OTHER CITIES: 
The Best Florists in Toronto
- Posted by Catherine
- Filed in Best of Toronto
- June 27, 2008
Flowers weren't always the mild-mannered simile for beauty they are today. Take dahlias: harmless filler flower now, formerly the Aztec flower of war, the bloom of choice to accompany human sacrifices to the Serpent Woman.
(I feel like I just broke some unspoken rule about keeping the phrase "human sacrifices" out of feel-good flower posts. Oh well.)
Then there's tulips. Today they crowd the entrance to every convenience store, yet during Holland's Tulpenwoede ("tulip fury") a single bulb was once sold in exchange for several loads of wheat, oxen, a mess of pigs, a dozen sheep, booze, butter, 1000 lbs of cheese, a bed, a suit of clothes and a silver beaker (see Torontonian Andrew Smith's excellent "Strangers in the Garden".)
Proust said he only had to think of lilacs to smell their scent. For those of us with less vivid sense memory, here is a short list of some of Toronto's best florists (which almost never trade in oxen).
We've tried here to assemble a decent cross-section of options. Across the city, at different price points, and for different needs. You've got your wedding flowers, your chichi flowers (Fiori), your hemp wearing flowers (Eco Flora), and your cheap and cheerfuls (Kay and Young's).
But still, this is not The One List For All Time Ever. If you don't see your favourite florist on here, tell us about them. That's why god made comment systems.
Florists at top, from left to right are: Kay and Young's, Poppies (photo courtesy Patrick Smith) and Suzanne Gardner Flowers.
Poppies
Poppies quickly brightened up the corner of Queen and Dovercourt when it opened with its crispy sign and plastic flower building decor. The sign is rock and roll while the inside is simultaneously vibrant and serene. A rotating variety of indoor and outdoor garden knick knackery, plus stylish potted arrangements to go, or choose an assortment of fresh flowers from the back. More...
Pink Twig
Pink Twig is fairly new to Little Italy. Open less than two years but consistently rated one of Toronto's best flower shops. The cheery playfulness of Tanya List and Amy Saleh's store fits right in on one of Toronto's most walkable streets. With fun and sexy floral style. More...
Eco Flora
Scott Graham is the one-man operation of Eco Flora. This fair trade and organic florist is located at 1982 Islington, but delivers throughout the GTA, at incredibly reasonable prices. The arrangements are simple but not minimal, lush with excellent texture and creative colour. The cellophane is compostable and all containers are fairly traded (and usually reusable). More...
Jaidens Petals
Unlike TV shows, great stores tend to generate spin offs as good as their origins. That's the case with Jaidens Petals, which grew out of their Ossington neighbour Cindiloowho. Lovely arrangements that look like you picked them while out on a walk (if you happened to walk past implausibly pretty selections of ranunculus and peonies). More...
Suzanne Gardner Flowers
Mark Thuet is right, Liberty Village is a sexy address, if still slightly confusing to navigate (find the Brazen Head Irish pub, and then go behind it). Suzanne Gardner's cool and quiet flower studio's arrangements are simple and classic. As they put it "Flowers are like music. There are only so many notes but infinite ways to combine them to come up with something different." More...
Wild Thyme
Margaret Corrigan's Wild Thyme operates out of a studio that is crisp white on the inside and dark and formal on the outside. Margaret worked in some of London's posher high street florists, and her shop and its contents in Leslieville looks like they've been transplanted from there, with a pared down modern English character. More...
Fresh Floral Creations
Fresh Floral Creations under owner Bruno Duarte now has two locations. One within Mary Tripi in Yorkville, and one on its own on the Danforth between Broadview and Chester. If you're looking to make your home or office more life-affirming and colourful, sign up for Orchids Absolute, where Fresh provides and regularly replaces your orchid to ensure it is always flowering. More...
Foglie
Foglie is Italian for leaves, and the awning carries on the hallowed Toronto tradition of naming a place (Xacutti), and then adding the phonetic pronunciation so you can say where you're going. The chalkboard sign outside currently muses that "a life without love is like a year without summer". Toronto really earned our summer this year, I say we reward ourselves with some flowers. More...
Posies
Posies, aka florist-to-the-stars, continues poshifying Mirvish Village. Posies' website name drops their celebrity clientele (though I won't). Arrangements are straightforwardly elegant, and traditionally romantic. Floral Designer & Event Architect Karina Lemke is featured on Life Network's Rich Bride Poor Bride, so her portfolio is wedding-heavy, though Posies handles all occasions. More...
Kay and Young's
This list tends towards modern and minimalist florists, featuring stores with creative directors and floral designers. But a Toronto florist list without a nod to the corner of Avenue and Davenport isn't complete. Kay and Young's doesn't have Eco Flora's fair and green qualifications, but what it does have is abundance. Year-round, every colour of rose you can conceive of spilling out onto the sidewalk. More...
Elizabeth Munro Designs
Elizabeth Munro's theory is that us winter-ridden Canadians need all the visual stimulus we can get. We do spend an awful lot of time looking staring at white (and grey), so we're probably that much more appreciative of colour. Elizabeth is on to something here. Visit her boutique in the Distillery District. More...
Quince Flowers
Quinces are one of the food plants of baby flutterbys, and they know from pretty. Quince's stores are pretty as their flowering namesake -- with an eye-catching corner location in Leslieville, and another up at Yonge and Craighurst (north of Eglinton). Minimal but high-impact style. More...
Demarco-Perpich
Demarco-Perpich has been bringing chic to Toronto since 1979. They've just moved from their Rosedale location down to the join the cult of West Queen West/Ossington. The entrance is a work in progress, but flowers are kept inside anyways. Specializing in bright and beautiful spilling out of more traditional patina'd containers. More...
Fiori
An upscale florist on St Clair West, the staff are welcoming, though the "do not handle" sign beside the hand-dipped metallic pearl finish candlesticks feels like it's a blanket statement for the whole of the store. Head in past the selection of Seda France Bon Chic candles, cast fruit and plush pillows, to order your rich arrangements. More...
Burst
Dayle Crawford's Burst Flowers and Jewelry does double-duty, but doesn't neglect either. Dayle buys flowers which are grown responsibly, and traded fairly. A small space maximized with a great selection of planters and pots up high and down low, jewelry at eye level, cut flowers at the back. Burst started the move down Walnut Avenue, followed by neighbouring Tealish, and hopefully the trend will continue. More...
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Clearly this list is incomplete; You've missed Lib & Ido's Rose Emporium on Dupont - the best place to find roses in the city, in my opinion.