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How to Grow Flowers and Create Your Own Cut Garden: Best of Growing Joy Replay

How to Grow Flowers and Create Your Own Cut Garden: Best of Growing Joy Replay

Author: Maria Failla- Happy Plant Lady and Author of Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness March 26, 2026 Duration: 54:30
Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care
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If you ask me, the secret to being everyone’s favorite neighbor or friend is always having a handful of blooms ready to share. And the best way to do that is to grow your own cut flower garden so you can step outside, snip a few stems, and instantly make someone’s day.

In this Best of Growing Joy replay, I’m bringing back one of my favorite conversations with flower farmer and friend Brooklyn Sherri, a Denver-based urban flower farmer and founder of the Cool Choice Plant Studio for kids. We break down cut flower gardening for beginners and talk through the best flowers for a cut flower garden, including easy annuals, reliable perennials, and beginner-friendly blooms that bring beauty, pollinators, and joy into your space.

We also cover the flower gardening basics that make all the difference, like annuals vs. perennials, pinching, deadheading, and how to confidently grow flowers with less fear and more fun.

 

In this episode, we learn:

  • [00:02:23] Maria’s garden update
  • [00:05:40] Who is Brooklyn and how she became a flower farmer
  • [00:08:31] Why everyone should have flowers in their garden
  • [00:09:15] Brooklyn shares the personal connection she feels when growing flowers
  • [00:12:08] Things to consider before growing flowers in your garden
  • [00:14:06] The best flowers to grow for beginners: sunflowers, zinnias, strawflowers, and more
  • [00:17:05] A quick recap on annuals vs perennials
  • [00:18:32] The best perennial flowers to grow for blooms year after year
  • [00:21:22] How to plan your flower garden so you have blooms all year long
  • [00:25:48] Brooklyn’s favorite ‘cut and come again’ flowers
  • [00:27:16] How to make the best soil mix for your flowers
  • [00:29:30] When to use fertilizers on your flowers
  • [00:31:04] Where to get the best potting mix, compost and fertilizer for your garden
  • [00:32:41] Where to order your garlic for this season
  • [00:35:03] Why you want to fertilize your flowers (and some signs that they need it!)
  • [00:36:12] Determining how much light your flowers need
  • [00:37:30] Maria shares her experience with her first garden and reading seed packets
  • [00:41:17] How to transplant your flowers and harden them off
  • [00:44:27] How to pinch flowers, what is it for, and when you should do it
  • [00:48:04] What should you do with your flower’s first bud?
  • [00:48:25] What is deadheading and how to do it properly
  • [00:51:03] Brooklyn’s growing tips for peonies
  • [00:52:43] How to grow flowers from corms and bulbs
  • [00:57:33] Brooklyn’s top five favorite flowers (and greens) to grow
  • [00:59:34] A little heartwarming story about Mama Failla and her garden gifts
  • [01:03:22] Maria shares her newfound interest and joy in flower gardening

 

Have you ever wanted to start your own cut flower garden?

Check out the full show notes and blog to learn which flowers are easiest to grow for beginners!

 

Follow Brooklyn:

Instagram

The Cool Choice

Petal and Herb Farm

Ya Grandma's Garden and Houseplants on Clubhouse

 

 

Follow Maria and Growing Joy:

Order my book: Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness (and Plants)by Maria Failla, Illustrated by Samantha Leung

Join the Bloom and Grow Garden Party Community Platform & App AKA the plantiest and kindest corner of the internet! Get your FREE 2-week trial here!

Take the Plant Parent Personality Quiz (Get the perfect plants, projects and educational resources for YOUR Lifestyle)

Support Bloom and Grow Radio by becoming a Plant Friend on Patreon!

Instagram: @growingjoywithmaria

Tiktok: @growingjoywithmaria

Subscribe to the Growing Joy Youtube channel! /growingjoywithmaria

Website: www.growingjoywithmaria.com

Pinterest: @growingjoywithmaria


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There’s a quiet, accessible kind of wellness waiting for you on a windowsill or in a patch of soil. Growing Joy with Plants explores that very idea, moving beyond basic tips to examine how our relationship with the natural world directly nurtures our mental and emotional health. Hosted by Maria Failla, a self-proclaimed Happy Plant Lady and author of "Growing Joy: The Plant Lover's Guide to Cultivating Happiness," this podcast feels like a warm conversation with a knowledgeable friend. Maria guides you through the practicalities of keeping your houseplants alive and thriving, but the discussion always circles back to the deeper connection-how the simple acts of watering, repotting, or simply observing growth can become anchors of calm in a hectic day. Each episode digs into how gardening and engaging with nature, even in small urban spaces, offer tangible tools to manage feelings of anxiety and overwhelm. This isn't about achieving a perfect indoor jungle; it's about finding moments of peace and genuine happiness through the process of care. The underlying message throughout the podcast is a powerful and gentle reminder: tending to your plants is fundamentally an act of tending to yourself. You’ll come away with not just better plant care knowledge, but a refreshed perspective on cultivating joy in your daily routine, learning that the serenity you might seek on vacation can be rooted right in your own home.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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Growing Joy with Plants - Wellness Rooted in Nature, Houseplants, Gardening and Plant Care
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