I don’t have a green thumb. Or to use the British phrase, I don’t have green fingers. Either way, I’m not good at keeping plants but I do enjoy looking at them and having them in the house. So recently Ryan and I decided to spend a leisurely Sunday morning browsing the plants and flowers at the Columbia Road Flower Market.
The Columbia Road Flower Market is open on Sundays from 8am until about 3pm. Also, during December they have Christmas Wednesday with evening shopping. What I loved about the market is that it’s small but intense. One road packed full of all kinds of flowers and plants. And when you’re finished looking around and shopping it’s an easy walk to Brick Lane or Spitalfields Market where you can grab a bite or shop some more. 
Besides lovely atmosphere, my favorite thing about the market was all the yelling. Not angry yelling, but the attention-grabbing advertisement yelling done by the vendors. As the Columbia Flower Market website states, they all yell “everthin’ a fiver.” They also yell about how their flowers are better than those at the other vendors. The vibe is fun and animated. This may sound silly, but the market feels like the English markets I’ve seen in movies or read about in books. It’s loud, vibrant and alive. 
And so many things really are available for a fiver (£5). In the photo above you can see a bunch of thistles, an orchid, and some holiday berry branches are all out there for £5. I was also surprised to see a lemon tree, which was more than £5 but still seemed like a great deal given how many lemons are already on it! For whatever reasons I didn’t expect to see so much variety. I thought there would be flowers, house plants, and maybe Christmas plants. I was pleasantly surprised to see lemon trees, orange trees, and even a pretty sizable chilli plant.
I was right about Christmas plants though. There were trees, and holly, and berries. The wonderful smell of evergreen trees was in the air. But my favorite Christmas plant was the unexpected and hilarious Santa cactus. I nearly missed seeing it since he was hidden away, but thankfully Ryan spotted them and pointed Santa out.
The plants I ended up being drawn to the most were the succulents and cacti. And not just because they were dressed like Santa. Actually, some of the succulents were painted gold and bronze – I think also in an attempt to make them Christmasy. And did you notice, the succulents are good deal, at less than a fiver?
But I like succulents and cacti because they have such interesting shapes and colors. There are spiky ones and furry ones. There are colorful ones and plain green ones. Some are little bulbs and some have swirly arms. I find them fun and I enjoying looking at them. Also, not having a green thumb I feel like maybe I’d be able to actually take care of them.
Although tempted by many things, surprisingly we left without buying anything. But really, who wants to carry a tiny cactus home on the tube? Not me. Although maybe in busy times I could use it as a weapon…
But I digress. The plant that I was most tempted by was an amaryllis bulb. When Ryan and I lived in the US, twice his mom gave me an amaryllis bulb around Thanksgiving and early in the New Year it would bloom with its first flower. I loved it because it was so beautiful and because it was fairly easy to take care of. I didn’t take a picture of the bulb, but I did take a picture of some giant stemmed amaryllis plants. They were very impressive.
As we got to the end of the road we stopped for a bit and listened to a very hipster looking folk group. One of them was playing a washboard and another was dancing on a piece of wood. It was very hipstery, but also very pleasant to listen to. It was cold so we walked away towards Spitalfields in search of lunch and warmth. It was an absolutely lovely way to start a Sunday and I look forward to going back soon.
