Most of Gardening Out Loud focuses on gardeners, but in Toronto there are a few ingenious folks farming in people’s gardens. Sylvia Cheng of Growing Tkaronto Floristry is one of those people growing gorgeous blooms on borrowed land, creating little pockets of abundance beside busy city streets.

I came to Sylvia for her perspective on farming in gardens, working with landowners, and, of course, growing beautiful dahlias. On a beautiful late summer day, we checked out her home plot, one growing in the neighbour’s backyard, and hopped our bikes to visit a front yard dahlia plot just exploding with colour.

Tune in to learn a bit about some challenges of urban floristry, tips for healthy dahlias, and why growing local flowers matters.

If you’d like to learn more about Sylvia and Growing Tkaronto, check out her website and her Instagram. I hope you enjoyed this little peek into urban flower farming and have a new understanding of why some of why local bouquets have higher price tags.

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