About Stacy

Hi there! Want to learn more about me, Stacy Ling? If you are new to my blog, Bricks ‘n Blooms, welcome!!! Let me tell you a little bit about myself.

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Stacy Ling’s Background

I’m a trained master gardener who’s been gardening for well over 25 years and enjoys sharing my passion to help beginners find their inner green thumb, as well as discover a love for all things plants and flowers. Bringing the outdoors inside the home is my jam as I love to decorate with a comfy, casual, and cottagecore style.

I write the blog, Bricks ’n Blooms, from my 1850 farmhouse located in gardening zone 6a northern New Jersey. And I’m author of the best selling book, The Bricks ‘n Blooms Guide to a Beautiful and Easy Care Flower Garden on February 6, 2024, with Harvest House Publishers. I’ve got a second book, The Bricks ‘n Blooms Beautiful and Easy Care Flower Garden Planner that is available for pre-order and will publish on March 11, 2025.

I recently appeared on a Live with Kelly and Mark segment sharing my best spring gardening tips and provided expert gardening tips in Architectural Digest, USA Today, and Birds & Blooms.

My fall gardens were featured in the September/October 2023 issue of Horticulture Magazine. I was also mentioned in both Better Homes and Gardens and People Magazine recently and appeared in featured content with Garden Design. (To learn more about the press I’ve been featured in, click here.)

A woman in a straw hat and blue dress stands behind a wooden table with various flowers, plants, and floral arranging tools in a cozy flower shop. A sign reading "The Potting Shed, Flower & Gift Shoppe" hangs above her.

sunset in the fall cottage garden with pumpkins, lantana, celosia and a view of my gardening zone 6a new jersey gardens

In addition to my gardening background, I am an attorney. I graduated Seton Hall Law School and passed the bar in the late 90’s. After graduation, I clerked for the Tax Court of New Jersey and worked for Deloitte and Touche LLP as a senior tax consultant.

As my family started to grow, I retired from tax and working as an attorney all-together to be a stay-at-home mom running the household. With three young girls, a husband, and our dogs, it was a lot to manage but I found ways to create a cozy home with thriving gardens.

While my kids were young, I became a master gardener through Rutgers Cooperative Extension and started a small garden design business helping friends and neighbors plant, maintain, and grow their gardens. I loved working with clients but started neglecting my own gardens due to my busy lifestyle, so I pulled back on the business, focused on my family, and created more outdoor rooms and garden spaces in our home.

Although we ran around a lot with our girls, I found ways to grow beautiful flower gardens and juicy vegetables using an easy-care, low-maintenance approach. Because I want to share my love for all things plants and flowers with the world, I started this blog to inspire and educate how to grow things so it’s easy and manageable for you.

If you want to find easier ways to grow and create beautiful things, I’m sure you’ll enjoy following my blog and reading my book. So come grow stuff and create beautiful spaces with me!

stacy ling cutting dahlias in her garden

Stacy Ling’s Home in New Jersey, Zone 6b

My goal is to make my home feel warm, cozy, and inviting for my family, friends, and myself. It is important to me that our space is approachable, easy-going, and user-friendly so I’m not worrying about wear and tear from my kids and dogs.

We recently moved from the house where we raised our kids and lived for 23 years. It was a huge move but we are glad we did it. In the 23 years we lived there, we did a ton of work, including changing it from a small 3-bedroom ranch to a 4-bedroom center-hall colonial. You can see what it looked like in the early days HERE.

After all the time we spent there, it was totally built out. From the interior to the gardens, there wasn’t much left to do. And my husband Chris and I love a good project to work on. So we started casually looking around to see what we were looking for because we weren’t really sure.

We knew we wanted to stay in the area so our youngest could finish up at her high school and continue to run our businesses here in New Jersey. So we kept the radius pretty local to where we were and found THIS hidden gem. And let me tell you – it is amazing and we feel very blessed to be here.

1850 farmhouse with front porch and spring flowers including ajuga, ranunculas, with hostas and buckeye tree.

The former homeowners took impeccable care of this home and property. It sits on 10 acres, but roughly half or a little more is wooded. There are lots of unique tree sculptures and garden statues, a pool, ponds, and formal garden. You can see the gardens throughout our first year here in the following posts.

If you want to check out my new gardens throughout the season you can see them here:

But I also share weekly pics of the gardens in my Sunday updates. Subscribe here so you don’t miss out on the gardening inspo! The interior of our home still needs some updating so we’ve been slowly working on that since moving in. Here are some of the projects we tackled so far. Wait until you see what these rooms looked like before we updated them!

sharing easy care indoor plant care basics and how I maintain them in my sunroom with white swivel accent chairs, snake plants, spider plants, and boston fern. — Sunroom Before and After

A dining table decorated with a wicker basket holding a ceramic jug of dried leaves and a small pumpkin. Two ornate candlesticks with white candles flank the centerpiece. A crystal chandelier hangs above, and potted plants are in the background. — Sunroom Before and After

Stacy Ling’s Passion for Gardening and All Things Flowers

Gardening has been my passion for over twenty-five years. When we moved to our former New Jersey home, I started creating flower gardens all around the property. If I couldn’t grow grass or the area was an eyesore, I started a garden. And much of what I did was learned through trial and error.

last bouquet of flowers from the cutting garden in 2022

My approach to gardening is we learn by doing and not being afraid to try new things. To that end, I subscribe to the motel theory of gardening – some plants check in, do well, and stay…and the others check in, don’t do well, and are not invited back. Shortly after having my children, I became a master gardener and began a very small garden design business helping others with their own gardens.

After a few seasons, my gardens started to suffer. So I took a step back from the business. I chose to refocus on maintaining my own gardens while creating cozy outdoor living spaces for my family and friends to enjoy. Since moving to our current home, I’ve been working on the beds here and they are coming along! There was so much here already so it’s been really fun discovering plants popping up this spring.

The gardens here are completely amazing. You can see how they look in early spring HERE. Our new old home is an 1850 farmhouse that has great bones with lots of charm and character. The finishes are a little dark so we’ll be spending some time lightening everything up. It’s going to be a fun adventure working on our new home and garden!

dahlias for days in late summer in the cut flower garden

dahlias and fountain in the potager garden

Stacy Ling’s Decorating Style

If I were to describe my style it would be a rustic elegant and cottagecore. What is cottagecore style? Decorating with a cottagecore style infuses natural, rustic elements with decor that creates cozy, comfortable, and approachable living spaces by bringing the outdoors in and the indoors out with plants, flowers, textured, natural, and garden-inspired accessories. A big component of my decorating style is to incorporate both real and faux greens and florals.

small sunroom ideas on a budget with indoor plants, white accent swivel chairs, jute area rug, tiered side table and poof ottoman with boho home decorating style

spring table decor ideas with fresh cut tulips in glass vase with crystal chandelier, black china cabinet and hutch, lenox dinnerware and birds nests at each placesetiing. — Bricks ‘n Blooms

formal living room decorated for spring with neutral pillow covers, vintage framed art, earthy neutral area rug and french country style coffee table with lots of plants and flowers

Greens and flowers help breathe life into a living space. by giving it more personality, texture, and dimension. I started changing my former home to a lighter, brighter, and more neutral decor style from the traditional cranberry, sage, and gold tones of 15 years ago. And I’ve been doing more of the same here at the new house but a bit differently to go more with the character of the house.

While I am moving towards a more lighter and neutral style, with 3 teenage girls and two black dogs that shed, I have to be mindful of our lifestyle so moving to an all-white palette would be a struggle.

home and garden blogger stacy ling and her family spending time together around the firepit

My Family

I’ve been married for over 25 years to Chris who I met while I was attending Seton Hall Law School. Yes, I am also an attorney. I worked in Tax for a few years after passing the bar but retired from being a lawyer when I was 30.

How fun to be able to say that? I’m retired.

We got married while I was still in law school and moved to our former family home while I was clerking for the Tax Court of New Jersey for the Honorable Roger M. Kahn, JTC and later became a tax consultant for Deloitte and Touche. Shortly after moving in, we started our family.

Home and Garden Blogger Stacy Ling and Husband Chris at Mount Snow

Currently, my two oldest daughters are starting to leave the nest as they are both college graduates. My youngest daughter is in her second year of college, so Chris and I are preparing for the next phase of life. Our current home and gardens are the next goal for us. We’ve always wanted an older home to love and now have one!

A few years ago, we bought a home in Southern Vermont cabin and appeared on an episode of House Hunters. Isn’t that so fun? We had the best time filming this show. With both homes and a transition to empty nesting, we are doing a slew of DIY renovation projects at both locations.

Stacy Ling on House Hunters — Which House Should We Choose?

Watch Stacy Ling and Her Family On HGTV

I’m often asked about the episode we appeared on. It’s called Ski Condo or Lake House in Vermont. The most recent link to view the episode is HERE and you can get the behind the scenes story here.

Stacy Ling Wants to Inspire

I hope my enthusiasm for gardening, home decor, and lifestyle motivates and inspires you to move out of your comfort zone and try new things. My philosophy is that more than half the battle of DIYing anything is having the confidence to try. We can do anything we set our minds to.

Thank you so much for following along.

Enjoy a beautiful day! xo

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