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Ep. 84: Growing Cut Flowers in Small Spaces: Community, Education & Local Blooms with Fawn Rueckert
1.4k Plays2 days ago
What’s possible when you start with just a small bit of earth—and a love of flowers rooted in childhood stories?
In today’s episode, I’m joined by Fawn Rueckert, founder of Sego Lily Flower Farm, a thriving suburban flower farm growing on just one-third of an acre in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley.
Fawn’s journey into flower farming began long before her first seed tray—from listening to The Secret Garden as a child to learning from generations of women who gardened before her. What started as a backyard cutting garden evolved into a farmers market business, a regional cut flower plug program serving over 100 growers, hands-on education for backyard gardeners, and leadership as a founding member and president of the Utah Cut Flower Farm Association.
In this conversation, we talk about growing cut flowers in small spaces, knowing when to pivot as your business evolves, and why community matters so deeply in flower farming. We also dig into lisianthus—a flower many growers struggle to start from seed—including what it really needs to germinate, why it’s so slow, and when it makes sense to grow from seed versus buying plugs.
Whether you’re growing on an eighth of an acre, dreaming of your first farmers market, or just trying to grow better lisianthus this season, this episode will leave you inspired to try what’s possible—right where you are.
Links
- Sego Lily Flower Farm
Website: https://www.segolilyflowerfarm.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/segolilyflowerfarm/ - Snuck Flowers at Snuck Farm
Website: https://snuckfarm.com/pages/snuck-flowers - The Backyard Cut Flower Garden Course
https://snuckfarm.com/products/backyard-cut-flower-garden-course-in-collaboration-with-sego-lily-flower-farm-spring-2026 - Utah Cut Flower Farm Association
Website: https://www.utahflowerfarms.com
Sign up for our podcast newsletter: https://bit.ly/thefloweringfarmhousenewsletter
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Transcript
Intro
Meet Fawn Rueckert: Founder of Sego Lily Flower Farm
00:02:03
Jennifer Gulizia
Today's guest is Fawn Rueckert, founder of Sego Lily Flower Farm, a small but mighty suburban flower farm nestled on just a third of an acre in the heart of Salt Lake Valley.
The Roots of a Passion for Flowers
00:02:17
Jennifer Gulizia
Fawn's love of flowers was planted early, curled up beside her mother, listening to the story of the secret garden and nurtured by generations of women who shared cuttings, seed catalogs, herbs, and time in the garden.
Building a Sustainable Flower Farm in Utah
00:02:32
Jennifer Gulizia
From geranium stems rooting in jars of water to sweet peas climbing in backyard beds, flowers became a through line of memory, family, and belonging. Years later, after moving from Southern California to Utah with her husband and four sons, Fawn finally claimed her own little bit of earth.
00:02:52
Jennifer Gulizia
What began as a dream potager and cutting garden grew into Sago Lily Flower Farm, founded in 2017 with a focus on unique, locally grown flowers that don't travel well, grow sustainably and safely for both family and community.
Exploring Flower Farming in Small Spaces
00:03:08
Jennifer Gulizia
In today's conversation, we're talking about flower farming in small spaces, the power of local blooms, growing with intention, and how Fawn's focus and business have evolved over the years. I'm so excited to share Fawn's story with you.
00:03:25
Jennifer Gulizia
All right, Fawn, welcome to today's episode. Thanks so much for joining.
00:03:29
Fawn Rueckert
Thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
00:03:32
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh, it's such an honor. Well, when I was learning about you, i have to say that I discovered your farm because at the end of our 2025 season, I asked listeners what they would like to hear this year. And I had multiple people reach out and mention your name. So I had to reach
Gardening Influences and Family Memories
00:03:50
Jennifer Gulizia
out. And when I was looking at your bio, I was drawn to the fact that your love of flowers goes back to the secret garden.
00:03:58
Jennifer Gulizia
What was it about that story that stayed with you?
00:04:03
Fawn Rueckert
I think it was just the mystery. It was the first time i was probably six when my mom read it to me. And I think the romance of it all kind of captured me. And um I just always loved it.
00:04:17
Fawn Rueckert
But I always wanted my own little secret garden.
00:04:21
Jennifer Gulizia
And do you consider your third of an acre your secret garden now?
00:04:26
Fawn Rueckert
Kind of, I actually have a little garden off to the side in my side yard that we've kind of blocked off on either side. So you have to walk through it and we call that the secret garden, but yeah, the rest of it's just the farm, I guess.
00:04:37
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh, I love that. And you were surrounded by woman growing up who gardened. You has mentioned your mom, multiple grandmothers, even a step-grandmother.
00:04:48
Jennifer Gulizia
How did learning from so many generations shape how you see flowers today.
00:04:55
Fawn Rueckert
I think there's a great nostalgia with flowers. Like it's so common to have someone say, oh, sweet peas remind me of my grandmother. Or like for me, peonies really remind me of my mom, even though she never grew them. She loved them. um But you can't grow them in Southern California. So, um or I see a red geranium and I think of my grandmother.
00:05:17
Fawn Rueckert
They were all very casual gardeners though. And I think some of them would be really excited for me. And then some of them would think I've, I've gone a little overboard, but um yeah, I think there's just something that about flowers that bring, and even their scent that brings um just memories back.
00:05:41
Jennifer Gulizia
Absolutely. Well, I love that. I probably should have started a little bit more at the beginning of your story. So we know that you fell in love with flowers because of the secret garden.
From Personal Gardening to Market Selling
00:05:51
Jennifer Gulizia
Walk us forward from that time you fell in love with flowers and how did your journey evolve over the years?
00:05:58
Fawn Rueckert
um I always loved flowers. I remember as a 10-year-old, I spent my money on a carnation plant, like a little dianthus in a pot.
00:06:06
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh,
00:06:07
Fawn Rueckert
um But when I moved to Utah, I always loved farmer's markets too. I've always loved the idea of supporting local businesses, eating local food. um And when I moved here, I started looking for the the farmer's markets and I'd go to the farmer's markets and the big um gaping difference between Southern California and Utah was there were no flowers at the farmer's market. And so um once we moved from our first little house to a the house we're at currently, and we actually had some room to grow, I was like, Oh, I'm going to grow some flowers, a big vegetable garden to feed all my hungry teenage boys. And
00:06:53
Fawn Rueckert
and then flowers for myself. But the more I researched it and the more I planned it, I was like, well, maybe I could sell them too. I could be the farmer that brings flowers to the farmer's market.
00:07:05
Jennifer Gulizia
So you didn't set out with an intention to grow flowers commercially.
00:07:10
Fawn Rueckert
No, it kind of just happened.
00:07:12
Jennifer Gulizia
I think that's how it's happened for a lot of us, that there's very few people I talk to that say they knew they were gonna be a flower farmer growing up. So you noticed that there was a void in Salt Lake. How did you go from thinking, I'm going to maybe be that person at the market to actually taking those steps? What steps did you take to then start a farm and get into the market?
Business Growth and Learning Market Dynamics
00:07:35
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah, you know, I think the there's only one way to do things and that's just to do it. Like sometimes you just have to make that leap and it can be really scary. And I was really concerned with whether I could grow enough flowers on my property because it's not very big.
00:07:52
Fawn Rueckert
um But I ended up at a farmer's market. We went to all these different farmer's markets around the valley to kind of think about which one I wanted to try and sell at. And I ended up at a brand new one. And so the market was new, i was new, and we kind of just grew together. So as I was able to produce more flowers, the market was also building and clientele. And that was a really nice kind of transition.
00:08:18
Fawn Rueckert
So um i was lucky that there wasn't huge demand as a brand new gardener or farmer, and I could kind of slowly learn and build up.
00:08:31
Jennifer Gulizia
So you found a new market. Were you the only flower farmer at the market?
00:08:36
Fawn Rueckert
Yes. In fact, they would only allow, even now they only allow one market, one farmer, flower farmer at that market. So it was nice not having a lot of competition. Um, I'm S I've since kind of backed off for five, maybe it was six years, six years. I did the farmer's market, um, 18 weeks out of the season, every Saturday, um And I had gotten an additional piece of land down the street.
00:09:07
Fawn Rueckert
These two adorable little ladies, um, had a double lot and they had to pay to have it mowed and their sprinklers taken care of and all these things. And so they offered it to me. And so it was a great win-win because I had more land and then my, um, I gave them flowers and they didn't have to maintain the property.
00:09:28
Fawn Rueckert
um And so, ah as, as I needed more flowers, I had that space too, but eventually they moved because of health issues and I
Adapting Business Strategy and Land Use
00:09:41
Fawn Rueckert
lost that land. And so, um after a while I've, the last couple of years, I've only gone to the market a couple of times a year and other parts of my business have just kind of grown and overtaken that, that time and revenue.
00:10:00
Jennifer Gulizia
So was it because you lost the extra growing space that you stepped back from the market or because your business was starting to evolve?
00:10:07
Fawn Rueckert
It was kind of both. It happened at a really good time. Like I was starting to get really burnt out going to the market every week and growing that much when I had these other components of my business. um But I loved the farmer's market. It was my first really place um of business. I had all these customers that I just loved. So it was almost a good thing that I lost that land because I really did need to take take a step back. um But it was hard for me emotionally to make that decision.
00:10:40
Fawn Rueckert
so
00:10:42
Jennifer Gulizia
It's hard when we lose something without our choosing. Because I lost my growing space, my least growing space a couple years ago also. And it wasn't my choice, but unfortunately there were circumstances outside of my control. And i truly believe in hindsight, looking back that life is always happening for us. And you may not realize why things are happening in the moment, but sometimes things have to happen. for you to move forward and have new experiences in life.
Focusing on Spring Flowers and Educational Programs
00:11:10
Jennifer Gulizia
So help us, paint us a picture, walk us through what does Sago Lily Flower Farm look like today?
00:11:20
Fawn Rueckert
Okay. we're back to just growing on our little third acre. We focus on spring. um I've got about 250 peonies on our property.
00:11:31
Fawn Rueckert
um so we have a peony subscription. We used to do tulips and peonies, but I also run a program at another farm about a half an hour away where we grow plugs for farmers. So we do a wholesale program and then we also do a like backyard garden program where we sell collections and we do these plant sales.
00:11:53
Fawn Rueckert
And um that takes up so much time in the spring that I would work a full eight hours, nine hours there and then come home and like harvest tulips in the dark.
00:12:05
Fawn Rueckert
And I'd harvest them before I left and I'd still lose them because they'd blow open during the day. And so I've, I'm not doing tulips this year. So that's another thing. It's like, yeah, those two,
00:12:16
Fawn Rueckert
those changes come because you're just like, okay, this is not fitting this business model anymore. but
00:12:23
Jennifer Gulizia
So you recognize that the tulips weren't fitting your business because you just didn't have time for them as your business was evolving. You mentioned you're helping out another farm.
00:12:34
Jennifer Gulizia
Walk us through, what are you doing there?
00:12:36
Fawn Rueckert
Okay. So I love, um, the snuck flowers program. We, we um
00:12:45
Fawn Rueckert
Back in 2019, I was like a second year grower and I was trying to make friends. This going to be a long story, but um
00:12:53
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay, I'm here for it.
00:12:56
Fawn Rueckert
I was trying to make friends with other flower farmers. When I first started, i could only find like two other flower farmers in the state. And um
00:13:10
Jennifer Gulizia
Only two other in the whole state?
00:13:10
Fawn Rueckert
I had gotten a in the whole state, it just wasn't really happening in Utah yet. And, um, so I had gotten all these buckets for free at the local grocery store. And so I kind of sent out messages to like people that I heard were just starting up. And I was like, do you want buckets? You have to come to my house. So I like lured them to my house to make friends. And as we started all making connections, um,
00:13:39
Fawn Rueckert
we hosted a little gathering at a, um, conference put on the local unit by USU, um, Utah state university. And we started forming this association. And so, ah we formed the Utah cut flower farm association. And as our first big event, we had,
00:14:01
Fawn Rueckert
um and a welcome event. And at that welcome event, this local farmer who grows hydroponic greens had come because she was interested in what we were doing. And I gave a talk at that and she saw me and she had had this piece of land on her property um that they had tried growing vegetables on, but they didn't really have the manpower to um maintain it and grow properly. And so she wanted to do a cut flower
00:14:33
Fawn Rueckert
class, something that would be hands-on the whole season long. So really like a course.
Managing a Growing Program and Local Sales
00:14:39
Fawn Rueckert
And so she offered me that, that collaboration with her. And so I started teaching that class. And during that class um I taught seed starting.
00:14:50
Fawn Rueckert
And one of the ladies said, this is, this is really fun to learn. This is great, but I don't want to do it. Can you do it for me?
00:14:58
Jennifer Gulizia
Can you do this thing starting for her?
00:14:59
Fawn Rueckert
And I said, Yes. Like, will you grow the plants? She's like, I don't want to be busy with that during the winter. Just, you know, let me come pick them up from you.
00:15:09
Fawn Rueckert
and i I talked to the owner, Paige Westover, that night after class. And I said, hey, they want us to do this. And she's like, okay.
00:15:20
Fawn Rueckert
Let's do it. And so at first I was just a consultant, but in um August of 2021, I came on full time to run the program and it's just grown exponentially since then. And um it just takes a lot more time. So my farm has kind of receded as this program has grown. And, um but I really love it. I love growing seeds and I love growing.
00:15:47
Fawn Rueckert
that I am making life hopefully a little bit easier for backyard growers that just want to grow beautiful things in their backyard, but especially for the farmers in my area.
00:15:58
Fawn Rueckert
Because even though there were just two when I first started, we've got a couple hundred now. And so, yeah, I grow i grow wholesale plugs for about 100 farmers now.
00:16:04
Jennifer Gulizia
Wow.
00:16:12
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh my goodness. That's a lot. So Sego Lily is still operating. It's a little bit smaller than it originally was because you had this pivot opportunity and this new farm is called where you're growing the bugs.
00:16:27
Fawn Rueckert
so So it's snuck flowers at Snuck Farm.
00:16:30
Jennifer Gulizia
yeah
00:16:31
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah, and Snuck Farm.
00:16:32
Jennifer Gulizia
Snuck flowers at Snuck farm.
00:16:34
Fawn Rueckert
Yes, yeah.
00:16:36
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay.
00:16:36
Fawn Rueckert
So Snuck Farm primarily grows hydroponic greens and they have a kitchen program where they make delicious, healthy, nutritious food and they sell it through their farm shop. um And they had this extra growing space that they weren't really using in a real profitable way. And so um they had been growing the plants for our little class. And so it was just kind of a like, well, we'll just grow a few more.
00:17:06
Fawn Rueckert
And then it ends up where we're using the entire 6,000 square foot greenhouse now to grow cut flower plugs. And that's all we do.
00:17:13
Jennifer Gulizia
Wow.
00:17:15
Fawn Rueckert
There's no bedding plants. We're not growing petunias or anything else, just cut flowers.
00:17:22
Jennifer Gulizia
Is this a heated greenhouse?
00:17:24
Fawn Rueckert
Yes, yeah.
00:17:24
Jennifer Gulizia
OK, because in Utah, imagine it gets pretty cold in the wintertime.
00:17:29
Fawn Rueckert
Yes, absolutely.
00:17:30
Jennifer Gulizia
Wow. So what started as you trying to make some flower friends and giving away some buckets has turned into a huge plug operation for the floral industry.
00:17:46
Jennifer Gulizia
And so where do you do you ship these plugs?
00:17:47
Fawn Rueckert
Yes.
00:17:49
Jennifer Gulizia
Do you have to be in Utah? How does your program work?
00:17:52
Fawn Rueckert
ah We only sell to local growers that can pick up. I guess if you wanted to drive and pick them up, we do have people that grow grow down in so Southern Utah that will come and pick them up from us. And it's a you know four hour drive. um But we just sell locally. We don't do any shipping.
00:18:13
Jennifer Gulizia
Wow. And that probably simplifies it so much.
00:18:16
Fawn Rueckert
Yes, I can't imagine having to ship all these orders. They're gigantic. And we also, um I love that we can get plugs. I love Farmer Bailey. I just went to Amsterdam with him and his company. um And I love what they do. The first time I grew Lisianthus was through Farmer Bailey plugs. But I also love the idea of um being able to, like we're always saying buy local flowers.
Emphasizing Local Resources and Tailored Practices
00:18:43
Fawn Rueckert
i think it's great when you can buy other things locally to support your farm.
00:18:49
Fawn Rueckert
like plugs or or other resources that you need. so it's nice to kind of cut down on some of the transportation costs that are involved in shipping plugs.
00:19:01
Jennifer Gulizia
Absolutely. Shipping has gotten so expensive. And depending on the time of year, i feel like I have losses that happen or UPS or FedEx will deliver it and I'll show up at my front door and it's the box says this side up and the box is pointing the wrong direction and plugs are everywhere in it. So I'm sure that simplifies it.
00:19:23
Jennifer Gulizia
Help us understand your clientele or customer base for these plugs. Is it more backyard gardeners? Are you finding flower farmers are buying these plugs? who is Who are you supplying to?
00:19:37
Fawn Rueckert
We have two customer groups. and We have our wholesale group, which is just farmers. It's people with a business license. They have to submit that before we even send them the link to order because they order it tax ah free.
00:19:52
Fawn Rueckert
And then we have a big group of backyard growers that really don't have access to things like lisianthus or cut flower perennials. And we're making it a lot more available. So when they're scrolling their feed and they're like, I wish I could grow what that farmer grows. They can come to one of our plant sales or pre-order a collection and they can come and get those Lisianthus or the cut flower varieties of Ranunculus and all the really fun goodies that people would want to grow.
00:20:25
Jennifer Gulizia
What types of flowers are you mainly growing?
00:20:29
Fawn Rueckert
Lisianthus is a huge crop for us because it's so time consuming to grow and intimidating, I think, for people. So we just finished sowing this last week. We did about 120,000 lisianthus.
00:20:42
Fawn Rueckert
And then we we do like 120 varieties of things.
00:20:43
Jennifer Gulizia
Wow.
00:20:48
Fawn Rueckert
So from zinnias, cut flower zinnias to snapdragons, another big one. Yeah, ranunculus. You name it, we kind of grow it.
00:21:00
Jennifer Gulizia
Is it people ask for certain things or you have a catalog that they can choose from to order?
00:21:06
Fawn Rueckert
I really pull a lot from my own experience.
00:21:09
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay.
00:21:10
Fawn Rueckert
um And so I've curated a list of things that I know grow well. And so that's primarily what I offer to our backyard growers. Um, the list for wholesale is a little bit larger and I will have those farmers.
00:21:23
Fawn Rueckert
I asked them at the end of the season, like, what are you wanting? What are you interested in? And so they'll sometimes say, oh, I want this color of Snapdragon. or can you get this, this seed, or I've seen people growing this kind of coreopsis.
00:21:38
Fawn Rueckert
I want to try it. And so I'll add those things in. um I usually like to try and make sure I know how to grow it if it's a new variety. And so I won't offer it for pre-order until we've started it one season.
00:21:54
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah.
00:21:54
Jennifer Gulizia
And are you offering these plugs year round or is there just a certain window that you are sowing seeds and selling plugs?
00:22:02
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah, so it's really set up for our climate. um We have four pickup dates, um the beginning of March, April, May, and the very end of May, which we call our June pickups. Um, they're four weeks apart and so it helps everybody do successions. Um, it's kind of set up with our frost dates in mind here in Northern Utah. Um, so it's very local centric, like it is built for our farmers in mind.
00:22:35
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay, so you do four pickups. You said it's spaced four weeks apart. Is that right? So that's about a 16 week window.
00:22:40
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah.
00:22:43
Fawn Rueckert
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
00:22:44
Jennifer Gulizia
And when do you start the plugs?
00:22:47
Fawn Rueckert
So we started our first Lysianthus in November, at the end of November.
00:22:51
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh my goodness, you've been growing them for a while now, because we're recording in January.
00:22:54
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:56
Jennifer Gulizia
So and when your first pick, your first pickup will be when?
00:22:57
Fawn Rueckert
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Keeps us busy.
00:23:03
Fawn Rueckert
um The first week of March.
00:23:05
Jennifer Gulizia
First week of March, okay. And i imagine, do you still have snow on the ground in Utah in March or what's the weather like?
00:23:14
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah, we we have most most of the people um have their last frost date about mid-May. if few have it a week or two earlier and a few have it towards the end of May, depending.
00:23:22
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay.
00:23:27
Fawn Rueckert
We've got lots of mountains. And so we've got lots of zones. And so we have those four pickup dates so that people could kind of choose which one really works the best for them.
00:23:40
Fawn Rueckert
Um, so we definitely will still have March or snow in May or April and no, sorry, March and April. um but those cold hardy plants is what we're selling during that timeframe.
00:23:55
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay.
00:23:55
Fawn Rueckert
We're not offering zinnias then just the cold hardy things.
00:24:00
Jennifer Gulizia
Gotcha. Thank you for that clarification. So I imagine there's some people listening today thinking, well, like someone like me envious that they don't have to sow all these seeds because seeds take up a lot of space, especially things like Lisianthus. I was going to, I bought all these seeds and I was going to sow my Lisianthus this year.
00:24:19
Jennifer Gulizia
and then it was like, oh my gosh, do i really have the time and space to, use it. And yes, I wanted to avoid the plugs, but at the same time, or I'm sorry, i wanted to avoid the shipping of the plugs and just do it myself, but it's not always economical.
00:24:37
Jennifer Gulizia
So I think this is such a great idea. So people are probably listening, thinking, is this something that my area could have? Do you have any advice for someone listening? Who's like, my area needs this.
Collaborative Seed Starting and Forming Associations
00:24:48
Jennifer Gulizia
How do I get it going?
00:24:57
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah, I think if you're really good at seed starting, um it's a great thing and you have space. That's the beautiful thing with um my farm. Like obviously I'm a very small farm, but collaborating with Snuck Farm, it gave me an opportunity to use these skills that I have and they have the space.
00:25:16
Fawn Rueckert
So it's been a little bit magical that way. But if you can find someone that has um the growing space, or if you have the growing space and maybe you have a friend that's really great at growing seeds, then you can have a collaboration. And if you're really lucky, maybe you just have both.
00:25:34
Fawn Rueckert
um The fact that we have an association here in Utah and we have a community has definitely helped people know about what snuck flowers does.
00:25:48
Fawn Rueckert
And so um i think being involved in a community of like-minded people that are growing flowers, other flower farmers is really important. um Maybe you can do that through the association of specialty cut flower growers and going to those regional meetings or farm tours and networking I think building a strong community is important. And then um together you can kind of figure out those resources together.
00:26:21
Jennifer Gulizia
And you founded the association in Utah, is that correct?
00:26:24
Fawn Rueckert
With a bunch of other people, like it was a very, very much a group effort. um But I was one of the founding members with a wonderful group of people. Um, i served as vice president for a number of years, and then I'm just wrapping up my term, um, as president at the end of this month, we have a, our fourth conference. We have a Utah flower conference and, um, snuck farm has been one of the sponsors of that ah organization since the beginning. And so there's just been a great community there. That's just kind of building things together.
00:27:05
Jennifer Gulizia
So how did you, with this group of other growers, decide to start an association? What was the point where you said, this isn't something that's just a good idea, but this is something we actually need?
00:27:18
Fawn Rueckert
Well, it's kind of funny because I have a good friend, Lindsay Waddups from um Three Sprout Dahlias. And she is like just a great person for making friends. Like she will go and up to any stranger. She's great at networking. And she'll call people she doesn't know and say, can I come to your farm? And she did that with me. And so she came over and we started chatting we're like, we should start a book club or ah a little association, but we weren't quite as, um,
00:27:50
Fawn Rueckert
maybe as, I don't, I'm trying to think of the word, um We didn't have a clear picture of exactly what that would be, but we had another farm to Heather wa um Griffiths from Wasatch Blooms. And she, she was like, we need an official technical, like professional organization for flower farmers. Like, we need to build up our industry here in Utah because we're all so new.
00:28:21
Fawn Rueckert
We started it when we were first and second year growers. um But we wanted to protect the industry. We wanted to make sure people understood pricing so that we could all be sustainable.
00:28:33
Fawn Rueckert
um And so Heather really had the vision to make it a nonprofit. um She filled out all the forms and we kind of just tagged along and then as it As things really started rolling, we we all had our own skills. Some of us were really good at holding events and reaching out. And it really was really a great group effort. And it's just kind of grown. We kind of started out with a few a few meetings or farm tours. um And now we have ah something called the Utah Flower Day, which we're trying to get people
00:29:09
Fawn Rueckert
people the public here in Utah to understand the benefits of local flowers. And then we have our conference that educates our farmers during the winter.
00:29:21
Jennifer Gulizia
So how many growers are now part of the association? association
00:29:26
Fawn Rueckert
um so someone told me last night that we're up to 190. Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:30
Jennifer Gulizia
Wow. And when you started, there were only a few flower farmers in Utah.
00:29:31
Fawn Rueckert
yeah
00:29:33
Fawn Rueckert
who yeah when i could When I started, I could just find two on Instagram.
00:29:40
Jennifer Gulizia
That's amazing.
00:29:40
Fawn Rueckert
So yeah.
00:29:41
Jennifer Gulizia
I think that really speaks to the power of local flowers and also the power of lifting each other up and I really believe that when we support one another, we're creating more opportunity for everyone.
00:29:57
Jennifer Gulizia
I know some people have the scarcity mindset that like there's already too many, but I think that there's still plenty of room, especially when we're still hearing about 80% of our flowers being imported outside or imported from outside of the US. It's like, there's still lots of opportunity for us to grow.
00:30:14
Fawn Rueckert
Absolutely.
00:30:17
Fawn Rueckert
I just think that as Americans, we don't grow or we don't purchase flowers like we could. Like we we think of it as only a special occasion thing. And I run a subscription and those people that get those flowers every week, it just makes them how happy. Like I get such great feedback. And I think there's so much more room just in even just increasing um the markets that We just don't think about, like, we don't just have to replace imports. There's people out there that I think if they knew about local flowers, they they'd love having them in their homes.
00:30:59
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that you said something about the mindset of how it's not just replacing, or it doesn't even need to be necessarily replacing those imported flowers. It's the idea of people just being excited and knowing about local flowers.
00:31:17
Jennifer Gulizia
I think back to when I lived in Europe, I lived in Italy in college. And at the market, people would just buy the flowers and they just adorn their house with those flowers. And it was just part of the everyday routine of part of adding beauty in their life.
00:31:32
Jennifer Gulizia
And when you said that, I was thinking about how many times have I been at a market and said, oh, what's your occasion for buying flowers today? And right there, I've got that stereotype in my mind, even of what's your special occasion versus do we really need an occasion or a reason to buy flowers?
00:31:51
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah. The other thing I think I hear at markets is um people will say, oh, I don't have anyone to buy them for. Like, it's not my mom's birthday.
00:31:59
Jennifer Gulizia
Yes.
00:32:00
Fawn Rueckert
Right.
00:32:00
Jennifer Gulizia
okay
00:32:01
Fawn Rueckert
And I think I usually try to gently say you deserve flowers, too. Like you can buy them for yourself. You you're just as worthy. Right. And you don't need that special occasion.
00:32:12
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah.
00:32:13
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh, that's a good reminder because I have heard people say that before. And it's just having that awareness, I think, and these kind of conversations that can educate all of us and the power of talking with fellow growers of Someone says to you, like you just said, ah I don't have anyone to buy for today. That is such a perfect thing to respond back to and just say, well, why don't you buy them for yourself?
00:32:37
Jennifer Gulizia
Because I have my CSA subscribers. I have one amazing subscriber and she would pick up her bouquet every week. And then she'd say, can I buy a second bouquet? And at first I would ask her, I'd say, oh who's the second one for? And she'd say, it's for me. And she would put one in her office and one in her kitchen or wherever in her house. She's like, I just want to have flowers for myself wherever I am.
00:32:58
Jennifer Gulizia
And I don't think you, you don't have to have that permission or the permission is to give it to yourself, I guess.
00:32:59
Fawn Rueckert
I love that.
00:33:05
Jennifer Gulizia
So thank you for that reminder, that little a light bulb for me today.
00:33:06
Fawn Rueckert
Yes.
00:33:11
Jennifer Gulizia
so um, So let's talk a little bit more about your association, association because that fascinates me. You have 190 members now in Utah.
00:33:23
Jennifer Gulizia
You mentioned you have an upcoming conference. How do you stay connected with your members throughout the year?
00:33:30
Fawn Rueckert
um So we try when we first started, we were like, we'll write a newsletter. And um we had this business coach that was willing to kind of meet with us for free. It was really kind of her. And she was like, well, you know, newsletters are probably the most static way to interact with your members. Like,
00:33:52
Fawn Rueckert
you wanna be networking and it really kind of lit some fires under us. So we started holding like a winter event and then COVID hit. And so it did, we wanted to do farm tours and we wanted to do all these things. So we really got the ball rolling once we were allowed to kind of meet together.
00:34:10
Fawn Rueckert
um So we do two farm tours a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. and We have our conference. And then we do blooming Zooms, which this year we're going to start doing them at noon.
00:34:25
Fawn Rueckert
and We usually did them in the evenings, but we do them any week any month. We don't have some other event going on We will um either ask local people.
00:34:37
Fawn Rueckert
We just had a local florist talk about what local florists are looking for as far as flowers or how to work with them.
00:34:42
Jennifer Gulizia
So.
00:34:44
Fawn Rueckert
um and then we'll have other people um We've had Jenny Love speak to us. I think we're having Ben Hartman from Lean Farming speak to us this year. And so um it's nice because Utah is not super small and we've got people from the top of the state down to the bottom of the state. And so being able to meet online has been really great. And we can pull people in. It might be hard to get Ben Hartman to come out to the conference, but we could do something online with him.
00:35:16
Fawn Rueckert
So
00:35:17
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. That's great. And is your association, I'm having trouble with that word today, is your association affiliated with the ACS, ASC, oh my gosh, I'm struggling with words today. The Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers, are you guys involved with them or is that completely separate?
00:35:36
Fawn Rueckert
It is separate, but like they're a sponsor for our, um, conference. They were very generous with donating, um, to us this year. And, um, we've attended like our board, we get grants. So, um, we do have the members pay dues. Um, but we also have some very low, um, some very generous local businesses that, um,
00:36:04
Fawn Rueckert
make a lot of what we do possible. And so one year um we were able to send through a mo a couple different grants, we were able to send four board members to the ASCFG conference.
00:36:17
Jennifer Gulizia
you
00:36:17
Fawn Rueckert
And so there is some, like, we love learning from them and we look at what they do and they're so inspirational. So we definitely um think about what we could do that they're doing on maybe a local level.
00:36:31
Fawn Rueckert
Um, but there's a lot of our members that are just growing in backyards and they have young families and they just can't always make it. Across the country to go to the, a conference or a farm tour. And so there's this great power and be able to like, there's nine 190 of us that we can bring people to
Networking and Community Support in Farming
00:36:52
Fawn Rueckert
us now. And so it um, just creates a lot more opportunities.
00:36:58
Fawn Rueckert
And we don't have to go quite as far afield for them.
00:37:02
Jennifer Gulizia
That's great. You mentioned that a lot of your members are growing more on a backyard scale. Do you know how many of your growers are growing on certain size of land or do you have that data?
00:37:16
Fawn Rueckert
We are actually, when people sign up for the conference, we've got a little survey for them this year. And so we'll have maybe a little bit more because it really does help us. Like how many of them have high tunnels that helps us create content for the next year. We know we should ask someone who grows in a high tunnel to speak at one of our blooming Zooms or at the conference. um So we'll have that. I would say...
00:37:45
Fawn Rueckert
80% are under a like an acre or less, if I had to guess. um And some of them are growing in like, you know, on an eighth of an acre or something like that.
00:37:59
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that, that you have so many various sizes in your association. I think that so many flower farmers do grow on under an acre though. And it's because you can produce so much in such a small space. And you've been doing this for a while. What advice do you have for one of our listeners that is growing in that backyard, that one-eight,
00:38:24
Jennifer Gulizia
That's just starting out this year because this episode's airing in January of 2026. What advice do you have for someone who is starting that new backyard flower flower?
00:38:34
Fawn Rueckert
Um, when I first started, I wondered if I had enough space and I was listening to slow flowers and that was like the only flower cut flower podcast when I started. It's, I think this is my 10th season that I'm going into. And there was a farmer up in Canada. I think she's since, um, stopped her business and lives on a boat or something cool like that. But, um,
00:39:00
Fawn Rueckert
She was so inspirational because she just grew in a bunch of her neighbor's yards and she had like about an eighth of an acre. And she talked about what she did and it made it accessible. I was like, oh, I could do that.
00:39:12
Fawn Rueckert
i could grow just a couple rows of things.
00:39:12
Jennifer Gulizia
Mm-hmm. very
00:39:15
Fawn Rueckert
And flowers are so abundant. And I think all you need to do is just kind of start experimenting. Like grow a few things. Don't maybe grow 20 things, but grow 10, you know, grow some snaps, some zinnias,
00:39:29
Fawn Rueckert
Just kind of dip your toe in and you'll see just how abundant they are. And I think as you grow, you get more experience every year, even in the nursery um at Stuck Flowers. Every year we grow something and I go, oh, this is there's a little way I can make this a little bit better. And so as you continue to grow, you'll get better and better at at producing abundantly.
00:39:54
Fawn Rueckert
So just try it. Do it. No one can tell you you're too small.
00:39:59
Jennifer Gulizia
Oh, that's good. I like that. For someone growing on that small scale, on that eighth of an acre, for your Utah base, looking at a lot of the growers in your area, where are they finding success? Is it through roadside stands? Is it through farmers markets? Where are you seeing the biggest impact?
00:40:20
Fawn Rueckert
I think we have a lot of our growers growing for farmers markets. It's fun to see them there. um There are more people experimenting with farm stands. It is a very new industry, so there's still a lot of exploration happening.
00:40:33
Jennifer Gulizia
Mm-hmm.
00:40:35
Fawn Rueckert
um We have, i want to say it's four collectives now.
00:40:41
Fawn Rueckert
We have four collectives. And so a lot of these small growers are banding together and growing for florists. and for the public a little bit, but they, they sell collectively.
00:40:53
Fawn Rueckert
So maybe you only have two bunches of white snapdragons, but if the other five growers in your collective have enough, then you can meet some of those demands together.
00:41:05
Jennifer Gulizia
That's a great way of doing it. We don't have any collectives in our area. was just kind of, we've always tossed the idea around because we have about 30 growers in my region. And it's always one of those things that it's hard to get off the ground because it requires someone who's willing to take the helm and put it all together. And you've started one of these associations. You know that it's a lot of work, I imagine, to get something off the ground.
00:41:32
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah, the association doesn't sell collectively. We're really more of an educational um resource and a networking resource.
00:41:36
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay.
00:41:41
Fawn Rueckert
I think most of these collectives have started at an event where people started talking. They're like, oh, we should, you know, and so they've met, they've made relationships, and then they grow.
00:41:53
Fawn Rueckert
But you're you're absolutely right. I feel like in each of the collectives, someone said, I want to make this happen. And it's a lot of work. And it can be risky.
00:42:04
Fawn Rueckert
And it's interesting watching them. I feel like every one of them have kind of a different approach. And I'm not involved in any of them.
00:42:09
Jennifer Gulizia
a
00:42:11
Fawn Rueckert
So I kind of just sit back and go, that's cool. That's interesting. you know, so yeah, you kind of have to think about what's going to work best.
00:42:22
Jennifer Gulizia
Absolutely. And I love that you said that this industry is really still evolving because so many more people are growing on this small scale. I also love that you mentioned networking because I think that that is so important in our industry. The only way, because so many of us are so small, and I mean, I consider myself small. We steward 20 acres. We grow on about two acres currently, but that's still in the grand scheme of farming, especially in the United States by the USDA's definition.
00:42:52
Jennifer Gulizia
of what a farm is. All of us are small scale farmers. So the only way for us to gain traction and momentum is to band together. And one of the best ways to do that is through these networking events, whether it's through a local conference or an association or joining the ASCFG or showing up at a summit or going to an event and connecting with other people.
00:43:18
Jennifer Gulizia
What, um, What advice do you have for some of these newer growers that are going to these networking? Because you're obviously really good at these networking events. How do you go from saying, okay, i want I've got these ideas.
00:43:33
Jennifer Gulizia
Maybe I'll go check out one of these events this year in 2026. How do they get involved with those events? What's your suggestion to make the most of them?
00:43:42
Fawn Rueckert
To make the most of them. First, I think you just need to go. i think when you're starting and you go, oh a conference, like our conference is $150. Unless you're a member, you get a pretty substantial discount. um And I see a lot of growers go, Oh, $150.
00:43:59
Fawn Rueckert
How many seeds could I buy with that? Like, it feels like such an insurmountable amount.
00:44:05
Jennifer Gulizia
Mm-hmm.
00:44:05
Fawn Rueckert
And being on the other side of that, I'm like the values there, just do it. Like, be willing to invest in yourself and invest in your business.
00:44:16
Fawn Rueckert
um Take that leap of faith so that you can go and you can meet meet people. And then once you're there, um be okay with being uncomfortable and sitting next to someone new and sitting next to someone new at lunch and make your way around. Like, just be friendly. Everybody's waiting for someone. I mean, I have got teenagers, so I'm always telling them the same thing. Like,
00:44:42
Fawn Rueckert
They think you think you're everybody's looking at you, but everybody's worried about themselves. Like just be willing to ask questions, make friends.
00:44:47
Jennifer Gulizia
Totally.
00:44:50
Fawn Rueckert
We can do this, you know, beautiful, beautiful things happen. um i think the thing that I love the most out of my farming journey is the relationships that have
Emotional Bonds and Personal Development in Farming
00:45:03
Fawn Rueckert
happened.
00:45:03
Fawn Rueckert
I have some really dear friends to me that I didn't know when I started farming. And um like, I love my customers, but I think it's the flower farmers and the people that I've taught through my course.
00:45:17
Fawn Rueckert
We've gotten to spend so much time together and we can relate to so much that even not just from a business perspective, but even just from a like emotional support system, you know, my husband will only listen to me talk about pest control for so long, but these friends were, we're solving problems together.
00:45:28
Jennifer Gulizia
Mm-hmm.
00:45:37
Fawn Rueckert
It's just so worth it.
00:45:40
Jennifer Gulizia
I have to say my husband was joking just last night as we were making dinner. He's like, I'm going create a support group for the spouses of flower farmers that have to listen to flower talk all day long. and i just laughed. I was like, one day you're going to love it He's like, no, I do love the flowers. I'm just joking. but um But I love that you said that, to have that community. Because when you're growing for scale or growing commercially, it's so different than just having a backyard garden and to be able to talk to other people that understand those struggles and can give you advice or encouragement is so helpful.
00:46:13
Jennifer Gulizia
So thank you for sharing that. I also loved when you mentioned how people are nervous to spend that 100 $200 to invest in their education and developing themselves.
00:46:26
Jennifer Gulizia
And I was having this conversation just the other week is that, especially if you're a Dahlia grower, people will, without hesitation, line up for hours to queue up on a website to spend $45 for a newly released Dahlia tuber that yes, is absolutely beautiful and we all want in our gardens. But at the same time, they hesitate to spend that same amount of money on themselves. And it's like, how many more times is that investment going multiply in yourself?
00:46:57
Jennifer Gulizia
And i I know personally, I've never regretted a single dollar that I've spent on personal development. i I swear it comes back tenfold between the connections I make. Some of my best friends are in the flower industry and I talk to them more than anyone else because they can commiserate with what I'm going through. um And just the knowledge of what you can, the saying, um I don't remember who said this, I apologize, but I was at a mastermind in November and a friend said, you can go fast alone or you can go far together.
00:47:32
Jennifer Gulizia
And I think that that's so true for flower farmers too, especially when you show up at these conferences, you gain so much knowledge from each other and sharing ideas and best practices that you can go so much further working together. So thank you for sharing that.
00:47:45
Fawn Rueckert
Yeah, I love that. that's It reminds me a little bit of we also do research. We we um fund some grants for research. We have Melanie Stock that helps with our grant cycles, and she does a lot of research here in Utah.
00:48:01
Fawn Rueckert
And then I think she's speaking right now, actually, at the ASCFG conference. um
00:48:06
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay. Oh.
00:48:08
Fawn Rueckert
And really, there was no, like, when I started trying to research how to grow things here in Utah, um she moved here i think in the fall of 2018 and it was so exciting to have someone helping us research and we funded four studies just for this year and that's like real actual data that we can use and apply in our farms and so it's kind of exciting that way too
00:48:40
Jennifer Gulizia
That is exciting. What are you looking forward to this year?
00:48:45
Fawn Rueckert
Oh, that's a really good question.
Transitioning Leadership and Future Projects
00:48:48
Fawn Rueckert
i this might sound um counterintuitive with what we've been so talking about, but I'm really excited to be handing the reins over for the association to um someone new. So my term is up um because it has taken up a lot of my bandwidth the last, you know, seven or so years. And I'm really excited to see what our new president, Molly Payne will do. She's so smart and she's such a good grower and, and, um, just has some skills and ideas that I don't. And so I'm really excited to see what she does with it. And I'm excited to have just a little more free time to maybe pursue things, um,
00:49:32
Fawn Rueckert
I'd love to write something about Lisianthus. I love growing it. And so it's, but I haven't had the time. So I'm kind of excited to have a little breathing room to explore some new, new things.
00:49:52
Jennifer Gulizia
bumped
00:50:11
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay, since you have mentioned lisianthus a couple times, do you think you could give us a couple tips so that our listeners can grow better lisianthus from seed?
00:50:23
Fawn Rueckert
Sure. um i think if they're attempting it from seed, the first little obstacle is germination. And usually um i find that people, if they're having struggle if they're struggling with germination, they just need to apply a little more heat. So having a heat mat that's set around 70, like 68 to 70 degrees is pretty ideal. um And you can get germination a little faster, like maybe in 10 to 12 to 14 days instead of twice that.
00:50:54
Fawn Rueckert
And then once they've germinated, Lisianthus are pretty hungry. And so you want to fertilize them pretty frequently and maybe a little heavier, um than maybe some of the other seedlings that you're growing at the same time.
00:51:10
Fawn Rueckert
So that's probably the biggest thing i had a chance to, when we were in Amsterdam, we went to this big, um, Lisianthus grower and they grow, 60 million stems a year.
00:51:24
Jennifer Gulizia
wow
00:51:25
Fawn Rueckert
it was amazing. And it was really interesting. They take that big grower actually doesn't start any of their own seeds. They buy all young plants and plugs and um they plant them in like a 90 degree greenhouse. And so it was just kind of interesting seeing that. So I do want to start some trials on like I feel like we're doing a good job with the plugs, but I'm curious if we can maybe speed up um our bloom time here in Utah. So maybe we could get two flushes, but I think that's going to take a little research too. So I'm excited. I love the challenges of growing cut flowers.
00:52:08
Jennifer Gulizia
That would be so great to get a second flush out of them. I always struggle to get a second flush out of mine as well because our season usually isn't long enough.
00:52:16
Fawn Rueckert
Mm-hmm.
00:52:16
Jennifer Gulizia
At least with temperature wise, we need it to warm up and have them.
00:52:19
Fawn Rueckert
Yes.
00:52:21
Jennifer Gulizia
Okay, before we wrap up today, I've started asking a few quick fire questions. So I have a few questions to ask you and then we'll wrap up here. And my first one is, what is your favorite flower to grow and why?
00:52:37
Fawn Rueckert
This probably isn't surprising. Maybe I'll throw in a second one. I've talked about lisianthus. I think because I've spent so much time ah growing it and trying to grow it and I love Lizzie's. They last for so long, but I also love peonies.
00:52:53
Fawn Rueckert
And um and that it it goes back to that nostalgia. My mom loved them and they remind me of her. And i just they're just so beautiful. and And it's hard to find someone that doesn't really love peonies.
00:53:08
Jennifer Gulizia
Yes, I agree. i love them myself. Why do local flowers matter to you?
00:53:15
Fawn Rueckert
I think it comes back to connection. um I think there's something really beautiful and be able to grow something with your very own hands and then hand it to someone. um I, you know, we're so disconnected from people.
00:53:31
Fawn Rueckert
We um live in these suburbs that there's lots of space between our houses. There's, um we go to the grocery store and we might not see the same checkout or the cashier every time. But I think when we find local farmers and we support them and we build these relationships, I loved seeing my favorite customers at the farmer's market or or when I know a subscriber really likes a flower, I might make sure I'm adding a little extra to her bouquet or making sure she gets the pink one, you know.
00:54:06
Fawn Rueckert
um And it's those relationships and that connection with each other that I think our world needs now.
00:54:14
Jennifer Gulizia
I love that. That's a great answer. What is one thing you wish more people understood about the cup flower industry?
00:54:23
Fawn Rueckert
That's a great question. i i think I just wish more people knew about it. Like I feel like when I first started growing...
00:54:34
Fawn Rueckert
um ice I told someone I'm a flower farmer and they literally thought I was talking about like bread flour. They're like, so you grow grain?
00:54:42
Jennifer Gulizia
Absolutely.
00:54:44
Fawn Rueckert
and in the 10 years since then, I feel like we've made lots of, there's been lots of momentum. Lots of people are know more about local flowers. But I i think there's just still so many people that have no idea that local flowers are even a thing or they don't even think about where flowers come from. So I think I would just wish more people knew about it.
00:55:10
Jennifer Gulizia
absolutely What are you most grateful for that flowers have given you beyond the flowers or beyond the bloom?
00:55:18
Fawn Rueckert
um Definitely those relationships. um We talked a lot about those friendships that we've created through the association or through the backyard cut flower growing class and And I have some really good friends that um
00:55:34
Fawn Rueckert
flowers brought brought us together. And so um when I started flower farming, I definitely didn't think about, oh, I'm going to make friends. I just thought about growing flowers, but that's definitely been the best part of this journey.
00:55:50
Jennifer Gulizia
Absolutely. I've had multiple guests say that flower farmers or flower friends make the best friends.
00:55:57
Jennifer Gulizia
So that's beautiful. Is there anything, Fawn, that I have not asked you today that you would like to share with our listeners?
00:55:57
Fawn Rueckert
Absolutely.
00:56:06
Fawn Rueckert
Um,
00:56:08
Fawn Rueckert
i don't, I don't think so. I just say if you're sitting on the fence wondering if you have enough room to grow flowers, just try it. Just do it. No one's going to stop you. No one can say that you're too small or, um, and you might fail a couple times, but try it again. It's, it's worth doing.
00:56:27
Jennifer Gulizia
I love it. That's great advice. Well, Fawn, it's been so wonderful getting to chat with you. Tell our listeners where can they connect with you outside of the podcast.
00:56:37
Fawn Rueckert
okay Okay. I have a website, sagolilyflowerfarm.com. And i am um i have a blog and I'm trying to update all the Lisianthus varieties that I've ever grown with good pictures so that people can kind of read through my notes and choose what they want to grow.
00:56:56
Fawn Rueckert
um i'm on Instagram at the same handle, @segolilyflowerfarm And then snuckflowers for our snuckflower program. We are um on instagram as snuck flowers and then we have um a website for that at snuckfarm.com and then the utah cut flower farm association if you're here in utah you should definitely check that out
00:57:17
Jennifer Gulizia
Perfect.
00:57:23
Jennifer Gulizia
Great. We will include links to all of those in today's show notes. And thank you so much for joining us today. And i wish you a wonderful start to 2026. Thanks for being here.
00:57:35
Fawn Rueckert
thank you
00:57:36
Jennifer Gulizia
Thanks. Bye-bye.