Chelsea Flower District in Bloom

The Flower District in New York is a regular street (it even has a McDonald's on the corner) in Chelsea . It doesn't have that crazy market feel of the Sydney Flower Markets, but that's probably the only way in which I prefer Sydney. For one, you don't have to drive forever down Parramatta Road until the people double in size and seem forever attached to a Costco trolley, but just take a leisurely $5 cab up 6th Ave.


Considering the variations of flowers available in the bodegas on every corner, I was expecting to see a lot more in the flower district, and I wasn't disappointed. The States grow a lot of their own flowers (New York peonies and hydrangeas are apparently growing right now in Long Island) but they also import a lot from Holland (the home of flowers) and South America.

NY Flower School in Bloom

Ok, I am going backwards in order to better explain what's been happening in an attempt to give you guys a cohesive story about my time in New York. Or something like that. Stick with me cos some ace stuff has been happening and it is going to get good!

Last week I did an intensive floral design course at Flower School New York  which is near East 41st St in this gorgeous little enclave called Tudor City Place. It's a beautiful, surprisingly quiet retreat just behind the crazy of midtown and Central Station. 

The guys running the school, Eileen, Cal and Brittany are super nice and really encouraging. They obviously love the flower business and their confidence in it is infectious - at one stage I was ready to open my own store with little more than a credit card and a smile.....Felipe, our flower design teacher was lovely, very helpful and fun. Also, half the class came from Columbia and Mexico so most of the class was taught in a combination of English and Spanish which I loved (can not get enough of all the Spanish spoken in NYC).

It was a real treat to do the course (it ain't cheap!) but it was exactly what I needed to keep me feeling excited and inspired as my jet lag dragged me to new lows and the reality of leaving my friends and family really sunk in.

Thanks so much to Eileen, Cal, Brittany & Felipe, and my other class mates, for a great week.