Beautiful Blooms at the Fantastic Flower Market
What’s on offer in Flower Market in the heart of Kowloon
Flower Market in the heart of Kowloon
It is still the custom in Hong Kong for a neighborhood to be devoted to a particular trade, and there’s no mistaking what’s on offer in the Flower Market in the heart of Kowloon. This is where shops devoted to all things floral have congregated for over fifty years.
On a recent Saturday morning, I set off early to immerse myself in its heady delights. I’m there to admire the dozens of familiar and strange blossoms, to inhale the myriad perfumes, and ultimately to return home with a bouquet for myself.
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If past visits are anything to go by, I will walk around in a dream, unable to decide, until hungry and footsore, I’ll settle for a bunch of old favourites, roses or lilies.
Exotic blooms from all over the world
When I arrive, hundreds of florists have already bought their stock, as they do every morning, from the backs of lorries parked in the street. The flowers are brought in by road from the mainland, as well as flown in from Holland and Japan, ensuring a constant supply of exotic blooms.
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The market caters to retail buyers as well, and I hope to keep a clear head since this morning I’ve beaten the crowds. Office workers are enjoying a lie-in, so my companions are mostly elderly women who have been to the wet markets for meat and fish and are calling in here for a bouquet to brighten the weekend.
Originally a wholesale market
Inside the cool, damp shops, as well as on the sidewalks, assistants are busy cutting and assembling flower arrangements and placing them in buckets on the pavement outside to tempt passers-by. Other containers hold cut flowers in groups of five and ten, since this is first and foremost a wholesale market.
Along with the ubiquitous roses, carnations, lilies, and gladioli, there are many unusual and exotic blooms from other parts of Asia, often in weird and wacky colours.
Edible herbs and tomatoes
There is truly everything available here, from flowers and ornamental plants to edible ones such as herbs and cherry tomatoes for the window box or garden.
There are also plants that look edible, such as quirky colourful red turnips sprouting green leaves. It looked festive – as red is the luckiest colour for the Chinese and the sprouts signify the beginnings of life and spring.
Some are not for eating
However, the shop keeper warned, “It’s not food; don’t eat it.” Good advice indeed, as one wonders what sort of coaxing and chemical manipulation was needed get those veggies to germinate.
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There are many shops on Flower Market Road, each specialising in different products. There’s the garden centre, the flower shop, the florist suppliers, the dried flower shop, the wholesaler, the orchid centre, and the garden tools shop.
Rest and fuel up at the Flower Market
For shoppers, some wonderful bakeries, snack shops, coffee shops and restaurants are nearby to rest and fuel up.
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A wide variety of bowls, baskets and other containers are also available in which to put the blooms, along with many different kinds of paper, ribbons and accessories to dress up bouquets. Some shops don’t just sell fresh flowers, but ones made of silk and paper, which so closely resemble the real thing that it’s hard to tell the difference.
Flower Market on festive holidays
Others specialise in pot plants for the home and garden, including many varieties of rare and delicate orchids.
The flower market is spectacular and busiest in the weeks before the festive holidays, especially Lunar New Year, when people flock here to buy narcissi, kumquat trees and sprays of plum blossom. Each will signify good fortune for the year ahead, as well as to brighten the home.
Auspicious visit to Flower Market
It is customary for families to visit the homes of relatives and friends during the New Year holidays, which is also called the spring festival, to pay respect to seniors and to collect lucky lai see packages.
A well-decorated home filled with colours and spring blossoms is an auspicious and welcoming one.
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From several shops, I finally make my choices – yellow tulips, yellow freesias, ornithogalum (whose flower heads are a mass of little white stars), a bunch of hypericum with its tiny red berries, and some foliage.
My hands were full, and I was still tempted to buy more.
A morning well spent
A basil, maybe – enough for several months of delightful salad fixings. Or a pot of chilli for the window, just so I can watch and delight in seeing the fruits flower and turn into fire-hot delectables that I can chop up and add to my sauces.
Flowers were my goal, and that was what I left with. Money well spent for a morning’s enjoyment, with days of pleasure to follow.
Hong Kong Urban Renewal Authority’s plans for the Flower Market
On my way home, I can’t help but feel nostalgic for this experience. Many of the buildings in the area are over sixty years of age and need replacing.
The Hong Kong Urban Renewal Authority (URA) has begun redevelopment, which is expected to take twelve years.
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The URA’s aim is to revitalise the area by redeveloping six sites, creating a waterway park and redeveloping the flower market path.
Hopefully, thoughtful planning will preserve the unique cultural heritage of Flower Market Road.
Prince Edward MTR station
To get to the flower market, go to the Prince Edward MTR station and leave the exit marked “Mong Kok Police Station” or “Flower Market”.
If you inadvertently get onto Fa Yuen Street, beware that you may and certainly will, get side-tracked by this wonderful street market.
Text and Photos Cammy Yiu
