Eco-friendly florists

Do you like flowers? I do! But I stopped buying cut flowers for myself many years ago because of a few reasons that were bugging me.

1. I don’t want to breathe/bring pesticides into my home
2. I don’t want to contribute to polluting the Earth more by importing flowers from halfway across the globe
3. I’m always worried about how the people are paid in poor and developing countries

A few weeks ago, I was having a conversation on Instagram about eco-flowers and organic flowers. The girl I was talking to hadn’t heard of it before, but I remembered reading about it a long time ago, so I went online and did a bit of research, and found that yes, it does exist, and is more popular than ever in fact. There are various classifications, and as usual, you’ll want to ask questions to your florist before making your decision (not to mention that if they don’t know something, it might trigger their curiosity to inquire and learn more about where their flowers come from, etc. since their clients are asking for it).

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Toronto for the day and used the opportunity to not only dropped by a few of my favourite places (like The Big Carrot and GrassRoots Store on Danforth), but I found a cute little flower shop called Eco | Stems, on King Street. I arranged a short visit to see what it was all about.

I met the owner who kindly answered some of my questions. Long story short, he explained that he unfortunately doesn’t have any organic flowers in the winter, simply because no one seems to be growing flowers organically in greenhouses (ahem! anyone interested in growing organic flowers in Canada year-round?? I see a definite market for this! I know I would buy more flowers if I could get local organic ones!). However, in the summer he does carry a wide array of local flowers including organic ones from local farmers. That right there made me happy! happy! 🙂 He also explained that most of his flowers are certified fair-trade (meaning that the people are paid fairly for their work, even in developing countries) and he tries to get as local as possible, even in the winter.

Here’s their description from their website:

eco|stems sells only local, fair-trade or organic flowers and plants. Local is our first choice, then fair-trade followed by organic. If it’s not labelled one of those three we don’t sell it.

So, fair-trade, as local as possible and organic as much as they can. That’s not bad! The store is also powered by BullFrog Power, a green energy provider.

Even though they weren’t organic, I still felt good enough to treat myself to a few local/fair-trade stems before leaving the shop. So pretty! And if I get the chance to go back to Toronto this summer, I will stop by to get some local organic flowers for sure!

If you live in Toronto, keep this little flower shop in mind the next time you buy flowers! If you don’t live in Toronto, just remember to ask around and do some research online, or go visit your local Farmers’ Market and local organic farmers, they usually always have some pretty organic flowers for sale.

Tell them you read about them on my blog, who knows, maybe they’ll give you a discount 😉

You can find more info on their website www.ecostems.ca and you can also “like” their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter.

Eco | Stems

364A King Street East, Toronto ON

416-214-6479 | info@ecostems.ca | Monday-Friday: 10-6 | Saturday-Sunday: 12-5

Look at all the beautiful pictures below and share with your friends to let them know!

This was my bouquet that kept my desk beautiful for over week