Join Lisa Mason Ziegler of The Gardener's Workshop on the Field and Garden Podcast talking flower farming, cut-flower gardening, business, and all things related!
Thinking about starting a flower farm? 🌻 In this episode, Lisa Mason Ziegler shares honest insights from her own journey—what it really takes, what to expect in the early days, and how to know if flower farming is the right path for you. If you’ve ever dreamed of turning a love for flowers into a business, this is a must-listen!
Mentions
Book: The New Organic Grower by Eliot Coleman
Join the Waitlist: Lisa's BIG Calendar-Journal
Free Bug ID Phone App: SEEK by iNaturalist
Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers (ASCFG)
TGW Phone App/Live Shopping Show
Shop the TGW Online Store for all your seeds and supplies!
Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News!
The Field and Garden Podcast is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop, Flower Farming School Online, and the publisher of Farmer-Florist School Online and Florist School Online. Watch Lisa’s Story and connect with Lisa on social media!
This episode features a takeover of our popular weekly live Q&A session on Instagram, called Ask a Flower Farmer. It was guest-hosted by Dave Dowling of Ball/ColorLink, a former flower farmer and the instructor for our online course: Flower Farming School Online: Bulbs, Perennials, Woodies, and More. Dave is always happy to share his knowledge with our listeners!
Topics Covered
Episode originally aired 6/25/25 on Instagram. Join Lisa and her guest hosts Wednesdays at 3:00PM Eastern time to get your cut flower growing questions answered by the experts!
Mentions
Southern Peony: Growing Peonies in the South
Walters Gardens, an online perennial wholesaler
Dave's Course: Bulbs, Perennials, Woodies, and More!
Shop the TGW Online Store for all your seeds and supplies!
Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News!
The Field and Garden Podcast is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop, Flower Farming School Online, and the publisher of Farmer-Florist School Online and Florist School Online. Watch Lisa’s Story and connect with Lisa on social media!
In this special episode of Field & Garden, we're thrilled to share an interview that originally aired on The Dirt on Flowers podcast. Lisa Mason Ziegler dives into the world of cool-season hardy annuals — what she calls “cool flowers” — and why fall planting can be a game-changer for flower farmers and gardeners alike. Whether you're new to the concept or looking to refine your approach, this conversation is full of practical tips, inspiration, and real-world insights.
Mentions
The Dirt on Flowers Podcast: Website, Instagram, Apple Music
Book: Cool Flowers
Online Course: Cool Flowers from Seed to Harvest
Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News!
Shop the TGW Online Store for all your seeds and supplies!
The Field and Garden Podcast is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop, Flower Farming School Online, and the publisher of Farmer-Florist School Online and Florist School Online. Watch Lisa’s Story and connect with Lisa on social media!
These are the top 5 mistakes I see folks making related to Cool Flowers, don't be one of them!
1. Not knowing your first & last frost dates, along with your lowest expected winter temperature
2. Not preparing your garden beds ahead of time
3. Not knowing how each seed prefers to be started (indoors or outside, direct sow vs transplants)
4. Not providing the right environmental conditions seed sprouting and optimal seedling growth (light, temperature, air, and water)
5. Failing to realize that you do NOT have to start all seeds yourself (plugs are an option!)
Avoid these common mistakes to save time, money, and most importantly, your sanity!
Mentions
Plug Suppliers: Farmer Bailey, Ball Hort/Colorlink
Cool Flower Seeds from The Gardener's Workshop
Lisa's Book, Cool Flowers
Online Course: Cool Flowers from Seed to Harvest
TGW Phone App/Live Shopping Show
Shop the TGW Online Store for all your seeds and supplies!
Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News!
The Field and Garden Podcast is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop, Flower Farming School Online, and the publisher of Farmer-Florist School Online and Florist School Online. Watch Lisa’s Story and connect with Lisa on social media!
If you are a Southerner or a Northerner, you may think the Cool Flower concept doesn't work for you. Nothing could be further from the truth! When you find your planting time sweet spot, you will be the envy of all your grower friends, and your customers will think you are nothing short of a miracle worker!
As a Southerner, I spent years at the farmers market watching customers love on my sweet peas and tell me why they can't be grown here - Ha!
Meanwhile, I hear from my northern flower farming friends that they have become driven to find ways to get this plant family in the ground earlier and earlier each year to reap the benefits!
Cool Flowers are for everyone. Myth busted, truth unveiled!
Enjoy this week's episode for my best Cool Flower tips and recommendations for Southerners and Northerners.
Mentions
Request the FREE webinar: 3 Foolproof Steps to Success with Cool Flowers
Lisa's Book, Cool Flowers
Request the Cool Flowers video book study
Online Course: Cool Flowers from Seed to Harvest
Lisa's Book, The Cut Flower Handbook
TGW Phone App/Live Shopping Show
Shop the TGW Online Store for all your seeds and supplies!
Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News!
The Field and Garden Podcast is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop, Flower Farming School Online, and the publisher of Farmer-Florist School Online and Florist School Online. Watch Lisa’s Story and connect with Lisa on social media!
Stepping away and looking at the big picture, it is easy to see why and how we have been skipping over spring crops. Some of us go to extremes to get warm plants blooming sooner than they should be and others are still planting this family way too late to reap the rewards that well-established plants give. Warm-season plants are familiar, which makes them seem easier to grow.
I want to fast forward to where this journey of embracing seasonality with cool-season hardy annuals can lead.
This is a trend that I have seen over and over, and I think it is so smart.
My first experience with flower farmers making a clear decision to move away from offering summer crops and focusing on spring and or fall crops was with good friends Megan and Jonathan Leiss of Spring Forth Farm in North Carolina. I met them before their babies came, and I watched as they started a family, lived the homesteading life, and grew cut flowers as a piece of their family life, not allowing it to consume them. They developed their model as an early to late spring offering flower farm.
Now we're seeing more and more flower farmers realizing they can maintain control as they grow their businesses, molding them into a more manageable part of their life.
I had the honor of visiting one of my student's farms a couple of years ago. She came to the rescue of furnishing some flower crops for a photo shoot for my newest book, The Cut Flower Handbook.
I knew I wanted to revisit her farm with the team to learn and film about how she got into flower farming and where her journey is headed. I was thrilled to hear her story of creating a more manageable flower farming business. Our visit with Emma will be released as a Field & Garden podcast episode later this season.
Mentions
Request the FREE webinar: 3 Foolproof Steps to Success with Cool Flowers
Lisa's Book, Cool Flowers
Online Course: Cool Flowers from Seed to Harvest
Emma Mobley, End of Nowhere Flower Farm
Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News!
Shop the TGW Online Store for all your seeds and supplies!
The Field and Garden Podcast is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop, Flower Farming School Online, and the publisher of Farmer-Florist School Online and Florist School Online. Watch Lisa’s Story and connect with Lisa on social media!
I stumbled into growing annuals. I initially began planting perennials, but I quickly saw the error of my ways - I was going to run out of space, QUICK!
As my business was gaining more demand than flowers I had-- I became a little crazy figuring out how to make the most of my total property of 1.17 acres that also had my home and outbuildings.
I already had a nice stand of hydrangeas in our landscape and thought-- bingo, use it all. But then I needed a consistent supply-- I didn't see it yet but annual plants were knocking down my door.
Then I got it! To maximize my space and to have a consistent supply I needed annuals.
What I discovered along that journey is that annuals are the perfect fit for the small-space flower farmer.
It's the recommended way all farmers get started to learn how to farm, maintain, seed start, harvest, and find customers:
A little-known reality of the "Annual Farmer" is that this style of farming can become an asset to your home. I could literally stop farming any day, plant trees or grass, and call it a life well lived.
Mentions
Online Courses from The Gardener's Workshop
Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News!
Shop the TGW Online Store for all your seeds and supplies!
The Field and Garden Podcast is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop, Flower Farming School Online, and the publisher of Farmer-Florist School Online and Florist School Online. Watch Lisa’s Story and connect with Lisa on social media!
💐 Struggling with flower pricing or choosing the right crops? Get real-world advice from a seasoned flower farmer and coach on how to price confidently, pick profitable perennials, and deal with pesky pests like thrips. Whether you're just starting or growing your flower biz, these tips will help you build a thriving, sustainable farm.
🌿 Learn how to:
Set smart prices for retail and wholesale
Use foliage like raspberry & eucalyptus to boost bouquet value
Grow reliable, profitable perennials
Manage pests with an ecological mindset
Mentions
Lennie’s Instagram: flowerfarming.forprofit
Lennie's online course: Profitable Flower Farming
The Gardener’s Workshop on Instagram
Shop the TGW Online Store for all your seeds and supplies!
Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News!
The Field and Garden Podcast is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop, Flower Farming School Online, and the publisher of Farmer-Florist School Online and Florist School Online. Watch Lisa’s Story and connect with Lisa on social media!
Discover the Top 3 Perennials that truly earn their keep on a cut flower farm! Join Lisa Mason Ziegler and Dave Dowling as they share expert advice on growing peonies, Baptisia, and sedum -perennials that offer high yield, low maintenance, and long-term profitability. Perfect for beginner and seasoned flower farmers alike.
Mentions
Dave's Course: Flower Farming School Online: Bulbs, Perennials, Woodies, and More
Flower Farming School Online: Growing Cut Flower Crops in Hoop and Greenhouses
Walter's Gardens: perennial wholesaler
Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers
Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News!
Shop the TGW Online Store for all your seeds and supplies!
The Field and Garden Podcast is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop, Flower Farming School Online, and the publisher of Farmer-Florist School Online and Florist School Online. Watch Lisa’s Story and connect with Lisa on social media!
Ready to take your flower farming to the next level? Join Lisa Mason Ziegler as she shares how to transition from growing annuals to incorporating perennials, bulbs, and woodies into your operation. Learn how succession planting, smart crop choices, and careful planning can create a more sustainable and profitable business. Lisa offers real-life lessons, practical tips, and the encouragement every grower needs to grow confidently and thrive.
Mentions
Lisa's Course: Flower Farming School Online: The Basics, Annual Crops, Marketing, and More
Dave's Course: Flower Farming School Online: Bulbs, Perennials, Woodies, and More
Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News!
Shop the TGW Online Store for all your seeds and supplies!
The Field and Garden Podcast is produced by Lisa Mason Ziegler, award-winning author of The Cut Flower Handbook, Vegetables Love Flowers, and Cool Flowers, owner of The Gardener’s Workshop, Flower Farming School Online, and the publisher of Farmer-Florist School Online and Florist School Online. Watch Lisa’s Story and connect with Lisa on social media!
Due to the nature of the event, all registrations are final and non-refundable. We appreciate your understanding.
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