One point for Phoenix as a metro area: fresh flowers for you!

PHOENICIANS!!

Our pretty city is getting a flower market!

28^th Street in New York City is one of the more magical spots in a pretty magical city, lined feet deep with flowers on both sides of the south sidewalk. Pedestrians walk through a 5-gallon-bucket rain forest of ornamental trees, bushes, vines, and flowers. LA and San Francisco have their own flower districts, as do London, Paris, and Rome. Now, those cities’ flower markets are outdoors, covering multiple city blocks. Phoenix is still working up to that, but the first great leap is taken! On July 1^st, Arizona Flower Market is open to the public!

Okay, so it’s actually already open to the public. July 1^st is the grand opening, after which it will remain open to the public. That’s the great part: at Arizona Flower Market, YOU (being the public) will be able to get fresh flowers that you choose (by the bunch) from a selection that’s usually only available to florists. This is awesome.

If you’re like me, sometime in the middle of the Phoenix summer you’ve looked at your sad, dim house, where the windows have been closed for two months, and at your sad dried-up common grass area, and wondered how things ended up this way. Then you priced travel expenses to Alsace, Vermont, San Fran, and Sedona, and then you realized your budget for general life improvement was about $35. So you spent a few hours poking around on the internet and making awkward phone calls to flower shops across the Valley, all of which either a) require a wholesale license, or b) only sell bunched roses/carnations/sunflowers, and arrange everything else. Oh how you sighed for a bunch of loose flag iris, or larkspur, or Eucalyptus baby blue spiral grass! (Well, not always the last one.) Then you went to the Parlor NOT for the duck sandwich (though it’s a perk) but to stare deep into the eyes of the floral arrangement on the table and find meaning.

NO MORE. (Not no more meaning. No more staring at other people's flowers for meaning.) 

Arizona Flower Market is offering a rotating stock of imported blooms from farms in Ecuador, China, France, Calfornia, and the Valley itself. It sells by the bunch, meaning you get a certain number of stems for a set price (no splitting bunches unless you’re friends with the owner; then you can probably get away with it). The selection is still a tad limited, but let’s remember that it’s summer in Phoenix and blooms need to be hardy. Hopefully when spring rolls around, some more delicate flowers like ranunculus, anemones, and lilacs will make it on the list.

Some of the highlights on the stock list: 10 small sunflowers for $6.50, 10 Asiatic lilies (!!!) for $12.50, and 10 mini carnations for $8.50. The greenery section may be the most exciting, because while Trader’s Joe’s floral department may sell some bunches of flowers, tracking down bunched greenery and fillers has proved nigh impossible. Arizona Flower Market is offering, among others, 20 leather leaf (I promise it’s pretty) for $6.50, 10 tall myrtle for $6.50, 25 tree fern for $6.50, 10 Ruscus Italian for $9.50.

Let me know if you want to come along on July 1^st for the grand opening! Look for a post with pictures of the goods and a flower arrangement tutorial in the days thereafter.

~Jane

The flower market doesn't have a website yet, but in case you don't believe me, go here, or here: 2050 S. 16^th Street, Phoenix, AZ. It's a partner of Lux Wedding Florists, and you can learn about them here.