florist Toronto RZY florals Rosalie Villanueva
Rosalie Villanueva

The Florist Isolating in an Apartment Filled with Daffodils

Plus her husband, Trevor, and their pup, Daisy

In this special edition of our Two of Us series, interesting duos—couples, friends, roommates—share how they’re spending time together during quarantine.

It’s a pretty sweet tableau: a couple of entrepreneurs who are also a couple—florist Rosalie Villanueva and indie video game developer Trevor Coleman—plus their daschund/mini pinscher pup, Daisy, quarantining together in a King West apartment filled with daffodils, peonies and ranunculus. 

Villanueva owns RZY, which specializes in creating stunning, occasionally surreal floral design. “Living with a florist who works from home might sound cute,” she says, “but you might not think so when your living room is buried under flowers, delivery boxes, buckets, leaves and rolls upon rolls of chicken wire, tissue paper and ribbons! Trevor is a very good sport. At least it smells really nice—spring flowers are the best.”

 

Toronto florist Rosalie Villanueva

Do you have any new quarantine rituals?

“Trevor has been working on his video game—it’s a sheepdog simulator where the player has to work with a dog named Daisy (of course) and teach her commands to round up the sheep. It’s pretty adorable.

I’ve been meditating with my tarot cards and doing yoga classes on Zoom. I’ve also been repotting a lot of plants and watching online tutorials on how to rehabilitate my orchids—fingers crossed. We’ve both dabbled with baking, mostly cakes and cookies. No sourdough, though.”

 

Toronto florist RZY Florals Rosalie Villanueva

What’s your most memorable moment so far?

“For Daisy’s adoption anniversary in April (she’s a rescue, so we don’t know her real birthday), we drove out just north of the city and hiked on a small side trail of the Bruce Trail. There was no one around and it was a beautiful day. I loved seeing her get so excited and sniffing everything.

Delivering Mother’s Day flowers together was also a highlight. We have great conversations on long car rides. We went as far as St. Catharines, and it felt like a road trip in a car full of flowers.”

 

Toronto florist Rosalie Villanueva

Rosie, how has your business changed during quarantine?

“Usually by this time of the year, weddings would be in full swing. I’ve had to take a bit of a detour with all the cancellations and postponements, so I’m beginning to do retail orders (which I normally only do for Valentine’s and Mother’s Day).

Wholesalers are now operating on limited schedules, fewer things are available and there are longer wait times to do curbside pick-ups from suppliers. Everyone stays in their cars. I miss running into industry friends and hugging and catching up while browsing the markets or picking up flowers from the wholesalers.

I already feel very deeply connected to beautiful things and have an appreciation for nature because of my work. But I definitely get teary-eyed a lot faster than I used to. When I’m out walking Daisy and see a flowering tree in full bloom? Forget it. I’m mush.”

What are your personal favourite flowers?

“My all-stars would have to be hellebores, fritillaria persica, bearded iris, dogwood, jasmine, bleeding hearts, zinnia, Chinese lanterns. Oh, and lilacs. As a florist—and an indecisive Libra—this is a hard one for me! I’ve probably forgotten something and will be very mad at myself later.”

 

Rosalie Villanueva RZY Florals

What are you most excited to do when the world fully opens up?

“Basketball. So much. I binge watched The Last Dance on Netflix and got so emotional. I’ve loved basketball since I was a kid because my dad and I would watch it together. It’s hard to go from the Raptors winning the championship last year to…this. It’s the worst.

We both miss having drinks with friends on a patio or going out for brunch. Trevor misses getting haircuts. I miss the Toronto Flower Market at CAMH park. And I can’t wait to get a proper manicure when this is all over.

The hardest thing has been dropping off groceries to my parents without being able to touch them. I can’t wait to hug them again.”

 

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