In The Garden With Claudia
Ep.78: How Claudia Built a Blooming Backyard and a Beloved YouTube Gardening Channel
How In The Garden With Claudia Built a Blooming Backyard and a Beloved YouTube Gardening Community
If you love gardening inspiration, cut flowers, or learning from everyday gardeners who turned their passion into something meaningful, you will love the story behind In The Garden With Claudia. Claudia Lyashenko is a Zone 8b gardener in Oregon who has grown a thriving backyard garden and a YouTube channel that thousands of gardeners now rely on for honest tips, creative ideas, and encouragement.
Claudia joined me on Episode 78 of The Backyard Bouquet Podcast to share how her gardening journey began, the lessons she has learned along the way, and what it takes to start growing beauty in your own backyard. Her story is packed with inspiration for gardeners, creatives, and anyone dreaming of starting something new.
From Pandemic Hobby to a YouTube Gardening Channel
Claudia did not set out to build a YouTube channel. In fact, when she began gardening only a few years ago, she was in the middle of a major career transition and feeling uncertain about what was next. When the pandemic shut down her research lab and paused her plans to pursue dental school, she turned to gardening as a way to stay grounded and creative.
What started as a personal project quickly grew into something more. Recording her early garden projects, planting experiments, and even her failures became a way to share what she was learning. Her husband encouraged her to upload her videos to YouTube, and In The Garden With Claudia was born.
Today, her channel is known for its warm storytelling, approachable teaching style, and beautiful garden tours from across the country.
Building a Backyard Cut Flower Garden in Zone 8b
Claudia gardens on just over a quarter acre, which means she has become an expert at small space gardening and making every square foot count. Her backyard is designed with low-profile, 16-foot-long beds that allow her to see the whole garden from her kitchen, and she grows her flowers with the intention of both production and beauty.
Signature garden crops include:
- Dahlias
- Zinnias
- Cosmos
- Scabiosa
- Celosia
- Phlox
- Seasonal annuals tucked throughout her landscape
Her approach is creative, abundant, and rooted in experimentation. Claudia frequently pushes spacing guidelines, tucks cut flowers into her front landscape, and maximizes every inch of usable space.
“It might feel like the wild west sometimes,” she shared, “but it works. And it is beautiful.”
Healing Clay Soil with Compost and Patience
One of the most relatable parts of Claudia’s story is how she restored extremely compacted clay soil. Many gardeners in Oregon and Washington face similar challenges, and Claudia’s success came down to two things: high-quality compost and Espoma Biotone starter fertilizer.
Instead of traditional mulch, she layered compost year after year, improving soil structure, moisture retention, and plant health. The results were dramatic.
She emphasized the importance of sourcing high-quality compost and doing your homework before investing. Cheap compost can introduce disease or poor structure, which is something I too have experienced.
Claudia’s message:
Good soil is worth every penny. And it takes time. First the garden sleeps, then it creeps, and then it leaps.
Why Dahlias Became Her Favorite Flower
Claudia’s love for dahlias runs deep. They were the flowers that first sparked her fascination with growing something beautiful and show-stopping in her own backyard. Today, dahlias remain her main focus, both for cut flowers and for the joy they bring when she walks through her garden.
She openly admits that she still struggles with wanting to keep every bloom on the plant because she loves looking at them. But she has also started selling bouquets to coworkers, neighbors, and her local community. Claudia hopes to sell dahlia tubers for the first time this coming year and dreams of scaling up her production on future land.
Balancing a Full-Time Job with Content Creation
One of the most inspiring parts of Claudia’s journey is how she manages her garden and her YouTube channel while also working a demanding full-time corporate job. She films and edits her own videos, posts three times a week, and often works late into the night to make it all come together.
Her honesty about the workload is refreshing.
“When you really love something, and you are tired, you just remember how lucky you are to be tired from doing what you love.”
Her husband helps with setup and support, but the majority of filming and editing is her own creative work. She also emphasized that beginners do not need expensive gear. A simple phone paired with a good mic is often more than enough.
Claudia’s Advice for Anyone Wanting to Start a YouTube Gardening Channel
Claudia did not hold back in offering encouragement for new creators. Her main lessons:
1. Stay in your own lane
Do not compare yourself to other gardeners online. Focus on what you love.
2. Imperfection is relatable
People want to see real gardens, real mistakes, and real progress.
3. Do not wait until everything looks perfect
Perfectionism stops people from sharing their gardens and their stories.
4. Creativity grows when you show up consistently
Your voice is unique. Let it shine.
5. YouTube builds community
Engage in comments, meet your viewers, and stay connected.
Her biggest advice: just begin. It does not have to be perfect. It just has to be true to you.
Dreaming of Land and a Future Flower Farm
Claudia and her husband hope to buy land in the next few years. Their vision includes a larger cut flower operation, a garden open for visitors, and space to expand their YouTube storytelling. They are exploring locations in Washington, particularly areas with strong small-town community and access to salt water.
Like many growers, Claudia trusts that the right land will appear at the right time. She is learning to stay patient, enjoy the season she is in, and follow the path that is unfolding.
Claudia’s Final Advice: Embrace Failure and Let Nature Teach You
Claudia ended the conversation with one of the most powerful messages of the episode.
“Embrace your failures. Plants change through seasons and so do we. Let nature teach you. Do not be afraid to try, to mess up, to plant things too close, or to break the rules. Gardening becomes more beautiful when you stop trying to control every detail.”
Her perspective is the perfect reminder that gardening, like life, is a cycle of growth. And every mistake becomes part of the story.
Connect with Claudia
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@InTheGardenWithClaudia
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inthegardenwithclaudia
Listen to the full conversation on The Backyard Bouquet Podcast
Join the waitlist for the first ever Profitable Dahlia Summit:
The first ever Profitable Dahlia Summit is happening March 3 to 4, 2026 as a virtual two day event. It will feature an incredible lineup of growers, educators, and experts who will walk you through what it takes to grow, market, and sell dahlias with confidence. Join the waitlist to get early access to tickets, bonus trainings from speakers, and the best pricing. If you want to learn from some of the most inspiring voices in the dahlia world, add your name today: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.myflodesk.com/np92jqeu5a
Connect with Jennifer, Host of The Backyard Bouquet Podcast:
- Website: https://thefloweringfarmhouse.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefloweringfarmhouse/
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