Don is whole-heartedly dedicated to the professional floral design industry in Canada – as the Founder and Director of the Canadian Institute of Floral Design, an educator, and naturally, as a floral designer.
Don is a second-generation florist, introduced to the industry by his father, floral master Bill Waltho. Bill owned Avenue Flower Shop located in Yorkville, an upscale neighbourhood in Toronto. He held the title of Teleflora's Florist of the Year in 1981 and later ran three successful flower shops in Sydney, Australia.
Don formally studied floral design with Bob Ross and attended the design schools of FTD, United Flowers-by-Wire Canada and Flowers Canada. Aside from retail, he explored the wholesale portion of the industry, working with prominent floral suppliers.
Don's first classroom teaching position was at a Professional Floral Design College in Toronto.
In 1988, he founded the Canadian Institute of Floral Design, a private career college dedicated to training individuals interested in entering the professional floral design industry. This is the only school of its kind in the province - registered and approved by the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. To date, the school has trained more than 5,000 professional florists.
Don is well known amongst the local floral community, and he has also become a Canadian ambassador to the international floral design community. He acts as a floral design consultant to the hotel industry in the Middle East, having trained professional florists in the United Arab Emirates. He was also invited to be a keynote speaker at the 7-Star Hotel Conference in Dubai. He is continually invited to create remote educational programs for floral design students all over the world.
Recent projects include: Guest on CBC Marketplace, Judge for Fleurs de Villes, Consultations for Loblaw Companies Ltd., and Bloomstar, Elite Flower.