Green thumb: anemones

Walking into Demarco-Perpich on Queen street West is like walking straight into an impossibly opulent, floral still life painting by Edouard Manet.  The day we were there, the doorway was almost blocked by a spectacular surge of soft pink peonies in a tall, regal glass jar.  Which meant you were overwhelmed, as you entered the store, by the colour and by the scent—that exhilarating, heart-lifting fragrance of summer, of sunny, languid June afternoons.

But peonies in the winter?  These particular blooms, explained floral designer Peter Demarco, were from New Zealand.  No waiting until next summer!

But while the peonies were undeniably seductive, we were equally taken by a much simpler, more modest display: two exquisite, deep-purple-blue anemones in a glass cylinder.  The deep indigo of them burned so hot the colour seared our eyeballs and lodged in our brains.

There was no way not to buy them.  And they were only $3.00 per stem.

The smoldering anemones and a lot of other blossoms besides (as well as spectacular vessels to put them in) are available at Demarco-Perpich, 1044 Queen Street West.

www.demarco-perpich.com

416-967-0893