Columbia Road Flower Market

I first read about Columbia Road Flower Market fifteen or so years ago in a book called "The Urban Gardener" by Elspeth Thompson.   The book was made up of her newspaper columns for the Sunday Telegraph and covered topics such as her own back garden, her allotment, growing flowers and veggies in her camper van, and various community gardens and places to go for plants and advice.  One of her columns was about Columbia Road and she described it so vibrantly that it was immediately added to my "things to do" list.

By happy coincidence, it was only half an hour's walk from our hotel in Whitechapel last weekend, so, while Andy was working, I headed to the market with determination NOT to buy anything, merely to take photographs.  

I got talking to a lot of the stallholders - I didn't want to take any photos without asking permission and the stallholders seemed happy to chat - and the odd one to charge me a quid for photos taken!  Apparently most visitors don't ask which I think is pretty annoying - after all, these guys are only trying to make a living so could do with more people buying and less people looking.   Saying that, they were a very cheerful bunch and very amenable - especially given that they'd all been up since 4.00 am.   The stallholders generally sell their flowers and plants at Spitalfields and Covent Garden during the week, and then sell what remains really cheaply on Sundays at Columbia Road.  Such beautiful displays.

Look at the heads on these hydrangeas!

I took the photo of the squirrel topiary just for Shannon!

(I'm hoping that the mosaic photos will remind Shannon that we're supposed to be embarking on a Big Project for my back garden - one that has been in the planning stages for two years so far!)

Behind all the flower stalls, there are some beautiful shops - although as I'd got to the market so early, some of the shops weren't open for an hour or so.   One of the shops I popped into had a lovely back yard filled with all sorts of goodies.   I need a bigger garden!  (And a significantly bigger salary!)

As well as chatting with the stallholders, I met a lovely lady at one end of the market and had a chat with her - she told me that the prices were too good to miss and that she stocks a lot of her garden from this market.  I explained I was getting the train to Norwich and really couldn't carry too much - and there was so much choice, that I really couldn't make my mind up what I loved most.   We left it at that, had a chuckle and I made my way back to the other end of the market, but ducking in and out of the shops for a browse.   When I got down to the primrose stall, I was totally transfixed with all the bedding plants - really not my thing at all, a bit too municipal gardens for me - but the colours!   And they were so cheap.   I spent ages chatting with the stallholder and, all of a sudden, a little voice was saying in my ear "go on, you know you want to" and there was my lovely lady again telling me to get my purse out!   What could I do?

Against all my better judgement, I couldn't help myself!  The stallholder and the lady were really laughing at me - perhaps they were in cahoots?  Married even?!   But at two quid for the lot, even if  I didn't get them home in one piece, they brightened up our hotel room no end.   Gorgeous.  Considering they're bedding plants!