The Cut Flower Podcast

Growing Cut Flowers in Small Spaces with Stephanie Walker

• Roz Chandler / Stephanie Walker • Season 1 • Episode 112

Share episode

Text Agony Aunt Roz with your Cutflower Questions.

Hi, and welcome to another delightful episode of The Cutflower Podcast! I’m Roz Chandler, your host, and today I’m thrilled to chat with Stephanie Walker, a micro flower farmer, author, and cut flower enthusiast based in Queen Creek, Arizona. Stephanie shares her inspiring journey from reluctant gardener to a published author and successful grower. Her book, How to Grow Flowers in Small Spaces, is an essential guide for anyone dreaming of a flourishing garden, regardless of space constraints.

In this episode, Stephanie and I explore how small-scale flower farming is not only possible but incredibly rewarding. We talk about the best flowers to grow in containers, soil care, irrigation, and succession planting, as well as the unique challenges and joys of running a flower business. Stephanie also shares her experience writing her book, the importance of planning, and how flowers bring people together through shared memories and joy.

Whether you’re a seasoned grower or just starting out, this episode is packed with tips and inspiration to help you embrace flower farming in any space.

Resources and Links:

  • Stephanie Walker’s Book: How to Grow Flowers in Small Spaces (Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and more).
  • Follow Stephanie on Instagram: @StephanieWalkerFlowers.

Join the Conversation:

Have a question or a story to share about growing flowers in small spaces? Join us in the conversation on social media or in our community group. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Cutflower Podcast for more insights, inspiration, and expert tips!

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review, share it with your fellow flower enthusiasts, and subscribe for more exciting episodes. We’re here to help you grow the garden of your dreams, no matter how small your space may be!

Enjoyed this chat? Let us know your favourite takeaway or tag us with your container garden ideas. 🌸


[00:00:00] Roz Chandler: Thank you so much. I'm delighted to welcome Stephanie Walker to our podcast today.

[00:00:04] Roz Chandler: Stephanie knows so much about cut flowers and runs a micro flower farm, which we'll talk about in a minute. in Queen Creek, USA, which I believe is in Arizona. She has written a book all about growing cut flowers in small containers, which is really important because a lot of what happens is that people think that I don't have raised beds, I don't have a big garden, I don't have a field I can grow in, I don't have Small plot.

[00:00:28] Roz Chandler: I live in London. I grow on a balcony. How can I possibly grow cut flowers? So that's really interesting. So do tell us about your business and your journey and where you got to, where you got to today. Was it always a dream to write that book of yours? Tell us a little bit about it, Stephanie. 

[00:00:44] Stephanie Walker: So I grew up for many of my childhood years in Colorado, and we always had an amazing garden and I hated gardening because gardening meant weeding.

[00:00:56] Stephanie Walker: I hated it as a kid. That was our Saturday morning at 10 and then snapping beans and canning and doing all the things and I just hated it. But as I grew older, I realized that I loved having living things around me. And, in college, I had a few different majors, never really Settled on something that I was passionate about.

[00:01:20] Stephanie Walker: I wish I knew in college that I was going to love growing flowers. I would have majored in horticulture or botany or something or floriculture, but I didn't know that. So I graduated with a degree in geography and then. My husband and I moved to Arizona. I went to college in Utah. We moved to Arizona and I was a stay at home mom for 18 years, but I always, we always had a garden.

[00:01:44] Stephanie Walker: We always had flowers and I always dreamed of taking the master gardener. Certification course. And finally, my husband, after our children were in high school, he said, go do that. Go take that class. So I took the class. I became a certified Master Gardener through the University of Arizona. And I started an Instagram page and I was posting things and I realized that mostly I just posted flowers and found that, okay, I just love flowers.

[00:02:17] Stephanie Walker: And every Sunday to church, I would take a little small arrangement and in our women's meeting after church, I would give it to one of the women who would take it home. And one day one of my friends said, you should start selling your flowers. And I thought that is ridiculous because that's just It's my landscape.

[00:02:38] Stephanie Walker: I'm cutting from my landscape. And she said, no, I really think you should. So I got that in my head, thought about it for a while. And a few weeks later, I, on a Saturday morning, quickly cut a bunch of flowers, took in a bucket full to a florist that's just down the street. And I walked out with 94.

[00:02:55] Stephanie Walker: And I was like, that was just a small bucket of flour. What? And so then I, I took Erin Benzikain's course from Floret and started my little micro farm and we just have about an acre and a quarter. And I grow on less than fifth of an acre for my cut flower farm and it really is incredible what I can pack in and so that's my journey with that and I've just, kept going and it's, been a really fulfilling experience for me.

[00:03:30] Roz Chandler: I think that's the thing about cut flowers is that you can grow a massive amount in a small space. People think you need acres or even an acre or even half an acre a fifth of an acre. It's all about how you use that space and cramming it all in and successional planting and taking stuff out and putting new stuff in and just being planned really, but you don't need an awful lot of space.

[00:03:52] Roz Chandler: That's the biggest shock I think to most people. 

[00:03:55] Stephanie Walker: Yeah. Yeah. It's, incredible what I can do and changing it out every season and in Arizona, we can grow 365 days of the year. So it's, there's always something growing and. The trick is that succession and find figuring out, okay, when am I ready to let these flowers glow that are blooming so beautifully still, but having to pull the plug on them and say, okay, they're done.

[00:04:21] Stephanie Walker: I've got to get in the next season. 

[00:04:24] Roz Chandler: Yeah. But if you can grow 365 days of the year, I suppose your biggest problem is irrigation in Arizona, isn't it? 

[00:04:31] Stephanie Walker: Yeah. So we drilled a well on our property so that we could have access to the water that we need. And the irrigation is huge. I feel like that's one of my biggest things that I tell people, automate your irrigation if you can, because Trying to hand water, especially here in the heat in the summer, it is daunting and you'll go out of town and everything dies and just automating that irrigation is key, I believe.

[00:04:58] Roz Chandler: Yeah, I absolutely agree. Yeah we don't have your problem so much. We can get a really hot summer. We haven't done. We can get really wet springs and really wet autumns. So we don't have that massive problem with irrigation. But we do automate our irrigation even so I believe that growing in containers takes all the knowledge needed as when growing in raised beds or gardens or flower farms or micro farms.

[00:05:23] Roz Chandler: It's all really the same. We all need to think about soil quality and pest management and watering and feeding and planning. What do you think? I mean you cover so much about this in this book. What do you think about growing cut flowers in containers and how viable that is? 

[00:05:39] Stephanie Walker: I think it's definitely viable and doable and especially you know if you have a small space don't let that small space keep you from growing something beautiful.

[00:05:48] Stephanie Walker: I think you know your most important foundational principle would be your soil, making sure that you have a really good soil. I like to say don't treat your soil like dirt. And what that means to me is you're feeding your soil so that it can feed your plants. And if you're growing in containers, just be mindful that you'll probably need to be either really enriching that soil frequently or completely changing it out at least every 18 months.

[00:06:19] Stephanie Walker: Getting some fresh new soil, adding compost, whatever it is, making sure that you have a good soil that is alive and rich with nutrients, and then choosing your correct, the correct size for what you're growing. The container size makes a difference. So many things can be grown in containers. There are a few things that I probably wouldn't as far as shrubs that get big, lilacs something like that.

[00:06:43] Stephanie Walker: But if you get a good 24 inch pot and you're able to pack it full with different varieties. Put some lisianthus and some larkspur and you know all the different varieties. You can have a nice little bouquet right in your container on your front porch or you know wherever you decide to put it. But and if you get a collection of those then you've got a nice little cut flower garden and the containers will be wonderful to house those plants.

[00:07:16] Roz Chandler: Yeah I think that's, yeah, I think people always think, like I say, you need loads and loads of space, but actually containers. And I, my neighbor, when I look in my neighbor's garden, she has a fairly large garden, but she grows everything in containers, everything. And she moves it around a bit and she reorganizes it.

[00:07:34] Roz Chandler: But she must have a hundred containers at least and that's her cut flower garden that's how she grows. So she doesn't, so she's in more control of the soil and more control of feeding and more control of watering because at least it's quite contained. But yeah, it's I suppose it's a misconception that you can't just, you just add another container and just keep growing.

[00:07:56] Roz Chandler: Because I saw in your book. How you had rows of containers and how you could actually plan it all out, which was really interesting. 

[00:08:04] Stephanie Walker: Yeah. Yeah. I have a great friend here. Just a few miles from my home and he is a grower and he Does so much container planting and he just he has this stair step little display that he puts his containers on And it's really amazing.

[00:08:24] Stephanie Walker: He does a great job He maximizes his space and just creates this beautiful arrangement with the containers. It's, impressive. So what made you write the book? What, 

[00:08:34] Roz Chandler: where did the dream from the book? Tell us about the book, what it's called, where people can get it, what's about the book?

[00:08:42] Stephanie Walker: Okay, sure. The book is called How to Grow Flowers in Small Spaces, and you can get it at Barnes Noble, through Simon Schuster it's available on Amazon, pretty much anywhere books are sold. If your bookstore, your favorite bookstore doesn't have it, they can order it in. But To be truthful, I never wanted to write a book.

[00:09:03] Roz Chandler: It's really hard to write a book, I have to say. 

[00:09:09] Stephanie Walker: Yes. And one day in 2022, I opened up my email and there was an email from someone with a Simon and Schuster. email address and it the gist of the message was we would love for you to write this book on growing flowers and I thought this is spam there's this is spam and I just ignored it.

[00:09:36] Stephanie Walker: And then about a week later, I got another email and they said, I don't know if you saw our original email, but we really would love to discuss the possibilities of you writing this book. And I thought, is this, is that real? I don't even know. And, so I responded and, we set up a phone call and it was indeed A legitimate email.

[00:09:56] Stephanie Walker: And my first thought was still, no I don't wanna write a book that I have no interest in that because number one, I was thinking my gardens are gonna have to be beautiful and perfect for the photographs. And, I thought flower farmers sometimes we're just not it's not the showcase garden necessarily.

[00:10:16] Stephanie Walker: And they said and we'll have this book. It'll be illustrated. It'll be watercolor illustrations. You don't have to have photos. And I thought, okay, that's a little more doable. And then as I thought about it, I thought, how could I not do this? This is such a gift to have somebody reach out to me and ask me to write this book.

[00:10:32] Stephanie Walker: And so over the next two years, I wrote the book and it worked. Was released in April of this past year of 2024. And it was an enjoyable journey. I really loved, I loved it. I loved the whole process. It was enjoyable. My, my kids are adults and they would check in with me and ask me how my writing was going.

[00:10:54] Stephanie Walker: And I took a few weeks and left home so that I could focus. And it was a, great process. I enjoyed it in the end and now it's out in the world and, I'm pretty proud of it. 

[00:11:07] Roz Chandler: Yeah, it's a long road. I've written one. It's a long road, but, and it's out when it's out in the when it gets out in the world, it's brilliant.

[00:11:16] Roz Chandler: But yeah, it's all those worries, isn't it, about photographs and how tidy it's got to be and weeds and all of that. But yeah obviously I have a copy of your book and I have read it avidly. And we will put the link to it in the show notes. Because I think it's a great thing for people to realize that anyone can grow cut flowers.

[00:11:33] Roz Chandler: It doesn't matter what space they've got. And I think a lot of what's out there already is big land, and big fields, and big gardens, and you can grow cut flowers, but actually, anyone can grow cut flowers. I think the books really need 

[00:11:50] Stephanie Walker: it. I felt like it was important to make it doable for people to see that this is possible.

[00:11:57] Stephanie Walker: It's not like as unsurmountable, as you might think. We can grow flowers. And if I can grow them here in Arizona, anyone can grow them. It's just figuring out your climate, going with your growing zones, and making sure that you're planting the right thing at the right time for your area.

[00:12:16] Stephanie Walker: And once you figure those things out, you can have success. And I really, I like to tell people, I'm the path of least resistance, Gardner. So if something's gonna require a lot of babysitting, I'm not going to do it. If I have to put up shade cloth, and if I have to protect my plants from the frost and all these things.

[00:12:38] Stephanie Walker: In Arizona, we're lucky that I really, I can grow flowers throughout the winter and not have to cover them. We do get some freezing days, but If I'm choosing the right variety, it can, I can make it work for me instead of me having this headache about tending to them and making sure that they're cared for in, in the covering aspect.

[00:13:00] Stephanie Walker: I care for them of course, and all the other ways, but path of least resistance is my favorite way to go. 

[00:13:08] Roz Chandler: Yes, I think it's about growing the right plant in the right place at the right time. That's fundamental because people always say to me, oh, can you grow in the shade? And there's lots of annuals that don't like shade, but there are plants that do like shade and the plants that like semi shade.

[00:13:21] Roz Chandler: And so you grow what will grow there foxgloves and hellebores love a good bit of shade a cornflower does not. So it's Right plant, right time, right place, I think. And that's the good thing with the container, you can move it around, which gives you a bit best of all worlds.

[00:13:40] Roz Chandler: So exactly, yeah. What would be your top 10 cut flowers in containers? What would you grow in a container? If you had 10 containers sitting out there ready today to go, what would you put in them? 

[00:13:53] Stephanie Walker: Lysianthus always. Lizianthus has got to be one of my top 10 flowers of anything. I love anemones, ranunculus, daffodils, tulips, bulbs.

[00:14:05] Stephanie Walker: Bulbs are so easy for containers because you can just, you plant them, but then you can plant on top of them and you can have just a magnificent show for a long time. Snapdragons, stock, delphinium, foxglove, some smaller Zinnia, maybe a dwarf Zinnia variety, ones that don't get super tall, but I think those would probably, maybe some ornamental kale.

[00:14:35] Stephanie Walker: I love tucking those into bouquets. And then, and they're so pretty in a container. They add so much interest. So while they're growing in your container they're, beautiful. But I think those, I don't know how many I listed, but those are my, probably, tops. 

[00:14:48] Roz Chandler: I, would add just one. Dwarf Cosmos.

[00:14:51] Roz Chandler: I bought the Sonata Dwarf Cosmos, but it isn't Dwarf. It's not what you expect. You don't expect a Dwarf plant to be Dwarf, don't you? I actually bought it by mistake, and I bought it as a plug plant, because I just needed to add some stock. And I put it in, And it was definitely not dwarf, but it was beautiful.

[00:15:06] Roz Chandler: And I thought, hey, I could, you could do this in pots. 

[00:15:10] Stephanie Walker: Yes. Oh, cosmos are so pretty. I love watching a cosmo when the wind hits it and just the airiness, it's just magical, little fairy like. Cosmos are so good. 

[00:15:23] Roz Chandler: Yeah, we grow almost all the varieties of cosmos here because our London florists love them.

[00:15:30] Roz Chandler: They can put them in any arrangement and they look brilliant or any installation and they can feel something and they're really productive and they grow really well and you can even direct sow them and I mean it's got to be the easiest seed in the world so I'm a bit of a cosmos fan. But yeah, but all the others, all the ones you, mind you, Lysianthus, we think are quite difficult to grow.

[00:15:50] Roz Chandler: Really? Yeah I, came to the American Association of Special, Speciality Cut Flower Growing about two years ago in Boston. And met loads and loads of different American growers, which was really interesting. And they all would say Lysianthus. And that Lisianthus in the States is a massive cut flower production.

[00:16:08] Roz Chandler: But in the UK we're not so good at it and don't really know why. I tried a bit with plug plants this year undercover. I probably didn't look after them properly. I thought it might need a little bit more tender care than I gave them. But yeah, maybe I'll give them another go. Because, yeah, maybe I did something wrong with Lisianthus.

[00:16:27] Stephanie Walker: They're so good. They're, and they're a really drought tolerant, heat resistant, drought tolerant, heat tolerant, drought resistant, whatever it is. They're that. And they do really well. I do think though, when I've planted them as plugs, whenever I put them in, they look like they just are struggling the first month or so.

[00:16:47] Stephanie Walker: They look terrible. And then they, pick up and they do great, but yeah they're, a work, a workhorse here in Arizona. I really love them. So one thing though, going back to the Cosmos, I do have people all the time tell me Cosmos are so difficult for them. And I have found that Cosmos are difficult if you're not deadheading.

[00:17:07] Stephanie Walker: And I tell people that all the time, they have got to be deadheaded or else they're one that tends to expire quickly if they're not deadheaded. And I think people have them in their landscape and they think they're just going to go. But if. If they're not deadheading, they don't last. 

[00:17:22] Roz Chandler: Yeah, when you get more and more, they keep going.

[00:17:24] Roz Chandler: It's brilliant. So more deadheading. They're like sweet peas really. Keep gutting them and they'll keep coming. So yeah, I'm sitting here looking at my seed packs because we wouldn't grow. We wouldn't start. We sow undercover in, in the autumn. We start late August and go right through till October.

[00:17:42] Roz Chandler: Then we stop. We let them develop undercover and in polytunnels over the winter. They don't really do that much. And then we start again in March. And we sit on our hands until March. And I always say to people, don't touch anything until March. Because the daylight hours are not long enough. It's too cold.

[00:18:00] Roz Chandler: You're not going to get any advantage. You're going to be tendering them. There is no point. Do not touch a pack of seeds until March. And I see it all the time on Instagram. Where they go, oh, we're going to sow some seeds in February. And I'm going, no, don't do it. Wait till March. March seems a long way away for us, but it's not really once you start planning the year out and I'm sitting here looking at, what am I looking at?

[00:18:23] Roz Chandler: Calendula. Yep, definitely doing March. I'm sitting here looking at Olea grandiflora. Love it. Floristil. Larkspur. All of these. will be done in March. And then, yeah it depends if you're having, seed packets on your desk, that's really sad, isn't it? And sweet peas. So that will all be March. So I say either do it in the autumn or do it in March.

[00:18:48] Roz Chandler: Don't try to, don't, everybody thinks New Year, let's go and plant some seeds. No. No. Sit on your hands. Yeah. I always say sit on your hands until March. But if I was in Arizona, I'd be going all year round. So that's obviously where, we're going wrong here. We can't grow all year round.

[00:19:05] Roz Chandler: We can only really get flowers from 1st of April or late March if we get some early hellebores, unless we force some tulips. We can only really start our season then in the 1st of April and then it can go on until Christmas. So January, February and March are really down months for us and we have to accept that.

[00:19:25] Roz Chandler: We can get Narcissi early or we can in the warmer climates in Cornwall and Devon where it's much warmer in the south, you can get some early. You get early narcissi, early tulips and so on, but that's really only mid February, late February. So January is a month of planning.

[00:19:44] Roz Chandler: That's what January is for not for going out and doing anything. I'm just keeping nice and warm. So 

[00:19:51] Stephanie Walker: that's the plan. It's nice to have that break, though to, it's like winter, your little hibernation and, recharge and get your plan in place and come back full force. 

[00:20:05] Roz Chandler: Yeah, that's what it's for.

[00:20:06] Roz Chandler: That's absolutely what it's for. So let us know, Tell me what your greatest challenge in running a business is. You're running a micro farm now. You've written a book. You're very active on Instagram. What's been your greatest highs and lows? What's your greatest challenge of running this business?

[00:20:21] Roz Chandler: Cause it's a business now, isn't it? It's a, it's not really a micro flower farm. I don't think. I don't see you as a micro platformer, but what do you think the biggest challenge is? 

[00:20:30] Stephanie Walker: Really, for me, the biggest challenge I'm, a one person show. I hire in help occasionally, so I think the biggest challenge is taking on everything on my own and making sure everything functions well.

[00:20:47] Stephanie Walker: And that can get a little overwhelming, but I, that when I get overwhelmed, that's when I reach out and I have a few people who are, willing to come and help. And I hire them for, a couple of hours every so often. But another challenge for me is marketing. I, A terrible marketer, which is ironic because my husband is vice president of marketing for his company that he works for.

[00:21:14] Stephanie Walker: And, but marketing is like my downfall. It's, I can grow all the things I have workshops, but marketing them and getting them out there is a challenge to me. I don't know why that is. And I'll always say to him, I need to hire you. You need to be running my marketing. He's so busy. But so that, that's.

[00:21:38] Roz Chandler: Most flower farmers, I reckon 80 percent of flower farmers would say exactly the same thing. See my, background as I was a sales and marketing director. So I actually was a sales marketing director before I started flower farming. So for me, actually the marketing is the easier part. Maybe some of the growing is not so easy.

[00:21:56] Roz Chandler: We can't all be good at everything. But it's different skills, but I think realizing where your skills are and where they're not. And bringing people in to do the bits you don't want to do or that you're not good at or getting some help with something is the best thing to do. 

[00:22:14] Stephanie Walker: Yeah, for sure. And I think the organization of it too, to know, okay, I've got to be a few steps ahead of the game so that I market this before I'm at the point where it's oh, my flowers are blooming and ready to go.

[00:22:27] Stephanie Walker: Or my workshop is, I want it to be next month, but I haven't, posted a thing about it. So it's that getting the timing, 

[00:22:38] Roz Chandler: It's planning the whole year. I plan the whole of 25 now. I know all my workshops, all my courses online. I know when I'm launching products, I know. My Reef course is for next Christmas.

[00:22:50] Roz Chandler: I know what I'm taking holiday and basically I work back because if I'm going to launch something online, I need 12 weeks before and I know that so I plan 12 weeks before and it's yeah, it takes a lot of planning. I have this massive calendar in my office. You should see it. It's just enormous. And if I didn't have that, I wouldn't have a hope, not a hope.

[00:23:11] Roz Chandler: So that's the best thing and social media as well. That's full on 24 seven, seven days a week, isn't it? Yeah. 

[00:23:18] Stephanie Walker: Yeah. And you do a beautiful job with it. I love when you post and your marketing is genius. And so, good for you. You're a good example for me to 

[00:23:32] Roz Chandler: follow on that. I delegate a lot.

[00:23:35] Roz Chandler: I do. And obviously in 2024, I wasn't well, not completely well. I had breast cancer this last year. And I had a team, I've got a team of horticulturalists and I've got a team in the office and without that there'll be no way and I think that's also an issue for flower farmers going forward in the future is that if you're a sole flower farmer or even worse a sole flower farmer who's a single mum it's pretty a lonely and b if something goes wrong That's it.

[00:24:03] Roz Chandler: Your season's over. Unless you planned for it. Maybe I'll write a book on that one this year. I don't know, something around planning and marketing and, delegating and flower farmering. I don't know. It's just that I can see it and I can see it in so many times, so many ways that would be a massive problem.

[00:24:24] Stephanie Walker: Yeah, for sure. And I think you bring up a great point. It's if anything goes wrong, your season is over. Like this summer, we were out of town for a week and it was during the hottest time of the year. Our well pump went out and I, we of course didn't know that while we were gone. And so my, nothing got watered for a week and here I'm really watering every two days really deeply.

[00:24:51] Stephanie Walker: And. I lost my whole field. It was devastating. I've lost fields before. Like we have these ground squirrels and gophers who come in and eat all my stuff. And it's so frustrating. And then of course, in order to have those flowers again, you're Having to wait a whole year. I can plant the next season of course, but for those particular flowers, for the ones that, the spring flowers, they're gone, and there's no redemption after 

[00:25:19] Roz Chandler: that.

[00:25:20] Roz Chandler: There's no redemption. It's the same as you hear if you're growing tulips and all of a sudden the squirrels eat all the bulbs. You're done. There's, you haven't got enough time to start again. So yeah, it's quite a cruel profession, isn't it? It's a bit like, Hey, it's very seasonal and the nature's out there and we get, plants get eaten by everything, and sometimes we get lots of rain and sometimes we won't get any rain.

[00:25:40] Roz Chandler: And in between all that, we've gotta do some marketing. And also the funniest thing I think about being a flower farmer is it's the only profession in the world. I think, that you put all the money in the ground and you buy loads of stuff and you have not sold a penny. You don't really know what you're going to sell.

[00:25:57] Roz Chandler: No, of course you've got some ideas, but you don't really, no one's paid you at that point. So I know in the USA you do, these community, what are they? CSAs or something? 

[00:26:09] Stephanie Walker: Community shared agriculture. 

[00:26:10] Roz Chandler: Yeah, that I've seen that a lot. We don't do that in the UK. So generally in the UK we, do put all the investment in and we sit back and hope, and we hopefully have a good marketing plan and we try and sell everything we grow.

[00:26:23] Roz Chandler: And, but there can't be any other profession in the world where you do that, where you put all the money and you go, I have no idea where I'm going to get the money back, but it's a lovely profession. 

[00:26:34] Stephanie Walker: Yeah. It's it is enriching. And I was listening to your podcast and your last episode with the mental health.

[00:26:42] Stephanie Walker: Even with all the things that go wrong, you just return to your garden and it's there. With open arms ready to have you back. And that's where the recharge comes and you say, okay, I can do it again. And 

[00:26:56] Roz Chandler: let's go, 

[00:26:56] Roz Chandler: again. Yeah. I even felt that today because we're in the, obviously in the middle of winter and it's cold and I went out and we walked down the field and I'd go out and I was actually covering up some things with fleece inside the tunnel.

[00:27:07] Roz Chandler: today. And then I took the dog for a walk and I was walking around thinking this is what it's about. It's just being out. I wasn't really physically doing very much. And I was thinking, God, this is why this works so well. This is great. Your garden is very forgiving. It takes you back and you start again.

[00:27:21] Roz Chandler: And that's why it's so good for your mental health. It's quite hard to explain that to someone else about why it's so good, but without it. Yeah. 

[00:27:30] Stephanie Walker: Yeah. Yeah. And just, yeah, getting your hands in the dirt and the microbes that it releases and the grounding and it's, and just the act of just seeing a beautiful, colorful flower.

[00:27:44] Stephanie Walker: It's such a gift. And I'm so grateful that it's what I get to do. I know. Me too. 

[00:27:52] Roz Chandler: Yeah, it's a lovely thing to do and we should be proud that we can do it and just want more people to do it. So what's been your biggest learning or the biggest mistake, I would say, but I always say a failure is a learning.

[00:28:03] Roz Chandler: What's been your biggest learning as you've been going along? 

[00:28:06] Stephanie Walker: I think to, give myself grace, be patient with myself being, the only person doing it. It's have patience, keep going. It's all good. I think one of the things too is just letting fear go. There are so many things that will hold me back sometimes Oh, I don't know if this will be well received.

[00:28:34] Stephanie Walker: This seems weird. I don't know how this will do it. Will it be successful? And just letting it, but let that take a backseat and just step out and just. And do these things. I'm always dreaming of, okay, this would be a really fun course. This would be a fun workshop, but I don't know. I don't know if anybody would want that.

[00:28:53] Stephanie Walker: I don't know if it would be. Yeah. Whether I'll be good enough, whether that won't it. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. So I think letting, that just. Just the fear go, the self doubt, and just stepping out is probably one of the biggest learnings. And then also, just planning is so important. And like we just talked about making sure that I'm planning ahead I've got to be two or three steps ahead, otherwise I'm four steps behind.

[00:29:23] Stephanie Walker: So making sure that I'm planning and looking forward in, in the year throughout. Everything that I do. I 

[00:29:31] Roz Chandler: know. And you don't get a break if you've got 365. So you don't get a planning month to sit back and go, Okay, which we do in January. We get a planning month to sit back and go, Okay, what does our year look like?

[00:29:41] Roz Chandler: And what do I want my strategy to be like? And where's my revenue going to come from? And let's have a look at what seeds I'm going to plant. And that's what January is. January is a hunking down month. So it's almost like when you write a book and take yourself off for a couple of weeks of quiet to finish it.

[00:29:54] Roz Chandler: You need to, give yourself that time to do it. Because when else would you do that? 

[00:29:58] Stephanie Walker: No, exactly. And, I do find myself in the summer, a lot of times feeling that burnout. And like this year once I have to be honest, when my pump went out and I lost my field, it was in July and I I was upset.

[00:30:17] Stephanie Walker: But then it, I also went, Oh God, I'm done. I'm done for the summer. Yay. 

[00:30:23] Roz Chandler: We love it when everything dies in the autumn. I can tell you people go, Oh, it's really sad, isn't it? And I go no, it's not sad. It's really lovely because you can take a deep breath. I can understand that. Yes. But 

[00:30:35] Stephanie Walker: now I don't have to look 

[00:30:36] Roz Chandler: after it.

[00:30:37] Stephanie Walker: Yeah. Yes. So yeah that was nice. I feel like I have to be more intentional about saying, okay, I'm going to pull these beds early so that I can just have a moment or whatever. But and, when I do that it's, good to help with the, I 

[00:30:58] Roz Chandler: know, sanity, what's that? So who's your inspiration?

[00:31:01] Roz Chandler: What keeps you going? What gets you up on the day? What what, keeps you going? 

[00:31:07] Stephanie Walker: I have to say, and I know you know this. When, so when you have a customer, a client, someone who comes and picks up a bouquet or an arrangement, or you finish a wedding or do a funeral arrangement And just the joy that those flowers bring, that is an inspiration to me.

[00:31:27] Stephanie Walker: I've never had, like we, I do a CSA bouquet subscription here, and I love it. I love when they come to pick up their bouquets and it's just the joy and they're excited. They always tell me a memory. Oh, my, my grandma grew sweet pea. And she had this beautiful sweet pea trellis and and I just remember the scent or my mom gave me tulips when I graduated from college or in my wedding bouquet.

[00:31:58] Stephanie Walker: I had I love those memories and everybody has memories attached to flowers. My customers are definitely a big inspiration, but my family is so good. My husband is such a cheerleader. My kids are awesome. I have a son who's 18 years old and he is actually in Argentina for the next two years, on a church mission and he.

[00:32:23] Stephanie Walker: When he first got to Argentina, it was, like their end of their winter going into spring. And he said, Mom, the citrus trees are blooming and I can smell the citrus blossoms. It reminds me of home. We have a little orchard outside our house with citrus trees and the citrus blossoms are blooming.

[00:32:45] Stephanie Walker: the most intoxicating. And so he he was telling me about how he could smell those and there was Hong Kong orchids that were blooming and the scent of those. And then there were some flowers that he was like, mom, it reminds me of home. And I, just, it makes me think of you every time we go out.

[00:32:59] Stephanie Walker: And so I, love that it transcends time and space and distance. Flowers, are just, they're a connection. And so people are what give me that inspiration. Just anyone who enjoys a flower, I'm inspired by. 

[00:33:15] Roz Chandler: Yeah, me too. That's also why I like doing farewell flowers and funeral flowers, because people say, how do you do that?

[00:33:23] Roz Chandler: And actually that's the biggest inspiration. Because if you can take inspiration did they love their garden? And what did they love? And what flowers did they love? And what scents did they love? That's a real privilege to do that. So I particularly like it. 

[00:33:37] Stephanie Walker: I think so too. Yeah, those remembrance flowers bring so much joy because it is.

[00:33:43] Stephanie Walker: It's what that loved one loved the most and you're able to create a tribute to them through the flowers. It's, yeah, that is really satisfying. 

[00:33:56] Roz Chandler: So any recommendations on books or podcasts or anything you listen to? 

[00:34:00] Stephanie Walker: Oh, I I listen to so many podcasts. 

[00:34:05] Roz Chandler: You're an avid podcaster. 

[00:34:07] Stephanie Walker: Yeah. Yes. Yes. So I have a lot that I really like.

[00:34:11] Stephanie Walker: I love yours. For, one. Oh. Yeah. I've really enjoyed it. And the Flower Podcast with Scott Shepherd is another good one that I really love. Yeah. I've been on that. The No-Till Flower Podcast with Ginny. Love that one. I have had so many aha moments when I'm listening. Let's see. Field and Garden.

[00:34:32] Stephanie Walker: Lisa Mason's a lot. Most of mine are United States. Yes, but I listen to Lisa. Yeah. Uhhuh . Let's see The Dirt on Flowers. There's growing cup flowers with the Let's Grow Girls. I'm a big, huge true crime listener too. I listen to a lot of crime junkies. Yeah. So I do a lot of educational ones, but then I love my true crime.

[00:34:57] Stephanie Walker: So I'm always up for a good story there and that keeps me engaged and going. But I don't know if I didn't have podcasts to listen to while I was doing the Monday night. 

[00:35:08] Roz Chandler: I agree. When you're pricking out or even when deadheading, when you're doing something that's very repetitive, to listen to a podcast is something amazing.

[00:35:16] Roz Chandler: That's when I get most of my time. I sit under the tree and I'm sitting there pricking out some plants and I'm having a nice time. I'm listening to something really great and I'm a real myriad. There aren't that many UK Cut flower podcasts. There aren't. I think there's mine and, Let's Grow Girls has stopped, I think, from August onwards.

[00:35:35] Roz Chandler: They haven't really done anything recently. So I listened to lots of US for sure. And and it's inspirational. I love it. And then I listened to some business ones and then I listened to some funny ones and I'm, yeah I'm an, addict. So what's next for you, Stephanie? Are you going to write another book or what comes next?

[00:35:55] Stephanie Walker: What's the dream? What's really next is I'm going to be a grandma in February. Yeah. So that's the most exciting thing right now. So I can see myself taking some breaks and going and visiting that baby frequently, but I don't have any books in, on the horizon. I, people are always saying now that you've written this, I, because the book that I wrote is not specific to Arizona.

[00:36:25] Stephanie Walker: It's information to be used anywhere. And yeah, 

[00:36:29] Roz Chandler: absolutely. 

[00:36:30] Stephanie Walker: Yeah, wherever you are, that can be used. But I have so many of my Arizona followers who say, Will you please just write one specific to Arizona and our climate? That's in my head, but I don't want to do it. I don't know. It's 

[00:36:47] Roz Chandler: hard work to write a book.

[00:36:48] Roz Chandler: You've got to really want to do it. 

[00:36:50] Stephanie Walker: Yeah I think what's next though is expanding the educational arm of my business. I offer a workshop here on my farm that starts in October and it goes through April and it's basically from Up through a whole season of growing people come and they have their little plot.

[00:37:08] Stephanie Walker: We, we talk about prepping your garden bed. And so it starts from the very beginning and goes through a whole season where they're able to tend their space and cut from their space and so much education in that one talking anywhere from forcing bulbs to creating your bouquets to fertilizing and the importance of.

[00:37:30] Stephanie Walker: fertilizers and so that one's really good. I really would love to expand the educational arm. That's 

[00:37:38] Roz Chandler: what I did during COVID. We do a course called Seed to Vials, very similar, which we run it from February to the end of September. So we basically take you from, here's your seeds, and then this is how you arrange flowers and do some flora and flora street and everything in between pests and watering and, foliage and perennials and biennials and everything and I will expand that again.

[00:38:00] Roz Chandler: I've quite enjoyed expanding educational but yeah maybe and maybe another stuff. I still feel there's another book somewhere. I must get my head together on that one. Yes, I would love that. So maybe marketing for flower farmers or something. I'll think of something. Yeah, I think of something. So Stephanie, it's an absolute joy that you joined me today.

[00:38:21] Roz Chandler: Like I say, we're going to put your Book in the show notes. I think it's great. I've got it on my desk right here. I'm looking at it. It's brilliant and I recommend it to everybody and I want to get over this whole misconception that if you haven't got a big garden or a big yard or a big farm or that you can't grow cut flowers because you can definitely.

[00:38:44] Stephanie Walker: Yeah, I think so too. I think the original title of the book was supposed to just be how to grow your flowers. And then they, said let's, bring it down to how to grow in small spaces. And I thought, okay, that's changing directions a little or changing my mindset, not necessarily changing directions, but really the principles of gardening apply to the small space, to the big space and in everything in between.

[00:39:06] Stephanie Walker: And so once you understand, like you said, growing in the right place at the right time. The right plant. You can do it. And I feel like if there's anything I could say to someone for a takeaway is, first of all, you have to believe that you can. And, so many people say have black thumbs.

[00:39:24] Stephanie Walker: And I tell them that is so good. You have black thumbs because you're in the soil. And and all of us have black thumbs. The truth is we all fail. At, growing. There's always something that fails or whatever. And so we just keep going and we believe that we can. And then, and before long, we've got this beautiful armful of blooms and we're just enjoying it.

[00:39:46] Roz Chandler: That's right. And everybody has to fail. We fail every year or something. And sometimes you grow things that, why are we growing them? Cause you don't like them. And we're still doing that 15 years later. So I don't think, I think every year is a different growing season and we're faced with different things, but yeah, it's the joy of it.

[00:40:03] Roz Chandler: It's the absolute joy. Yes. Thank you very much for coming over. It's an absolute pleasure to meet you and I do recommend your book wholeheartedly. 

[00:40:13] Stephanie Walker: Thank you so much Roz. I have really enjoyed our visit and I just will continue to love listening to everything you do and I will look for that book.