Best of Boston

2004 Best Florist

Ilex Designs

There are floral bouquets, and then there is floral art. Ilex is in the latter category, orchestrating fields full of fresh blooms—luminescent calla lilies with orchids and fluffy penoes with full-petaled, butter-hued French tulips. Even the simplest of arrangements are minimalist treasures, such as one with mango-hued garden roses, glossy green anthurium, and pale apricot hypericum berries. The staff, talented as it is, couldn’t be more helpful or down to earth. When you’re handed your arrangement, you won’t know whether to put it on the dining room table or in an exhibit case.

73 Berkeley St., Brookline, 617-422-0300, ilexflowers.com/