A thoughtfully chosen token of love is always appreciated. But when you’re booking reservations, choosing gifts and chocolates or sending flowers to loved ones — be it your spouse, a new romantic interest or your best friend — the Valentine’s Day rush can be overwhelming.
It’s certainly a crunch time behind the scenes. For florists, the biggest volume holiday of the year is typically Mother’s Day. But Valentine’s Day is right behind, requiring months of preparation — and it’s the most intense for deliveries, thanks to the fact that it falls in February. “With Valentine’s Day being in peak winter, it adds a layer of complexity. The weather is unpredictable and we have to be ready for anything,” said Michael Smaye, co-founder with Raphi Aronowicz of Toronto’s Tonic Blooms.
The love month also garners the most unique orders. “The requests we get are much more specialized, with customers asking for specific designs to match their exact needs,” said Kwan Rujira, co-owner of Thyme Studio on Queen Street East. “So we’re ‘busier’ in the sense that Valentine’s Day is more about a high level of detail and customization for each individual client, as opposed to just the volume.”
Of course, some default to the classics — at a cost. “If you order a dozen red roses, you’ll be paying a large premium for that colour choice,” said Jennifer Fowlow, founder of Wild North Flowers. “It’s all about supply and demand and there are only so many red roses that can be grown in the world and be in perfect condition for early February.”
Ahead, Toronto florists share more insight into the hectic holiday and advice on how to choose the best Valentine’s Day bouquet your hard-earned money can buy — instead of 12 overpriced roses.
Thyme Studio
Beginning with a small location in Stackt market in 2020, Thyme Studio’s three co-founders opened a larger, permanent location in Riverside (779 Queen St. E., thymestudio.ca) the following year, where they’re known for unique arrangements and flower subscriptions that don’t cost a week’s pay; a $45 mini bouquet can be delivered monthly or every two weeks. “It’s truly like my baby,” says Rujira, who started the business with her husband Suriya and good friend Nas Neufeld. “I personally love the process of creating a bouquet for someone, and nothing makes me happier than seeing a customer’s reaction when they receive one of our designs.”
What goes into prepping for Valentine’s Day?
“Preparation for Valentine’s Day starts months in advance. Believe it or not, we actually place our flower orders right before Christmas to ensure we secure the best inventory.”
What’s your most popular Valentine’s Day bouquet?
“Our bestseller this year is definitely our signature blush bouquet. It’s a beautiful, soft pink hand-tied bouquet that we finish with matching pink wrapping paper for a monochromatic, elegant look.”
What flowers are grown locally or sustainably this time of year?
“Tulips are the stars right now! They are in season and locally grown, which makes them a great sustainable choice. They have such a unique form and work perfectly as a filler or a focal point.”
What are your tips for sending a great bouquet on a budget?
“Provide the florist with your budget and a general colour scheme, then let them lead the design. This allows us to select the best-looking seasonal flowers within your price range. If you insist on specific premium flowers, the price can climb quickly, but if you trust your florist to choose the best value blooms, you’ll get a much more beautiful and full arrangement for your money.”
What should people not send for Valentine’s Day?
“If the recipient has cats, lilies and tulips are a definite ‘no’ because they are highly toxic. I always recommend checking if the person has pets or specific allergies before choosing an arrangement to ensure the gift is both beautiful and safe.”
What’s your best memory from Valentine’s Days past?
“One year we were closing up and walking to our car carrying a bucket of leftover flowers. A guy literally followed us to the car and said, ‘I messed up badly, can I please buy those flowers off you?’ He was ready to trade whatever cash he had on him. We ended up just giving them to him. It was a true Valentine’s emergency!”
Tonic Blooms
You can spot a Tonic Blooms bouquet by the sheath of ink-blue denim that most arrangements come neatly wrapped in. A decade ago, co-founders Michael Smaye and Raphi Aronowicz started the business in their apartments. Now, they deliver all over the GTA in as little as two hours (tonicblooms.com). They operate without a storefront, which allows them to keep overhead low and price their reliably beautiful bouquets fairly.
What goes into prepping for Valentine’s Day?
“It’s a year-round affair. From the moment we deliver our last Valentine’s Day bouquet on Feb. 14, we review everything we learned so we can improve for next year.”
What’s your most popular bouquet?
“Our twist on a red rose bouquet called Red My Mind ($97) is one of our bestselling designs, blending multiple rose varieties with fragrant eucalyptus, compared to the traditional baby’s breath pairing that you often see.”
What flowers are grown locally or sustainably this time of year?
“Ontario winters are too harsh for outdoor field-grown flowers, but we’re fortunate to have access to beautiful blooms from local greenhouses this time of year. Ranunculus are a fan-favourite around here. Anemones, snapdragons and tulips are greenhouse-grown in Ontario, plus our suppliers all use sustainable growing practices.”
What’s your advice for sending a great bouquet on a budget?
“Novelty or ‘fancy’ tulips are unlike standard varieties because they have unique features like double blooms, frills and ruffles. They’re breathtaking as they open and are often compared to peonies, but at a fraction of the price.”
What are your tips for choosing the perfect flowers for someone?
“Don’t get hung up on pinks and reds being mandatory for Valentine’s Day — soft neutrals are timeless and brights are cheery; both can be really well-received. If you’re sending flowers to someone you may have recently met and don’t know very well, we recommend choosing something other than red roses. These are considered the most romantic flower and can sometimes be perceived as coming off too strong, so choosing either a different colour rose or a different flower altogether will tone it down.”
What shouldn’t you send for Valentine’s Day?
“As long as your order is thoughtful and heartfelt, your recipient will love it and your Valentine’s Day will be a success. The flowers will of course do the talking but when in doubt, ensuring your card message is sentimental and meaningful will seal the deal.”
What’s been a highlight from Valentine’s Days past?
“We see every card message when each order gets processed and it’s always incredibly touching when we come across a proposal message. To think that someone is trusting us to be a part of such a momentous, once-in-a-lifetime moment is so heartwarming.”
Wild North Flowers
Wild North Flowers has become a Toronto go-to for artful arrangements since opening in 2016. Their creations aren’t cheap, but they are exceptional — think glossy red anthurium flowers in tonal bundles or a pastel bouquet that resembles a pouf of cotton candy. “We love colour and pride ourselves on never making the exact same arrangement twice,” says founder Jennifer Fowlow. The online-only florist (wildnorthflowers.com) uses Ontario-grown flowers as much as possible and plants one tree for every order.
When do you start prepping for Valentine’s Day?
“At least six weeks in advance. A big constraint for us is always labour. Our design style is unique and not something that can necessarily be taught to a freelance designer that we hire just for Valentine’s week, so we need to invest in training.”
What are your most popular bouquets this Valentine’s Day?
“Our bestsellers are the Ooh La La [red, pink and peach ranunculus, snapdragons and roses in a white bevelled vase, $225] and the Love Bug [a smaller arrangement that gives the florist creative license, $115]. Both options are a great way to send something romantic without going the traditional dozen roses route.”
What are your tips for choosing the perfect flowers for someone?
“Start with a colour palette and your general budget, and go from there. Flowers mean so many different things to different people; it is largely based on their own lived experiences. You may view yellow daffodils as a sign of spring, while someone else may associate them with their grandmother.”
What should we not send for Valentine’s Day?
“People tend to associate all-white flowers with funerals (or sometimes weddings), so I would steer clear of that unless you know for sure that’s their esthetic.”
What’s been a highlight from Valentine’s Days past?
“We’ve noticed an extremely cute trend of dads ordering a larger arrangement for their wives, and then a smaller one for their daughters. Reading those father-to-daughter messages is so cute, and we all joke about how we wish our dads had thought of that when we were younger. Imagining the smiles on the little girls’ faces is pretty fun.”
