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November 28, 2005
28th Street Flower District
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Looking for amaryllis or paperwhites for the holidays? Tired of the same-old selection of cut flowers at the grocery store? Or you want to send a gift of potted orchids but they're too expensive at your neighborhood florist? There's one perfect place to go in Manhattan--28th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Tropical plants and trees, cut flowers of every imaginable variety, pots of paperwhites and tulips and hyacinths, rows of orchids (not just the classic phalanopsis, but unusual dendrobium, oncidium, etc.) all line the street and pack the stores. If you are looking for cut flowers, get an early start, meaning 5am, and do your shopping before noon, when most of the flower traders will close up; other stores remain open until late afternoon. Also on the block is Jamali (www.jamali.com), which prides itself in carrying everything anyone working with plants or flowers could possibly need or want--ribbons, planters, containers of every size and shape, fertilizer, bulbs, etc.
As recently as twenty years ago, the Flower District extended from 24th Street to 30th Street, from Broadway to Seventh Avenue, but in 1995 the local zoning was changed to residential, which upped everyone's rent and encouraged a huge surge in new apartment towers. Now the district is reduced to just one block--28th Street, between Sixth and Seventh--and even that's future is threatened. It seems that every season more stores are closing down and moving out to the suburbs. Although there has been talk for years about moving the market en masse to another location, the businesses, used to being independent, don't seem interested in banding together to save the market. The trade organization continues to try to find new locations where the business could thrive, and it is not clear to anyone how long the street will survive. In the meantime, treat yourself to a visit.
Posted by gardenguidenyc at November 28, 2005 11:19 AM