New York Sidewalk Flower Shops

Except for the final photo in this post—to be explained shortly—all the photos in this post are of various New York City sidewalk flower shops and link to much larger images in Flickr. And here is a link to a
full-sized slideshow of all the pictures in this post

 

In a bit of green, there were pictures of the many ways London has of humanizing its intense urbanization by providing bits of greenery everywhere you look.

Of course, perhaps the most obvious way it does that is through its numerous city parks such as St. James Park (the Inkwatu post mentioned above has several photos taken in St. James Park).

Similarly, New York City has its immense Central Park. The park’s website is well worth exploring. It includes a virtual tour. This brief quote is from the history of the park’s origins page:

The first public figure to champion the need for open green space within the city was Evening Post editor William Cullen Bryant. In 1844, he called for the creation of a large public park. Landscape gardener Andrew Jackson Downing joined Bryant in his pleas, and together they pressed officials to set aside land before it was swallowed up by the fast-developing city. In a moment of rare political consensus, both parties at that time endorsed the idea of a large public park. Between 1853 and 1856, the commissioners paid more than $5 million for land from 59th Street to 106th Street, between Fifth and Eighth Avenues.

St. Petersburg has numerous parks, too, some of which I’ve already covered in Lake Vista Park, Lake Maggiore Park, Lassing Park, The Florida Botanical Gardens, and Sunken Gardens. But, I’m not concerned with city parks in this post.

In this post, the focus is on sidewalk flower shops. The a bit of green post, referred to earlier, also included a snapshot of a corner, sidewalk flower shop. You could almost always count on one to be located near Tube entrances in London, but there were many others around the city as well.

New York City also has an abundance of sidewalk flower shops. I recently returned from a trip to New York. The last time I visited there, I had two things I wanted to be sure to photograph for posts: New York Tug Boats and New York Street Food. This time, my focus was New York Sidewalk Flower Shops.

Please note the additional distinction: sidewalk flower shops. All cities have florists, but those that have outdoor displays of cut flowers sprawling along the sidewalk, are graced with a special charm. It’s these kind of establishments that I wish St. Petersburg had.

The Florist on Central (339 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, FL 33701; 727-289-7293), pictured in the very last photo in this post usually has a small display in front of their store, sometimes of fresh cut flowers, sometimes other floral items. And, I know that there are fresh cut flower booths and other goodies at the Saturday Morning Market during its operating season.

But…I wish for stores that wrap around street corners, displays where the foliage barely leaves room for the pedestrians, mega-bouquets that bring a smile from a distance with a vast profusion of flowers every day at all hours. During the recent debates for the coming mayoral primary, improving the experiential quality of the downtown area was a hot topic. How to deal with vagrancy is a big part of that issue, of course. I don’t know how to deal with that problem. But, I do know that a few, beautiful sidewalk flower shops scattered around would be a welcome sight. Wherever we see steps in that direction, let’s offer encouragement with our patronage.

THE FLORIST ON CENTRAL

Most images link to larger images.
click on larger image for closeup

Tagged as: favorite articles, flowers, New York City, St. Petersburg