Divine Floréal: MFH Part 2a : Toronto Florists and Day Class at Lilium

After Phuket, my second stop was Toronto. 2 really good friends live there and I had said I would visit them for yearsss but never did. Boy, I am so glad that I finally did. Apart from catching up and having a blast with the girls, Toronto also had some nice surprises for me.

I visited a few flower shops and the first few that I went to were really old-fashioned ones. I was about to give up but kept going on and finally found what I was looking for.

Parterre Flowers has been described as "the kind of irresistibly quaint florist you might just stumble upon in London's Kensington". I cannot agree more.

The shop’s décor is simple yet your mood is instantly lifted up from the moment you stepped in. The owner is a lovely couple and the husband is exceptionally approachable (yes, even by Canadian standard) and I cannot thank him enough for all his kind help.

http://www.parterre-flowers.com/

I also visited another flower shop call Quince which is a bit out of the way, but the shop is very spacious and the basement stocks some nice vases and home decor items.

And a large fridge to store all the flowers.

http://www.quinceflowers.com

Found another lovely flower shop – Lilium, run by mother and daughter team – Phyllis and Marilyn. The shop is in this awesome red brick building and I really like the neighbourhood the shop is located.

Phyllis teaches flower arranging so I decided to join for a one-day class. It was a private class so I got to choose to pick what arrangements I want to make. I chose a fruit and vegetable arrangement with asparagus around the vase and arranged dahlia, hydrangea, nigella, berries, strawberries, lime and grapes inside. I think this arrangement is perfect for summer garden tea parties.