If you don’t have the energy to create your own lantern-lit, mulled thermos, winterland hike, there are alternatives.

To breathe in fresh cedar and pine while sipping fresh coffee and listening to holiday music, head down to Southlands Nursery. You can wind through candlelit paths while admiring a thicket of beautiful, healthy plants: holiday whites, juniper berries, tillandsias, euphorbias, poinsettias, azaleas, rhododendron.

As ever, Thomas Hobbs, Brent Beattie and the Southlands team have created artful vignettes throughout. Sparkly scarab beetles and felted mice dangle off branch trees. Gilded reindeer and vintage garden tchotchkes nestle into weathered wood and chipped metal. Customers are eagerly waiting for their freshly made bough and pine cone wreaths.

This is a lovingly curated space, wonderfully turned out for the holidays.
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Drive two and a half kilometres east, and you’ll find yourself in another holiday wonderland at Thomas Hobbs Florist. Though  Hobbs no longer owns the West 41st floral shop he established in 1975, his creative spirit lives on. Helen Rivero – originally from Venezuela – bought the business from the second owner, Maureen Sullivan, who had run the florist business for 20 years.

Rivero and her team continue to decorate the space beautifully for the holidays. Here, it’s the scent of fresh flowers, woodland boughs and fancy candles that will fill your head.
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www.creatorsvancouver.com