Sparkle and spice for Sudbury valentines from downtown entrepreneurs
CBC
Red roses are the order of the day at the Rosery Florist in downtown Sudbury, an institution in the city.
It's the eve of Valentine's Day and customers, mainly men, are sheepishly placing their orders at the last minute.
Owner Pat Ptaszynski says she's seen it all before.
She sits in the middle of her shop as a legion of assistants take orders, sweep, de-thorn flowers and put together arrangements.
"As usual all the men come in with the late orders at the last minute," she says.
"Looks like we got over two hundred and some orders for tomorrow the 14th not counting the ones that went out today."
Ptaszynski has been at the Rosery Florist for almost 75 years, since she was about 15.
She says 3,000 flowers will go out and most of the red rose bouquets have a sparking glass gem at the centre of each flower.
"I created that five years ago," she says. "Now it's going over like crazy. Everyone wants diamonds in their roses."
The florist business has changed over the years, she says.
"In those days we didn't have what we have today. We didn't have oasis that we could put flowers in those days. We used to have to put it in peat moss or sphagnum moss, which was very hard to work with. And we put flowers in Coca-Cola cans that were painted to look nice."
While she has seen Valentine's days come and go, Ptaszynski has an abiding love for her profession, saying she has never wanted to do anything else.
"I have really enjoyed my life here at the flower shop," she says. "I get them from when they're born to their departing days: weddings, funerals, anniversaries, proms, babies arriving. I love my work. that's why I'm still here."
Around the corner, Chef Tammy Maki's abiding passion is for boutique chocolate.
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