Stephanie Rose, author of Garden Alchemy and writer and blogger at GardenTherapy.ca.

Stephanie Rose has a passion for inspiring other people to grow and use plants. It’s a passion that began with her own journey of healing herself by taking up gardening.

“This is where I’m going to recover. I’m going to rehabilitate myself using the garden.”

Stephanie is a Vancouver-based award-winning author, speaker, and master gardener who teaches people how to grow and use plants. She weaves her knowledge of herbalism and permaculture into her work.

Using Gardens to Heal

Stephanie talks about her own journey of recovery as she began to garden.

A parent, she has a lot of ideas for parents who want kids to garden. In her own yard, she opted for a play garden instead of a plastic swing set. Her 6-year-old son says that he wants to be a master gardener: When she runs kids gardening events, he likes to lead groups of kids on scavenger hunts.

Garden Alchemy

Stephanie discusses ideas from her new book, Garden Alchemy, which is a guide for gardeners who want to make and do things themselves. The book covers a wide range of topics including fertilizers, soil amendments, sprays, and ideas to beautify the garden.

In the book she demystifies ingredients used to create soil and plant “elixirs.” There are recipes for homemade fertilizers, steps for building a compost pile, soil tests, and techniques for making foliar sprays.