I had so many laughs with my lovely guest and friend Jess Wesley from Curly Girl Gardens on today's episode of Flower Friends, where we talked about her business offerings, urban growing space, how she makes community connections by chatting with neighbors and other small business owners in-person and online, and how she came to gardening as a way to help manage anxiety. Her approach to growing flowers makes me smile, because it always helps me remember why I started doing this, and she encourages me to have more fun with it - I think you'll have nothing but fun as you listen in!

Jess loves experimenting with garden challenges, and this year grew lisianthus from seed, so of course I asked her approximately 1 million questions about it. She is also known as the cosmos queen in our little Flower Friends group, and she tells me how she fell in love with cosmos ("they thrive on neglect"), why they are so special to her, the varieties she's growing this year (including her saved cosmos seeds), and some of the crazy late cosmos blooms she's gotten in past years. We also talk about her dried and pressed flowers (including a microwaveable press, which I didn't even know was a thing), and some of her fave flowers to dry.

At one point Jess looked out the window and saw a squirrel going after her seedlings, so she sent her dog Pascal out there to tell the squirrel whose boss. I left the whole thing in because it made me laugh so much. I hope it will bring a smile to you too!

In the intro, I talk about how I skipped town and didn't sell any Mother's Day flowers (on purpose) to rest and recharge for the busy season ahead, and give an update on what's blooming in the garden. In the outro, listen in for a flower fact on transporting flowers, and for a list of some of my fave podcasts - flowery and non-flowery. The song of the week is Hard Place by H.E.R.

Subscribe to the Flower Friends pod wherever you get your podcasts, and follow along on Instagram at @flowerfriendspodcast for photos of some of the things we chat about here, and with Sarah at @growgirlseattle.