On today's episode, Liz Schreiner-Schmidt, President of Schreiner's Gardens in Salem, Oregon, stops by to discuss bearded iris! Iris are in all their glory at their display garden right now, which is open through May 31st. If you don't make it this year, put it on your calendar for next year! Liz answers all my questions about how to grow bearded iris - what conditions they like, how your iris will come packaged and what to do with them when they arrive, whether they can grow in pots, what...

Sarah’s in London in garden & flower heaven, and recorded a quick lowdown of her visit so far - Kensington Gardens,  Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show! 

Today we get to talk with Miranda from Wildrye Farm about the heirloom chrysanthemums she grows and sells plugs of, and about her amazing farm in Bellingham, Washington where she specializes in sustainable, exceptional quality cut flowers and foliage! I ask Miranda about her career in farming, how she evolved from growing veggies into cut flowers, where and how she sells those cut flowers, the layout of her farm spaces (which she has recently expanded!), about the plants she grows, and then...

Season 4 is here, and we're kicking it off with a bang - Jason Delaney from PHS Daffodils stops by to chat about everything daffodils! Jason specializes in classic, historic, and novel varieties for garden & exhibition.  I got to ask Jason about his background in flower growing - which started at a very young age in rural Illinois, and continued on into a long career with the Missouri Botanical Garden where he oversaw the flower bulb collection and travelled the world on plant collecting...

The seed starting episode is in! On this episode, I share how I start seeds here at grow Girl Seattle, both for indoor and outdoor sowing. I go through my timing, what my setup is like, cover the tools and supplies I use, how I get my seeds started, and share some tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way. Today you'll also get some updates on Season 4, which is coming out shortly, and on our new Flower Friends Hotline! You can call in and leave a message or ask a question, and your...

Let's continue our convo on signature flowers and seed starting, Flower Friends! In today's episode I take you through my personal brainstorm of my favorite flowers and foliage, and how I used the brainstorm list to narrow down what I'll be growing this year. I call this my "signature ingredients exercise".  Subscribe to the Flower Friends pod wherever you get your podcasts, and follow along on Instagram at @flowerfriendspodcast and @growgirlseattle. 

This week is all about signature flowers and seed starting! In this two part series, I’ll walk you through an exercise I decided to do before starting seeds this year, and give some updates on where I’m at with seed sowing. Part I covers what I’m calling my “signature ingredients exercise”, which is a brainstorm and narrowing process to get your seed-sowing list down to your favorite flowers and foliage. In this episode, I describe my general process, but don't give you the specifics from...

Come along on a walk through my January garden. When the rain let up and I saw some sun shining this morning, I thought it would be the perfect time to take stock of what's where in the garden, what space I have open, what projects I want to work on, and I thought you might like to join. Welcome to my garden! Subscribe to the Flower Friends pod wherever you get your podcasts, and follow along on Instagram at @flowerfriendspodcast and @growgirlseattle. 

To kick off season 3, I share six mindset practices I've been working on to lay the foundation for the new year and help reduce Instagram stress and comparison:  Set priorities to act with confidence and intentionCreate a "pat yourself on the back list"Write down projects and ideas that make you excitedFor the things you don't love doing but need to, brainstorm ways to make them more funMake a one-page year-at-glance overviewPlan some getaways, some time away, time with flower friends, and...

Yasmine Mei from Yasmine Floral Design stops by the pod for our Season 2 finale, bringing all of her floral magic with her. Yasmine's designs are whimsical, romantic, and edgy, and we talk about the flowers and ingredients she celebrates in her work (including mushrooms!), using nature as inspiration, and a new and fun way she's been exploring the natural world. We also chat about how she maintains her voice and how she has built her business in an intentional way where her creations are...

Have you ever gotten a seed packet and wondered how those seeds made it to you? Or what an organic seed really is? Or what 'heirloom' means? Well today we get to learn all about seeds with THE Renee from Renee's Garden today. Her company offers flower, veggie, and herb seeds specifically for home gardeners, with a huge host of cool offerings that they test in their trial gardens in California and Vermont. I ask Renee all the questions about trialing, sourcing, and selling the seeds that so...

This week we're talking to Michelle Nathan from Little Free Flowery, a flower stand where Michelle shares her homegrown flowers with her neighbors and community. It's such a big hit! Michelle describes why and how she started the stand, how she sets it up, what it means to her, and about the connections she's made. Her idea has inspired other stands to open in her neighborhood and beyond, and I was so excited to hear more about what she's doing and share that with you! We also chat about some...

It was such a pleasure to speak with floral designer and podcaster Rebecca Noble from LLB and Dish the Dirt podcast. Rebecca is located in Australia and designs with seasonal flowers grown by farmers in her area, who she has built wonderful relationships with, and in 2020 she started her podcast to share their stories and knowledge and connect florists with farmers. We talk about how she got into floral design, the struggles and successes of starting her business, the importance of placing...

Brain-like cactus? A cactus that only blooms for one night? Slime mold? Hair ice!? Zebra succulents? How cool are these plants!?? Cactus CEO Meg Meyer from Propagate Positivity fills us in on all of the amazing plants in their collection and that they encounter in the wild! We first chat about Meg's habitat restoration work where they spend a lot of time outdoors removing invasive species and replacing them with native plants, the importance of homeowners knowing about invasive species (it...

On this episode, we check back in with Margaret Ullman-Hess from Ballard Urban Flowers, Kristin Ryzebol from Neighborhood Flower Co., and Jess Wesley from Curly Girl Gardens, the OG flower friends who helped inspire this podcast! We talked about how spring and summer are going so far, the rainy season and some unexpected outcomes from that (longer seasons for some plants, and delayed seasons for others), highlights and lowlights of the year so far, what's blooming right now, some flower...

Today we're talking dahlias with LeeAnn Huber from Coseytown Flowers! LeeAnn discusses her background in agriculture, how she got interested in dahlias, what her growing space is like, and then introduces us to some of her Coseytown dahlia varieties - and even gives a preview of a few breeding program beauties that might be on the horizon! LeeAnn's focus with Coseytown Flowers is to develop varieties with a strong plant habit that will grow well and produce beautiful flowers with lots of...

Today we are joined by Arielle Zamora from Small Yard Flowers to chat about her farm, flowers, and artful floral design. We talk about her growing spaces, what she grows there, her event and design work, the unmatched beauty of fresh local flowers, and then dive into roses. Arielle shares some of her favorite rose varieties to grow, tips on supporting them, and how to combat disease. She also offers tips on how to let fresh-from-the-garden flowers guide your designs. If you're not already...

In this bonus episode, Sarah walks through her Athamma's (mother-in-law's) beautiful flower and vegetable garden. Usha Nayani grows several varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers at her home in Yorktown, Virginia. It was such a special visit, listen in to hear more about Usha's glow-in-the-dark feature, her painted tiles, recycled bottle pots, sunflowers, jasmine, special Indian vegetables, and more. 

It's the start of season 2, and our first ever Flower Friends Field Trip to the Farmhouse Flower Farm in Stanwood, Washington! The intrepid Marryn Mathis walks us through her sweet pea tunnels, field grown sweet pea rows, her bearded iris and perennial beds, and dahlia fields, and we get to meet her pups, see her ponds, woods, and gorgeous 10-acre property, and then sit down in her farmstand to answer some listener questions. This episode is jam-packed with info, including Marryn's growing...

In the Season 1 finale of Flower Friends, Sarah sits down with Alyssa Lytle, whose floral design business Color Theory Design Co. and educational platform Flowering Minds have been hugely inspirational (14:35). Sarah asks how Alyssa got her start in the flower world, how she decided to start her own business, and what it was like to move that business to a new city (twice). This lived experience is pivotal to what Alyssa teaches on Flowering Minds, which covers how she creates florals, but...

Sarah kicks off the episode with her thoughts on what sustainability means for her business & garden practices (2:30), and will be covering sustainability on the floristry side next week. Listen to the flower fact trivia question (23:00), with the answer after the interview. Today's guest is Dorsey Kilbourn from Blossom in Portland, Oregon, who stops by to talk about landscape design for homes (23:25). This episode will make you want to turn your unloved backyard into the outdoor space...

Kristin Ryzebol really meant it when she named her business Neighborhood Flower Co. because she has expanded her growing space to her neighbor's yards and community spaces! Brilliant! Kristin runs a small urban flower farm in Seattle, Washington where she has a flower stand and sells mixed bouquets. We chat about how she got hooked on local flowers when she was doing event design, and how her business grew organically from dabbling in gardening to using her Canadian charm to expand her...

I had so many laughs with my lovely guest and friend Jess Wesley from Curly Girl Gardens on today's episode of Flower Friends, where we talked about her business offerings, urban growing space, how she makes community connections by chatting with neighbors and other small business owners in-person and online, and how she came to gardening as a way to help manage anxiety. Her approach to growing flowers makes me smile, because it always helps me remember why I started doing this, and she...

On today's episode, listen into a lovely conversation with Paula from Paisley Petals, all about wedding florals. We talked about defining moments in her impressive twenty-two year career as a wedding florist, and the all-out pressure of owning your own business where you make art with perishable products for the most important day in someone's life! I was super interested to hear more about the valuable information she's been sharing on her Instagram - about how to select a floral designer...