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| Milton Nurseries in the 1990s |
Alpheus "Al" Smith (1910-2007) was a florist and he owned and operated Milton Nurseries on West Street for many years. He and Randolph Crowell had started the business together. At one time he had 3 greenhouses and in later years 2 of them had deteriorated and had to be taken down. In earlier years, he would grow many of his own plants and as he got up in years, many of his plants would be ordered and brought in from larger companies. Sometimes when you would call to order a flower arrangement, he might sometimes not be as pleasant as you would like, but once he got to know you, then you knew that was just his way. He lived to be in his later 90's and worked up to the end. Robert & Pauline Hatt worked for Al for many, many years and were a tremendous help to him. He wouldn't have been able to continue working as long as he did had it not been for them. Once he told me he was the oldest living, working florist in Canada. Al was a regular at the Transcotia Motel for supper. He went every single night and always liked to have a glass of wine (or 2) with his meal. If you happened to go to Transcotia at suppertime you knew Al would be sitting there, usually alone, having his meal. I miss my occasional chat with Al, he didn't seem like a 90 something year old. His memory was sharp and conversation always interesting. Al had no children, and no siblings so after his death in 2007, his house was sold and the last remaining greenhouse was removed and the house was renovated. Al had been in the business for over 75 years.
I will always remember being a small boy, and Dad would take us to Al's to pick out an Easter Lilly for Mom. It was great to see all the flowers as he was still growing his own then I think.
ReplyDeleteI owned a house just a few houses down from Al's in 1996 and he asked one day if he could take the hanging plants I had on my house home with him so he could nurse them back to life! LOL I don't have much of a green thumb and I think Al got tired of watching my beautiful flowers dying a slow death. He brought them back to life and they looked beautiful once again. He was quite a guy and one of Queens County's true icons.
ReplyDeleteWe got all or our flowers from Al. He would deliver them himself and then spend time chatting with my grandparents. When I moved to Florida, I would still call him to have arrangements delivered to my family and friends. All I had to say was I'm Cheryl, Lauries's granddaughter and he would tell me not to worry he would make the best. And he did.
ReplyDeleteI called Al from sea back in 1995 while I was on my second deployment with the NATO fleet. I asked if he could put together some arrangments for Kelly for her birthday mothers day ect. They were all beautiful and he had no problem waiting to get paid until I got home after 6 months at sea. Now that is what I call customer service. what a nice guy.
ReplyDeletePretty sure we called him Alphie. Maybe Alph but Alphie Smith rolls off the tongue. He did flowers for my mother in the Mersey Hotel for almost four decades. Banquets, weddings, luncheons. Even Kiwanis got flowers. He ironed every ribbon fresh. Told me that even in his 90's he ironed ribbon by getting down on the floor and holding one end taught under a knee. He did all the flowers for the Giguerre/Fawthrope wedding (hockey goalie who married Doug Fawthrope's daughter. He told me he entered the bride's room at White Point while she slept to place flowers so she would see them upon waking. White flowers I think. He was always up for something like this-making special occasions more special. I always ordered flowers from him on Mother's Day-and he always had something "nice for Eloise", in the last years someone drove him to deliver them to her door. In his last Mother's Day, he invited my mother to his house for coffee or tea. I think they sat in the sun porch and, true to form, he surprised her with the flowers before she left. He died a few months later. He had his name in at Stone Haven in Port Mouton but did not have to leave his home. I think he was 96 or 97. He was originally from the Yarmouth area. Pretty sure he told me an RCMP threw him in the car and drove him to Milton because there was an opportunity. I miss him. He made life's celebrations so much better.
ReplyDeleteMy very first 'Job" was at Al's.My brother Gordie worked for Al for years as a helper and delivery driver.He made regular trips to Shelburne and Lockeport with Al's station wagon loaded with flowers.We used to gather peat moss for Al at a bog somewhere out the country road,don't quite remember where.Yes,Al could be gruff,but once you got to know the man,you wondered how such a large heart could fit inside one person
ReplyDeleteAl was a very nice man. He was very particular when he came to the motel to eat. He always had to have his biscuit first before he had his meal. If I hadn't been out to talk to him for a couple days, he would get the girls to get me to come out in the dining room and ask how I've been and chat with him for a few minutes. It's certainly amazing that he worked and drove a car still in his 90's. If we could all be so lucky!
ReplyDeleteI was one of dozens of "drivers" who worked for Al in the 60's. To some, he seemed to be a bit "gruff" at times but, once you got to know him a bit, you realized that he had a heart of gold. In fact, he quietly and anonymously helped many young people in the community at different times in different needs. In Sable River one afternoon, a dog ran in front of the station wagon full of flowers that I was delivering to a Funeral home in Barrington. My panic braking sent every basket careening off each other. Several were upset and emptied. After stopping on the side of the road, I spent a half hour or so trying to reassemble the carnage - baskets, arrangements, tags and all. If Al ever found out what had happened, he never mentionned it to me. I continued to order flowers from Al and Robert for as long as he had the place. He never lost his dry sense of humour and always told me that he knew that I was spending the money he paid me for "evil" things. He named them, but I probably should not.
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