HOOD RIVER — This year, Jennifer Gulizia of The Flowering Farmhouse started a podcast, The Backyard Bouquet, as another way of sharing her love for flowers. The podcast tells stories from flower farmers and home gardeners all around the United States — their challenges and advice for fellow growers.
Those with a passion for gardening may be familiar with The Flowering Farmhouse, a flower farm in Hood River started in 2018. Owner and flower farmer Gulizia is going on her fourth year of hybridizing dahlias, her favorite, and selling tubers across the country.
“We primarily sell to florists,” she said. “Dahlias are our specialty and we really put a focus on healthy tubers that are virus free. Hopefully we will have our own line of dahlias to release to the world, but it’ll be a few years.”
Gulizia started listening to podcasts while driving or working in the yard and realized just how perfect they are for listening on-the-go. She hopes The Backyard Bouquet will be a great addition to days spent weeding and planting.
“You can listen and get inspiration and be reminded why we grow flowers in the first place,” said Gulizia.
Her podcast grew out of a transitional phase in her business, wherein Gulizia reached out to other flower farmers to hear about their gardening journeys. In the process, she realized she needed to share their stories with a larger audience.
“Flowers have the ability to connect us in both good times and in sorrow. Everyone has a unique connection to flowers, they have impacted my life so greatly and I want others to be able to enjoy them too,” she said.
Jennifer Gulizia, owner of The Flowering Farmhouse and host of The Backyard Bouquet, working in her dahlias.
Maggie Kirkland photo
The Backyard Bouquet focuses on seasonal topics and consults experts in the field. Gulizia has welcomed many guests so far, from Dee Hall of Mermaid City Flowers in Virginia to Misha Gillingham of Farmluxe to Paul Matalucci of Apple Core Farm and Cut Flowers in Hood River.
In the months to come, Gulizia is planning a podcast on tips and tricks for springtime roses. She also shared a few starter tips for anyone who might want to pick up flower growing or gardening.
“Just start! You don’t have to have a big space. Just put your hands in the soil. The best way to learn and experience is to do it yourself,” she said.
Gulizia releases a new podcast every Tuesday, aiming for a total of 52 episodes this year. The learning curve concerning the technical side has been challenging, but consistency is key and she is happy to have The Backyard Bouquet available on all major podcast-streaming platforms.
“It’s been much more time-consuming than I ever imagined, but I love chatting with people and hearing their stories. I’m glad to have started [the podcast] during the slower winter months so I have more time to learn the ropes and take a few classes on podcasts and editing,” she said.
She also mentioned that part of the process has been developing tough skin. While some may be able to connect and relate to Gulizia’s podcast, others might not have such positive reactions.
“No one is for everyone. But flower farmers have learned tremendous resilience in life, and those who do connect and can relate to the stories will hopefully be inspired,” she said.
So far, The Backyard Bouquet has been a great opportunity for Gulizia to connect with gardeners and farmers all over the country. Whether growing for personal or business reasons, flower farmers and the flower industry is still relatively small. They rely on each other to share new advances in technologies and growing advice.
Gulizia hopes the stories told on The Backyard Bouquet will inspire joy and passion for flower-growing everywhere.
“People don’t grow flowers to get rich,” she said. “People grow flowers to spread joy, and if these stories can spread joy and help inspire then I’ve been successful with the podcast.”
The Flowering Farmhouse is open by appointment only and not open to the public for walk-in traffic. For more information, visit thefloweringfarmhouse.com.
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