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FeedThe Art of Flowers
By Meleah Maynard
Photo by Eric Moore
Just like an architect designing a home, form and geometry are foremost in Toscano’s mind when he creates his distinctive arrangements. Size, shape, color, and angles drive the renowned floral artist’s design style, which he describes as “very organized and focused.”
Toscano, 59, has been at the helm of Wisteria since he moved from New York 21 years ago to set up shop in Minneapolis. Known for creating one-of-a-kind pieces, Toscano doesn’t favor a particular flower or color for his designs, but follows the desires of each individual client. He often incorporates interesting varieties of classic blooms in his arrangements. He might, for example, combine a cluster of pincushion protea with orange winterberries and unusual orange peppers on stems. For the holidays, he typically works with his commercial clients to create large, one-of-a-kind arrangements with seasonal zing.
Wisteria has earned an array of “Best Florist” awards from various local and national magazines, including Minnesota Bride magazine, and the national bridal magazine, The Knot. Toscano credits his success to personalized service and dedicated support staff. “Quite honestly and seriously, I give myself to my clients,” says Toscano, whose loyal list of clients is constantly growing. “It’s fun for me, especially when I’m doing weddings because I care deeply about making people feel really comfortable and happy on one of the most important days of their lives. When I show up with the bride’s bouquet and she starts crying and hugging me—that makes it all worth it.”
Even as a child growing up in the Bronx, Toscano seemed to have a way with flowers. “I was an artistic kid who would sit home and draw and paint,” he says. “We didn’t have a yard, so I’d plant little seeds in milk cartons and grow them on the fire escape.” By the age of 10, he was checking out library books on floral arranging and spending time at his aunt’s house creating arrangements from the ferns and Queen Anne’s Lace he collected from her garden. He would mimic the stilted, little arrangements he saw in the books, and then tear the whole thing apart and do it his own way. “Even then, they were a little too stiff,” he says.
Eventually, his passion for flowers took a backseat to art and acting. After earning his fine arts degree from Catholic University in Washington, D.C., Toscano spent most of the 1970s working part-time as an actor and director while teaching art and drama in area public schools. By the early ’80s, he was back in New York, acting, singing, and waiting tables to make ends meet.
Longing to inject more creativity into his life, Toscano started creating floral arrangements for people on the side in 1983. Word spread quickly and it wasn’t long before the owner of a well-known floral design studio asked Toscano to join his staff. Two years later, Toscano opened his own flower shop in New Jersey. He loved the work but could tell his style was a bit “avant-garde” for the neighborhood. When friends moved to Minneapolis, he jumped at their invitation to visit and check out the city. “My friends said I could really make a mark in Minneapolis because no one else was doing what I was doing—and they were right.”
Meleah Maynard is a Minneapolis freelance writer and editor.
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