did I not give that plant? What does it need to grow in my garden so that it can thrive? Not all plants are suited to grow in our garden.
00:48:56
Speaker
in our gardens, and that's okay too. And that's one of the big lessons that I want people to take away from this book is that there's a flower and a plant for everyone. And I talk about this a little bit in the book, but I
00:49:12
Speaker
I look at gardening like it's the motel theory of gardening like some plants move in. They check in and they love it and they stay and then there's others that check in don't love it and leave and i might not grow them again and that's okay. We learn a lot from gardening it's i'm still learning twenty five years starting so it's you know there's a there's there's just a never it's a never ending process that.
00:49:41
Speaker
you need to keep a positive attitude about it and a positive outlook and not get down on yourself because things just happen. They happen to me too. They happen to you also. Things happen. Absolutely. You said a couple of things there that I really
00:49:58
Speaker
or that really resonated with me. I love your analogy of the motel gardening. That is so true that some flowers come in and they stick around and find a permanent home. And there are definitely those flowers that come in and they move out just as quickly as they came in.
00:50:15
Speaker
And the other thing you just said that really resonated with me was you said you make the process simple. I have heard the word simple so much this year and I think so many people are really looking for simplicity right now. Life has gotten so busy.
00:50:35
Speaker
and so hectic. And part of the reason we turn to gardening is because it reminds us to slow down. And I think when we slow down, it also brings about the simplicity in life. So if we can learn how to simplify, simplify. Now I'm struggling with that word, just like our flower names.
00:50:55
Speaker
If we can learn how to simplify our gardens and our lives, we have more time to enjoy the things we love, like our cup flowers. So thank you. I'm really excited to read your book. And I know that many of our listeners are probably anxious to check it out as well. So can you tell us where can we find your book?
00:51:14
Speaker
So the book is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart. I think it's available on Target, Christian Books, Books a Million. It might even be in your local bookstore. That is really exciting. So if it's not already in your local bookstore, can people ask their local bookstore to carry it? They should, yes, yes, yes. It would be great. Yeah, I suppose supporting the local businesses, for sure.
00:51:42
Speaker
Absolutely. As a small business owner, that's something that I really value. So when I can find something locally, I always try and go to the local bookstore. So hopefully some of those local bookstores listening will also put them on, put your book on their bookshelves. And we'll also link to your book in the show notes today. And we mentioned your, of course, we mentioned your blog as well. Where can people find you on the internet?
00:52:07
Speaker
So online you can find me at stacyling.com and my handle on socials, I'm on everything, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, I'm at Bricks and Blooms with just the N in between. And yeah, I'm pretty active on everything. So
00:52:29
Speaker
I love to keep in touch with everyone and see what's going on. I would love to see your gardens, too, because I mean, that's really the joy in gardening. One of the things that I love about social media is not like I met you and, you know, other friends on here, but it's being able to see all your gardens because I would never we wouldn't be able to enjoy them from afar. Right. Like I would have to actually go there. So to be able to see it on YouTube or, you know, Instagram and stuff, it's awesome. It's just such a great right.
00:52:58
Speaker
I will link to you in our show notes, so be sure to visit today's show notes to follow Stacy. And before we say goodbye today, I would love to ask you one final question.
Advice for New Gardeners
00:53:12
Speaker
If you could give our listeners one piece of cut flower gardening advice, what would it be? So that's a really good question. And I would say start small.
00:53:24
Speaker
I would say start small don't overwhelm yourself because it's really easy to go out and buy like 20 packets of seeds of all different flowers that you want to grow because you know you want to grow this and you want to grow that but really really really dial it back
00:53:40
Speaker
So that especially if it's your first time doing it, you don't overwhelm yourself with growing a lot of different things. You learn about the plants that you're trying to grow, so it's more manageable for you. Not even just learning about the plants, but also managing that space because you got a weed, you got to cut the flowers, and if any kind of pest or disease problem crops up, it's just good to start small, so it's easier for you in the beginning.
00:54:09
Speaker
And then once you get your feet wet, you know, if you loved it and you're like, wow, I want to do more than, you know, go big or go home next year.
00:54:18
Speaker
That's great advice. Yes, start small and keep it simple. I love it. Well, Stacy, it has been such an honor to have you on the podcast today. Thank you for giving us your time and sharing your cut flower gardening wisdom with all of us. I would love to have you back again sometime. I feel like we've only scratched the surface on so many of these topics that we discussed today.
00:54:44
Speaker
I agree. That would be great. Thank you so much for having me on. It was so much fun talking about all these different things. So fun. I love it. I had so much fun as well. So thank you. And until next time, happy gardening.
00:54:59
Speaker
Thank you Flower Friends for joining us on another episode of the Backyard Bouquet. I hope you've enjoyed the inspiring stories and valuable gardening insights we've shared today. Whether you're cultivating your own backyard blooms or supporting your local flower farmer, you're contributing to the local flower movement, and we're so happy to have you growing with us.
Closing Remarks
00:55:20
Speaker
If you'd like to stay connected and continue this blossoming journey with local flowers, don't forget to subscribe to the Backyard Bouquet podcast. I'd be so grateful if you would take a moment to leave us a review of this episode. And finally, please share this episode with your garden friends. Until next time, keep growing, keep blooming, and remember that every bouquet starts right here in the backyard.