Welcoming Fiori Garden Center and Mason Supply

After 35 years Cipriano Nursery & Florist has closed its doors after the Cipriano family retired. Now, East Meadow residents David and Karin DeMartin are taking over the garden center side of the business under the new name Fiori Garden Center and Mason Supply.

Fiori means flower in Italian, and Karin believes the name is fate. “When Maria, the daughter of Cipriano, asked me what we were going to name it, I said Fiori,” Karin said. “She said, ‘you’re not going to believe this,’ because her father wrote in bricks fiori when he first built the place. We both had goosebumps.”

The DeMartin’s have been residents of East Meadow for 27 years. Karin said that she remembers bringing her two daughters, Cara, 26, and Kristina, 24, around Cipriano’s in carriages because she thought Pietro Cipriano — the original owner — was amazing.

“That guy was magical,” she said. “He built so many things here and benches, he was so artistic. He told me that when they started all they had was a parking lot and $16.”

When Cipriano’s first opened, Pietro sold firewood and focused on lawn maintenance while his wife Rosa cared for the garden. As the years went on they purchased more land, including a house to create a gift shop.

David has experience with masonry. He runs his own company called Procida Landscaping & Design, Inc., which he’s been running for about 30 years.

“David originally came to this lot because he saw that there was a truck for sale,” Karin said. “He looked around and looked at the lady who happened to be Maria and asked if the place was for sale. She told him she had only listed it five minutes ago. It was such a weird way this all happened.”

Karin said that David always comes home with different ideas, and most of them she says no to, but there was just something about the Cipriano lot that interested her.

“February he came home with the idea, and by March 15 I was standing here,” Karin joked. “It’s been really fast and really crazy.”

It’s been a learning curve for her, she said, because she’s had to learn all about the Latin names of plants, but luckily she has two horticulturists who help her out.

Karin said that she doesn’t have a favorite flower in particular, but she likes the atmosphere around plants.

“To me it’s like jewelry,” she said. “If you look at a jewelry case it looks amazing, but if you take one piece out its not as spectacular. I like to look out this door and just see it all.”

Fiori will have their ribbon cutting with the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce on April 28 at noon. They will have food trucks on April 29 and a free barbecue on April 30 around lunchtime.