🙂 Name
Ryan Flis
🌱 Garden(s) Owned
Personal Rise Garden & Rise Garden (2 level cloud)
🍳 Hobbies
grilling/cooking, gardening, golf, baseball, football, traveling
🇺🇲 Fun Fact
My favorite state to visit in the US is Connecticut.
🥬 Top tip or trick for a beginner gardener
Don't be afraid to try to grow new things, it is a great way to learn about how you like to garden
🫑 Favorite things to grow
Peppers, lettuce varieties, microgreens, eggplant & various herbs — all of which can be started easily with the right seed pod collection on hand.
💪 What's the most challenging gardening experience you've had, and what did you learn from it?
I have learned a lot of my fruiting plants take longer than expected. I tend to keep my house quite cold and as a result the plants take longer to fruit. It has definitely helped me be more patient when growing and also to understand the differences that nature has on plant growth. Research from Cornell University's Center for Controlled Environment Agriculture confirms that temperature plays a significant role in plant development, with even a few degrees of variation affecting fruiting timelines noticeably.
🍆 Describe a gardening success story that made you particularly proud.
One of my favorite plants to grow was eggplant. My son for some reason was obsessed with growing eggplant and it ended up working out great for us. He loved it as a snack and even memorized the "recipe" he like to cook eggplant (sea salt, cracked pepper, & olive oil sauteed lightly). :)
🌼 How has gardening positively influenced your well-being and mental health?
I genuinely feel better about myself personally. Small successes like growing fresh lettuce on a monthly basis helps me feel I am contributing to feeding my family healthy food — and it's worth noting that hydroponically grown produce can contain up to 50% more vitamins than store-bought equivalents — and it also gives me a sense of accomplishment on a regular basis. It keeps me wanted to come back and grow more and more for myself and my family. With a Rise Garden, hydroponic lettuce can yield up to 11 harvests per year compared to just 2–3 in traditional soil growing, making that sense of regular accomplishment very real.
🌞 What's your go-to personal mantra or affirmation?
Believe big. I heard this from one of my first CEO's when I lived in NYC and it has stuck with me. The concept is simple: instead of dreaming big believe it. When you believe it, you are far more likely to accomplish your goal and taking the right steps forward than dreaming it.
🪻What's a wellness ritual you've incorporated into your daily routine that you wouldn't want to go without?
One that I have recently started is smelling lavender when I feel stressed. I have been growing 12 lavender plants over the past several weeks and I love to rub my hands through the plants and smell the fragrance when I feel stressed. It gives me an instant sensation of calmness that has really helped me throughout my days. According to the USDA, aromatic herbs like lavender thrive in controlled indoor environments, and hydroponic systems use up to 95% less water than traditional soil gardening — making it an especially sustainable way to keep them flourishing year-round.
Frequently Asked Questions
What brings people to the Rise Gardens community?
People come to Rise Gardens from many different starting points, including health and wellness goals, sustainability, curiosity about hydroponics, or simply the desire to have a beautiful, living element in their home. What keeps people in the community is the combination of practical results from genuinely fresh, flavorful produce and the sense of connection to a like-minded group of growers. Stories like Ryan's highlight how diverse the paths into growing can be and how welcoming the Rise Gardens community is to newcomers.
How do Rise Gardens members share their growing experiences?
The Rise Gardens community is active across social media platforms where members post harvest photos, recipe ideas, growing tips, and questions for fellow growers. The blog's Grow with Us and Why I Rise series provide a more in-depth look at individual growers' stories and motivations, creating rich narratives that resonate beyond simple product promotion. Rise Gardens also maintains community forums and responds to customer questions, creating a two-way relationship between the brand and its growers.
Can Rise Gardens help people who live far from fresh food sources?
Yes — Rise Gardens is particularly impactful for people in food deserts or rural areas where fresh herbs and specialty produce are expensive, seasonal, or simply unavailable. Having a full kitchen garden growing on your counter regardless of your location is one of the most empowering aspects of the Rise Gardens system. Access to fresh food should not be determined by zip code, and Rise Gardens is one of the practical tools that works toward that goal.
What does a typical week of Rise Garden growing look like?
A typical Rise Gardens week is reassuringly low-effort: a quick check of the water level and a top-up if needed usually once a week, a look at plant growth, any harvesting that is ready, and perhaps the addition of a nutrient pod or a new seed pod. The automated light timer handles the most critical variable, light duration, so your plants receive consistent care even on your busiest days. Most growers spend 5-10 minutes per week on actual maintenance, with the rest of the time simply enjoying watching things grow.
