A book, a bite and a bouquet
Meeting Kate is just one of the delightful reasons to go shopping along Barton
OUR
FIRST SHAKE of snow is drifting down to the street. For most gardeners it’s an affront.
That’s why it’s such a cheery thing to bump into a place to buy bouquets on Barton Street.
The House of Penney (houseofpenney.com) is another reason to visit a small stretch of Barton that includes the inviting 541 Eatery and Exchange, and the River Trading Company used bookstore.
Kate Penney has weathered her first year in business, but this is my first time in.
“I try to have an offering that spans any budget,” the 33-year-old says as she opens the cooler to a forest of flowers.
From the beginning Penney knew that walk-in traffic on Barton wasn’t going to support her floral business. So, though she is open Wednesday through Saturday, the bulk of the orders come from brides.
“They’re the bread and butter,” Penney says.
Last year she did 40 weddings, making centrepieces for the tables, arrangements for altars, and bouquets for the brides.
“One arrangement I redid four times to get it exactly the way the bride wanted it.”
And those brides know what they want. Organic, loose, wild, local and totally seasonal.
“Some florists shake the bouquet on video to prove how much movement there is,” Penney says.
These videos pop up on Instagram because that is where you find your flock.
From her Instagram account — @houseofpenneyfloraldesign — Kate Penney gets new business and also benefits from word of mouth. The 30-somethings, Penney says are crazy about romantic weddings and all things in the “granny arts.”
“Macramé, knitting, canning, gardening, they’re interested in all of it.”
This season she could barely keep up with the demand for garden roses, dahlias, ranunculus, cosmos and anemones. She orders from local farmers, including La Primavera Farms in Dundas, and Earth to Table Farm in Flamborough.
Opening a floral business on Barton might have been daunting for some but not for Penney, who lived in the same sort of transitioning neighbourhoods in Toronto while learning the floral business at various shops and the St. Lawrence Market.
“They’re real people on Barton; I looked forward to generating some money for the community members, so working with 541 has been a great match for us as well.”
Penney donates a portion of sales to 541 Eatery’s button program that helps feed people who can’t afford a meal.
Though she grew up in Burlington, she spent many years in Toronto before moving to Hamilton with her husband, filmmaker and editor Michael Penney, and miracle baby Jude.
Jude is four now, but his arrival nearly killed his mother. Kate Penney has a rare disease called hollow visceral myopathy, which has serious impact on the intestinal tract.
“I’m basically on life support,” Penney says of the disease which weakens the muscles that push food through the body. She is fed nightly through a catheter that delivers liquid containing 1,700 calories. After Jude was born, she battled a serious case of sepsis.
In a way, the disease explains her drive and energy. If she wasn’t working so hard, she would be thinking more about her illness and the future.
“I concentrate on my work, think about new designs, and Jude likes to help, just like I helped and learned from my mother about flowers.”
Though there are a couple of weddings coming up in December, Penney is focusing on other seasonal ideas. She is partnering with Holistic Design Solutions (holisticdesignsolutions.ca) to offer holiday decorating. They will put up and decorate a tree, design mantel arrangements, co-ordinate table settings “on trend” and basically destress holiday entertaining.
Or take her advice and keep it simple: put some nice greens in a vase as a base, add a few flowers and just swap the flowers out as they start to fade.
That’s the story from Barton Street, where you can get a bite, a book and a bouquet.
“I concentrate on my work, think about new designs, and Jude likes to help, just like I helped and learned from my mother about flowers.” KATE PENNEY