sunflowers :: green tea :: cactus :: shop hours in august

OK, how's this for a mixed bag of news...?

The dog days of summer in southern Ontario bring humidity, mosquitoes, thunder storms, incessant road work... yet all of this is forgiven with the arrival of the sunflowers!
For the next few weeks we will have a few buckets of these summer beauties available.

simple vase of sunflowers

And, after many, many requests and some real sleuthing, I have finally sourced a 
winter hardy cactus!

They bloom, they bear fruit (edible!) and best of all - they withstand being left outside in your garden through our winters.
The cactus are quite young at this point, and should be placed in the garden soon so that they can have time to establish themselves for the coming winter.

And, for something completely unrelated...

green tea plants at i fiori.

green tea ::  camellia sinensis

These are young vigorous plants which are happy indoors, (or can live outside during the summer and fall). 

Leaves can be harvested at any time, dried slightly and steeped into tea.

One method of making green tea from fresh leaves:

- pinch off a few leaves and steam-blanche them for 1-2 minutes, then cool them immediately under cold water

- the leaves will be soft and flexible, roll them loosely and place on an oven-proof tray 

- bake/dry them at a low temperature (225-250 F), stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until evenly dried

- cool and store in a sealed container, or steep 5 -6 leaves in boiling water and enjoy your all-natural, unprocessed green tea.

shop news in August

i fiori will be closed on sundays, mondays & tuesdays for the month of August.

We will still be available for phone orders and deliveries, or appointments - only the shop will be closed. 

And, coming soon... the big reveal of the tile project! Hopefully ready and installed for the August art crawl - I will keep you posted.

june art crawl - sip a mojito, smell the peonies and watch your little pixie grapes flourish

they're here....

the peonies are finally here!

It is Friday morning and I am off to Niagara to load up the bevmobile with buckets and buckets of fresh peonies. White, blush, pale pink, bi-colour, coral... I can't wait.

How ready are we for summer, father's day and the june art crawl? 

We have a good stock of the mojito mint, we have pixie grapes, we have a dizzying selection of new ferns (including some exquisite staghorns to choose from), terrariums and succulents abundant. 

And, of course, peonies to feed your soul.

all about food... and drink!

What a crazy season this spring has been - many of our regular greenhouse crops finished earlier than expected but many more are just plain late.

But - we now have the first pixie grapes in the shop!

pixie grapes

These are fabulous plants that will be happy indoors - or you can place them on a balcony, or plant them in your garden.
A dwarf version of Pinot Meunier grape - it may not provide you with a crop large enough to stock your wine cellar... but you can eat the grapes, and they are a beautiful, robust little plants.

Mojito mint

This weekend we will be back in stock with the popular mojito mint.

mojito mint

 Perfect for (what else) cocktails, but also the ideal, pure mint suited for salads and cooking.

be ready for summer with this mojito recipe 

Mojitos!

In an 8 to 10 ounce glass, combine 10-15 rinsed fresh mint leaves and 2 teaspoons superfine sugar.

With a muddler or a wooden spoon, coarsely crush mint leaves with sugar in the bottom of the glass.
Add:

- 4 to 5 tablespoons light rum

- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Mix well.

Fill glass with ice cubes and top off with chilled soda water.
Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

Makes 1 serving.

mother's day weekend

so what to do for Mother's day...?
i fiori has:
- herb planters

- succulent gardens & terrariums

- small garden jars (our regular customers will be familiar with these popular pieces...)
- we have 'wee' pots with mini violets and mini rosebushes (too cute, and perfect for a grandmother).
- of course, we also have custom selected and designed bouquets featuring Niagara's freshest flowers.
- you can put together a combination of Weirs Lane lavender products (culinary lavender buds, honey and essential oil is in stock!)
- don't get Bev started on the new ferns which arrived last Thursday - they are irresistible! The ultimate air cleaners, these ferns are grown in Canadian greenhouses, so will have a better that average chance of surviving and actually thriving in your home

- new Spanish Lavender topiaries and also 4" pots of the Spanish/stoechas lavender
- and an ever changing selection of unique vases, pots and gift ideas

Over the Mother;s Day weekend, the shop will be open:
Saturday : 11:30 - 5pm
Sunday : 10:30 - 4 pm

and hint-hint-hint... we also have gift certificates!

so much happening in downtown Hamilton

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say 'hi' at the Vintage Market on the weekend. It proved to be a wonderful place to find good homes for a lot of my vintage McCoy and Beauceware vases and pots, as well as 'introduce' the shop to some new people.
And now for some future event news(!)
I will be teamed up with Chris, from Cafe Oranje and Melanie, from MODify Your Closet, as well as other like-minded business owners, to have a table at the Village Station Bazaar this coming Sunday May 4th..

i fiori will be located in that iconic station structure, and we will have crazy-fresh herbs and plants and market bunches of simply the freshest flowers you can imagine. Come down to Ferguson Station on Sunday for a coffee, a mooch about, and to say hello...

Now for a serious thought or two.
For some time now Hamilton appears to be moving steadily forward in a really positive direction. Downtown is coming alive in a way that no wall of glass condo skyscrapers can compete with (hello, Toronto).
With one open-air market concept, one neighborhood festival, one gallery, one shop, one restaurant, one workspace, one bakery at a time we are populating our sidewalks and our downtown with people who want to be part of this phenomenon called the downtown core.
Oh, I'm happy to be living and working in Hamilton!