Field and Garden with Lisa Mason Ziegler

Starting and being in business means you must continually expand your horizons to not just grow and keep your biz BUT you must know rules and requirements, laws and ordinances, keep up with new technology, opportunities, and just time to be creative! I use the least demanding season of the year to do this: winter. Invest in yourself and your business, and learn some lessons. Mentions We are so hap...

In this episode, Lisa speaks with Gretel Adams of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm about their very popular annual dahlia tuber sale. Dahlias are the top cut-flower crop at their farm, and dahlia tubers are a major part of their fall/winter season sales. Here, Gretel walks us through all the steps from predicting supply, to digging/harvesting, dividing, storing, and prepping for the sale. This year their...

There are so many possibilities and opportunities in growing cut flowers, sometimes we just don’t have time to consider and explore. In this episode I’m exploring some of the questions I wish someone would have asked me. Mentions We are so happy about our partnership with the Growing For Market Magazine ! A tremendous resource. Use the coupon code: WORKSHOP to get 25% off any print or digital subs...

In this episode, Lisa speaks with Gretel Adams of Sunny Meadows Flower Farm about their progression of offering on-farm shopping events and post-fresh flower season merchandise. Here Gretel offers some great tips about what to offer, shares some challenges they've overcome related to these events, and what to consider about yourself and your property before you decide to offer events on your own f...

While it may sound simple, the lesson of resisting shiny objects is anything but simple. I’ve learned that part of my success is rooted in my ability to resist distractions and new opportunities. Getting up and saying no over and over has been my long-haul success story. Mentions We are so happy about our partnership with the Growing For Market Magazine ! A tremendous resource. Use the coupon code...

Learn what happens after "Frostmas" and during winter for a local sourcing design studio that is open year-round. Ellen Frost of Local Color Flowers is a veteran in this industry of seeking out, developing, and nurturing local growers to supply her business. Connect: Instagram: Local Color Flowers Instagram: Florists Buying Local Ellen's Blog: Vicarious Florist Courses: Florist School Online: Grow...

Big-picture thinking in 5-year bites helps to lead me through the weeds of business. Forget the details and think about what you want your business to look like in 5 years, and then go to work to make it so. Mentions We are so happy about our partnership with the Growing For Market Magazine ! A tremendous resource. Use the coupon code: WORKSHOP to get 25% off any print or digital subscription. Liv...

An insider's look at why and how Ellen Frost is reducing her wedding work and reaching into other types of work. Halfway through the 2nd decade of Local Color Flowers, her year-round design studio that only uses flowers grown within 100 miles of her Baltimore studio, Ellen is sharing her strategy. Connect: Instagram: Local Color Flowers Instagram: Florists Buying Local Ellen's Blog: Vicarious Flor...

Leaves are a key piece of how I continued the story of building and feeding our soil and the weed prevention I practice. Plus they make for a beautiful garden! I hope my tips liberate you to bring home tons of leaves. ~Lisa Mentions We are so happy about our partnership with the Growing For Market Magazine ! A tremendous resource. Use the coupon code: WORKSHOP to get 25% off any print or digital s...

Do you know Bobo? You may have heard Lisa talk about Bobo Smith - a friend and long-term employee at the farm. In this episode, Bobo joins Lisa for a chat! Listen as they reminisce and tell great stories about the early days of The Gardener's Workshop.  Mentions Employee Spotlight: Bobo Smith TGW Photo Gallery TGW Online Shop Sign up to receive our weekly Farm News! The Field and Garden Podca...

Exciting Announcement: "Seed Talk with Lisa & Layne" is now its own podcast, and our first standalone episode has just been released! Our show trailer and the episodes previously published through the "Field & Garden" podcast are available now, as well as the episode released today, which is all about Cool Flowers overwintering and row covers. Search for "Seed Talk with Lisa & Layne" i...

Today we have a replay of a webinar that Lisa & Jennie Love recently did called “How Weddings & Events Can Increase Your Flower Farm Profits.” Jennie & Lisa put this one together to help people become more familiar with Jennie’s story and with her online course, which is packed full of valuable lessons for people with all types of flower businesses. Let’s listen in! Mentions We are so...

Please enjoy this replay of a webinar that Lisa did with Jennie Love called “Top 5 Mistakes New Farmer-Florists Make.” Jennie & Lisa put this one together with the hope of helping new farmer-florists avoid some common pitfalls - all mistakes that Jennie admits to making herself when she was first starting out. There are some great tips here!  Mentions: Jennie's Free PDF: Favorite Supplier...

Exciting Announcement: "Seed Talk with Lisa & Layne" is now its own podcast! Our show trailer as well as the episodes previously published through the "Field & Garden" podcast are available now, and our first new episode will be released next Thursday (October 20th). Search for "Seed Talk with Lisa & Layne" in your podcast app of choice, and make sure to subscribe to catch all our upco...

Catch the Replay! Listen as Jennie Love of Love n’ Fresh Flowers in Philly and I discuss the evolution of her flower farm and business. From starting a cutting garden in a community plot to blazing the way as a pioneer in the farmer-florist industry. Named by Martha Stewart as one of the top 10 Farmer-Florist. Jennie shares the changes to the way she farms and to her business — all-natural evoluti...

Valerie Schirmer is the owner of Lexington-area Three Toads Flower Farm and the current President of the Association of Specialty Cut Flower Growers. In this fun chat with Lisa, Val shares that her business has become roughly 70% selling amaryllis and paperwhites, and all within a 6-week period in fall and winter. Seeing the tremendous growth in demand for these items over the course of the last f...

In this Clubhouse chat, Lisa talks about flower harvesting, covering common mistakes and questions such as: Best placement for a cutting garden Bucket selection and washing Days and times to harvest Optimum harvest stage and avoiding the “old milk cycle” Post-harvest resting Knowing how to store the different flowers you grow Tips for harvesting around netting and netting installation tips We hope...

Growing primarily annuals is an option for flower farming! After working my way through figuring this out over years, I learned that for my business model, it was the best fit. I am a small-space farmer that cannot have a hoop or greenhouse, so growing annuals produced the most with the least amount of investment and risk. Mentions: Annual Enrollment is open October 1-5: Flower Farming School Onli...

Join me as I speak with Andi Thatcher of Rimrock Flower Farm in Montana! Andi is an alum of our online courses and has gone on to do some amazing things! Her ambition and attention to being a professional pushed her to the head of her game, even before she started! Her ‘fake it till you make it’ attitude has served her well! Mentions: Rimrock Flower Farm: Website , Facebook , Instagram Montana Cut...

Have you ever considered how amazing it is that something as tiny as a seed can alter the course of someone’s life and take them in directions they never thought possible? Join Layne Angelo as she interviews Lisa Mason Ziegler about the various ways seeds changed her life. They discuss Lisa’s first seed starting experience, her entrance into flower farming, how annual crops shaped her business, an...

Don't allow these things to hold you back from pursuing your flower farming business dreams. No acreage, tractor, or greenhouse? No problem. I didn't have any of those during the first decade of my flower farm. Mentions: We are so happy about our partnership with the Growing For Market Magazine ! A tremendous resource. Use the coupon code: WORKSHOP to get 25% off any print or digital subscription....

Lisa was recently featured on The joegardener® Show podcast, joining host Joe Lamp'l to discuss the Cool Flowers concept and how she got started growing this fantastic group of spring stunners! They covered topics such as: How to determine which Cool Flowers you can grow in your region When and how to start your Cool Flowers from seed The special care requirements of flowers planted in the fall an...

In this Clubhouse chat Lisa talks about her new cedar raised beds and how she learned to make them from Joe Lamp’l, host of Growing a Greener World on PBS and The joegardener® Show podcast. Lisa shares the story of how she came to know Joe and introduces the exciting news of their new partnership for his new online course coming in 2023. Mentions: Joe's TV Show: Growing a Greener World The joegard...

Join me as I interview a very special guest and friend, Joe Lamp'l! It was such a pleasure for us to have the opportunity to talk again after doing a couple of episodes of The joe gardener® Show podcast together over the past year.  In case you're meeting him for the first time, Joe Lamp'l is the joe behind: joegardener® the host of the Emmy award-winning TV show, Growing a Greener World &nbs...

Meet Torrie Anderson of The Flower Farm at Youngs Mill in Newport News, Virginia. Having recently graduated from Lisa's online flower farming course, this year Torrie and her husband took the leap into urban flower farming after being vegetable gardeners for many years. In this interview Lisa and Torrie commiserate about the life of a brand new flower farmer, sharing the excitement, realities, cha...