Guest Episode #4: Urban Flower Farming with Sylvia Cheng

Sylvia (in an excellent flower romper) with some just harvested dahlias.

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. (As a bonus, I got to enjoy her infectious laugh.) 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.

Sylvia’s home growing space. Note the herb garden up front, and over to the back right the bonsai island in progress.

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

“80% of the florals used in North America are imported, which is an astonishing number that people don’t realize. As much as we’re doing to grow the local food movement, there’s a lot of work that can be done for the floral industry.”
— Sylvia

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.

The front yard plot we visited. Note the close planting and the T-bar supports to help grow long, straight stems.

I’ll be back in the garden next week, fresh from hosting a harvest celebration out in the yard, a true bucket-list item.

xo
Jen