Flower & Garden Obsessions

Flower & Garden Obsession - On the subject of flowers: I'm always looking out for those places off the beaten path where treasures such as fresh flowers can be had. I'm cheating on this post since most of it, not all was a reply I had made on another blog. It was at that very moment I thought, you aren't even taking care of your own blog, so get over there and write something !! SO I'm sharing 3 such places that came to mind when the blogger asked the question "Where do you go to buy flowers and trim ?" In her post she talk's about Trader Joe's as a favorite local. I too think TJ's are so convenient and accessible for flowers , their prices are reasonable and in addition so are Fresh n Easy or Whole Foods Market. Warning to the wiser than I ...I once grabbed a flower bouquet located conveniently by the check-out area in one of those stores and ran home with my purchase as I was the hostess of the evening dinner party, only to find 1/2 of the bouquet under the cello had gone partially brown, so I've learned that in such situations, or when in a hurry, duh...look under the cello 1st ! I live in So Cal and I'm 2 hrs from The LA ROW Shopping District where among'st a shoppers mecca for anything you can think of there's the Flower Mart....even if you never make a purchase in this place it's well worth a visit,a feast for the eyes and nose. Idea #2 I live in Palm Desert and we have Farmer's Market here and in nearby La Quinta on altering days,I believe that there's more than my town where farmer's mkts. are popular, lots of flowers, fruit, veggies, botanical's and more...it's a joy to buy there because typically you must be the actual grower-farmer to have a booth, I could spend hours just chatting with all of the vendors at the Farmer's Market, you can learn so much and there's never been anyone I've ever met that didn't enjoy talking about their own business. For example I had a conversation with an orchid farmer who told me how I could change the color of the orchid by what I added to the water ! who knew? #3 Finally, the other blogger I mentioned earlier mentioned how she loved to buy flowers during her travels to keep in her room and my response to her was this...I like many of us who travel love to grab a fresh bouquet to bring back to the room/vacation home / cruise cabin. I noticed that if I keep my eyes peeled oft times near a hwy or freeway in resort areas there are either vendors selling flowers under an umbrella or even a hut that is a regular location to find flowers and greenery of all kinds, cut, potted, arranged in a porcelain urn or vase...quite a fun experience. Once in Hawaii I bought an arrangement and found a beautiful vase later in the resort gift shop, the vase was made of Hawaiian Sugar Cane or Bamboo, it was bleached blonde and very tall...so my purchase housed those flowers and doubled as a souvenir of my Hawaiian Vacation to take home with me. Let's keep this chain of blogger on blogger dialogue going and by all means, add your comments, stories, obsessions and experience here on anything you care to add , relivant or not !