Hello and welcome, it's Friday 31 October 2025. Happy Halloween (if you're celebrating it).

Lots to tell you: today I bumped into my fabulous dahlia mentor, Richard Bailey, and he has lots of dahlia tubers for me. These are tubers from plants that he no longer wants and I'm very lucky to receive them. I have also been offered some beautiful pink Japanese anemones which I will be gratefully digging up next week.

I've been learning a lot from fellow podcasters this week (links to the show are below), particularly about lilies. I adore lilies for their scent and sheer exuberance so I'm going to get some lilies for 2026 and see how I get on. 

I've also been thinking more about bouquet recipes and what I need to be growing for my market bouquets next year, and how to grow enough flowers to do this but not grow so many different varieties that it gets out of hand. This is a tricky balance, especially when new seed catalogues arrive and they're full of stunning flowers...

Thank you if you sent me a DM on insta this week: I love hearing from you, I really do, and it's always me that replies. 

Please do come back and join me for the next episode when I'll have more news. I really hope that you will join me.

LINKS to the podcasts I talk about today:

Blooming Profits: Conversations with Flower Farmers https://open.spotify.com/show/5CjQaTyga21Fj8ofR2r1U1

Slow Flowers with Debra Prinzing

https://www.slowflowerspodcast.com/

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then. 

Hello, it's Tuesday 28 October 2025. Welcome to the latest episode :-)

The clocks have just gone back which means shorter days and longer evenings: it's a great opportunity for plenty of studying in the evenings but I have to remember to get the hens to bed an hour earlier...

I've had the busiest weekend planting out my new shrubs including the Hydrangea Limelights, Eucalyptus, Lilac and Cotinus, plus some raspberry canes and peonies that I transplanted from home. I also relocated my Verbena bonariensis from one area of the plot to another to make space for the new perennials that I've ordered.

I've been shopping today: all the news of that in this episode including what I've purchased and why, the benefits of these plants and the prices I paid. Having very recently made the decision to sell direct to customers in 2026, I have a renewed focus on what I will need next year and this is really helping with crop planning.

I hope that you've had a great weekend and that your own planning for 2026 is underway. Please do come back and join me for the next episode when I'll have more news. I really hope that you will join me.

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then. 

Hello and welcome to a slightly rainy Friday 24 October 2025. 

Straight into it tonight: let's talk about bouquet recipes. What are the categories of flower type and what months of the year am I growing in? What do I have flowering in each month and in each category? I've made (yet another) spreadsheet and this one has been illuminating so I'm going to talk you through it in this episode.

I answer some really great questions from a listener about growing perennials and annuals and I hope the answers are interesting. I talk about the number of peonies that I have and my thoughts on growing cornflowers in 2026, given how much time I spent deadheading them and how little money I made on them in 2025...

Finally, jobs for the weekend: I have loads including planting new shrubs/woodies, transplanting foxgloves and re-locating my existing perennials to make space for the new plants that I've just ordered. There's a lot to do at this time of year so I hope you're feeling on top of things and not overwhelmed with it all. 

Please do come back and join me for the next episode when I'll have more news. I really hope that you will join me.

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then. 

Hello and welcome to Tuesday 21 October 2025. 

Lots has happened and there is so much to tell you. I went to a fantastic peony sale held by a local cut flower grower on Saturday and picked up three new beautiful varieties which I'm excited about. I also finished prepping bed 4 and supervised the installation of a sink in Kylie's Room (aka the new studio/workshop), and cleaned out gutters to collect the incredible volumes of rainwater we've just had over the weekend. 

The main part of the episode is a conversation all about doing retail flowers in 2026: I've made a spreadsheet to work it all out so it's now a proper "thing". There's so much to think about when selling retail (and it's part of the reason I wanted to dodge it and just do wholesale) including looking at bouquet recipes, working out stem counts, choosing which varieties to include and in what numbers, plus pricing and factoring all the other costs associated with selling at a local market. It's a lot! After a while my brain stopped working entirely but I'm discussing it with you tonight and maybe you can relate.

Please do come back and join me for the next episode on Friday when I'll have more news. I really do hope that you can join me!

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then. 

Hello, it's Friday 17 October 2025. Welcome to today's episode!

The hens are causing havoc in the flower area: I hope the vast amounts of poo they are depositing everywhere compensates for the destructive behaviour and that my echinacea recover from being trampled and used as a dust bathing area. 

I've been shopping for woody shrubs this week and the main part of this episode is me talking about my experience of growing Hydrangea paniculate 'Limelight' this year and why I'm such a huge fan of this plant for cut flowers. There are very good reasons why it made No. 3 on my Top 10 Most Profitable Plants in 2025 List so if you're not already growing it then I hope this episode proves helpful. 

I have lots of plans for the weekend including attending a local peony sale, the construction of some palette tables (finally!) and the finalisation of preparing bed no. 4. Fingers crossed that I get everything done...

Please come back and join me for the next episode when I'll have more news. I really do hope that you can join me.

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then. 

Hello and welcome to Tuesday 14 October 2025. The temperature has noticeably dropped, especially at night. I haven't had a frost yet but it's definitely feeling autumnal.

I've been messing around with the stems I have on the plot at the moment and trying out arrangements in a variety of vases and containers. It feels very indulgent to be able to do this because I didn't dare to touch anything during the summer in case my wedding florist wanted to buy any of them.

Crop planning continues apace: there's a lot to consider to ensure that the right plants end up in the right places, depending on the soil conditions and their individual needs. I'm off to my wholesaler tomorrow to buy some shrubs and perennials (and maybe grasses?) in their annual sale. They also do a cracking lunch, which is always a bonus. 

Finally, I visited a fellow grower this morning to collect some compost that my local grower/florist WhatsApp group had ordered. I had a wonderful time (plus coffee and biscuits!) walking around the plot and talking about everything that is being grown. I can't tell you how amazing it is to talk about the challenges with someone who completely understands what it's like to be a cut flower grower. If you're new to growing or have just started out, do reach out to fellow growers and see if you can visit their setup and chat to them. 

Please come back and join me for the next episode on Friday when I'll have more news. I really do hope that you can join me.

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers just like you to find the podcast. 

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then. 

Hello and welcome to Friday 10 October 2025. 

Today's episode starts bright and early on the plot this morning as you're joining me letting the hens out and serving breakfasts. Great news - my poorly hen Mo has made an incredible recovery and has now rejoined the plot.

In this episode I talk about my thoughts on confidence (or lack of) and how I really would benefit from having a life coach and a business coach on permanent speed-dial (hey, a girl can dream!). How do you manage your confidence levels? 

Finally I share 5 tips (and a great bonus one) for boosting confidence levels, including mastering growing one flower to perfection and surrounding yourself with people who will reflect your best self (e.g. by joining a hub or a local group of growers). If you're in need of a boost, I hope these are useful.

I do hope you'll come back and join me for the next episode on Tuesday when I'll have more news. I really hope that you can join me.

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers like you find the podcast. 

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then. 

Hello and welcome to Tuesday 7 October 2025. 

Good news: my dog now has super sparkly white teeth and my very poorly hen, Mo, has made a miraculous recovery after surgery. What a relief.

Lots of activity on the plot including spreading some of my black-gold compost onto the newly prepared beds (compost is one thing I am actually really good at making) and this homemade compost will really help improve the soil. I've been busy making a new path to run down the centre of the plot so I don't have to keep brushing past plants and knocking into flowers.

The first part of my latest 2026 order has arrived! I've been planting the (massive) plugs out temporarily until I can get them a proper home on the plot this autumn. They look excellent so I have high hopes for them. Finally I'm pondering selling to retail in 2026: if you're a regular listener you'll know that I've avoided this so far but I'm not sure I can avoid it any longer. The plot has to make more money to be viable and I'm not sure that doing exclusively wholesale is going to work. I shall be pondering this for a while...

Please come back and join me for the next episode on Friday when I'll have more news about what's happening on the cut flower plot. I really hope that you can join me.

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers like you find the podcast. 

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then. 

Hello. It's a rainy and windy Friday 3 October 2025. 

You're joining me from a car park outside my vet where I'm waiting for my dog's teeth to be cleaned and for my little hen, Mo, to have some surgery. 

This week the podcast is celebrating 10k downloads which is amazing and very surprising. Thank you if you have contributed to this number - you're very welcome at every episode.

I've been super busy tidying and weeding on the plot and yesterday I had a massive drama when I managed to lose my house and car keys somewhere amongst the cut flowers. All the laughs about this in today's episode plus how the situation (eventually) got resolved. You may wonder how I will ever get this business off the ground after this story! 

The second part of the episode is the concluding part of last week's episode where I talk you through the plants I've just bought for 2026 and beyond: it's a detailed breakdown of what I've bought and why. Perhaps you're already growing some of these and you know what I have to look forward to?!?

I hope you have a great weekend: please come back and join me for the next episode on Tuesday.

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers like you find the podcast. 

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then. 

Hello. It's Tuesday 30 September 2025. Welcome to the episode!

Lots of activity on the plot to share with you: weeding beds 3 & 4, adding bark to bed 1, more cutting back and weeding, and mulching some of the perennials. Many of the zinnias have been cleared away because they've gone really mouldy, even though some of the flowers are ok.

With some invaluable help I've finally finished my studio, aka 'Kylie's Room' and I'm really pleased with it. I now have lots of storage in the form of an old wardrobe and some chests of drawers, plus lots of hooks on the walls for all the dried flowers I've been collecting. I'm really looking forward to having a dedicated space for working in and hosting florists next year.

I've been reflecting on my reconciliation report that I talked about in the last episode and I received an excellent question from a listener after the episode about what the findings might mean for what I grow next year, so I talk about this and what I decided (somewhat on the spur of the moment). I'll go into more details of what I've ordered in the next episode on Friday so I do hope that you'll join me for that.

Connect with me

If you like what you hear, please follow/subscribe to this podcast so that you're the first to hear new episodes when they become available every Tuesday and Friday. And if you enjoy this episode, please take a minute to leave a review because it really does help more cut flower-lovers like you find the podcast. 

Follow me on instagram @henhillcutflowers for a behind-the-scenes look at life on my cut flower plot.

Join me on my journey through a year of growing and selling cut flowers in England. I'm giving you the low-down on what it's really like, how I'm getting started, what you do and don't need, what I do when and why, the successes and failures, and just about everything in between. All in real time. With guest appearances from my chickens every now and then.