I love my job

Man, there are worse ways to make a living!



This is a peek into one of the greenhouses that I visited Friday morning on my regular swoop through the Niagara peninsula collecting plants and cut flowers for the shop.

Owned and operated by Leo and Lynne, the greenhouse has benches and benches of fabulous ranunculus ready this season.
It is almost impossible to select only a few to bring back to the store with me.

This is the back of the car- wall to wall Spanish lavender, English lavender, fabulous fresh cut parrot and regular tulips, ranunculus and fresh herbs.
It smelled even better than it looked!

Once I was back in the shop, I found a place for my morning treasures:


 the front window at i fiori

fresh herbs this weekend: arugula, silver thyme, curly parsley, Italian parsley and sage

lemon cypress topiaries, Spanish lavender, potted hyacinths and helleborus

 
 

NEW! Organic seed kits.
The kit includes planting medium, biodegradable pot and saucer, and organic seed collections.
- Edible Flowers: nasturtium, viola & chamomile
- French Garden: Lavender, thyme & marjoram


See you in the shop!

Tulips. The cure for winter.

80 km wind gusts.
Freezing rain.
Below 0 celsius.
April 12.

There is only one remedy in mid-April for a winter that won't go away.

Bring out the tulips.

In the shop, available by the armful, less expensive than a couple cups of coffee, and just waiting to make you smile...
Come in and taunt old-man-winter.

shamrocks and spring bulbs

OK.
That's enough.

We have all been suffering from a bit of winter fatigue. Oh sure, a bit of snow is pretty and this is Canada... but it is mid-March and time for Spring.

i fiori is bursting with spring bulbs ready to bloom! We have collections already potted up and ready to go, or you can select the tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus and muscari to create your oun small haven of springtime.

And of course there are shamrocks.

green oxalis (shamrocks) with white flowers

 

We have potted shamrocks (oxalis, actually) to brighten up your home or workplace, and they will be equally happy outside when the weather warms up!

For a gorgeous contrast we also have the burgundy oxalis which feature delicate pale pink flowers.

 

 

 

Oh, Springtime.

Hurry up!

the collaboration

Today was the kind of magical day when a group of people come together with a solid purpose, a common goal and something very special unfolds.
Shot in 270 Sherman Street North in Hamilton, here are some preliminary photos of the day's work.
More to come!

The collaborators
Claire Dam: photographer ...  http://clairedamphotography.com/
White Elephant : vintage dresses... http://www.whiteelephantshop.ca/
Aimee Carreen Stricker : make up and hair... aimeecarreen@gmail.com
Breanna Stevenson : table styling : bre.stevenson@hotmail.com
Fehn Foss & Breanna Stevenson : models
i fiori : bouquets, hair and table flowers

spring is almost here...

Oh, if wishing could make it so...

Maybe all we needed was a couple of days of real hard-core winter to remind us of how easy we have had it for the past few years.

But Spring is very close, coaxed on by oxalis and cheery little primroses and all of the fresh herbs and flowers in the shop.

The Collaboration
Today the shop is closed, but we are at a photo shoot featuring vintage wedding dresses and bouquets from i fiori. When all of the elements are stitched together I will post these shots here and give you the links to all of the talented 'collaborators'.