For a painter of roses, there is one destination in New York City which is not on the tourist trail and that must be experienced.

The New York Flower district located on West 28th Street between 6th & 7th Avenues is the place where New York florists and New Yorkers in the know buy their flowers.  The roses are mainly flown in from California, Ecuador, Colombia and Kenya and it is an incredible sight to see so many roses, including David Austin roses, in commercial quantities, such an abundance of blooms!

The district is more than a century old, and occupies one city block and is a green oasis which takes you by surprise.  The footpaths are lined with potted plants and buckets of greenery and flowers.  Inside the shops, some with quaint Art Deco or older signs, the climate controlled store rooms have shelves and shelves of luscious bunches of blooms.

Open Monday to Friday and with some wholesalers open on Saturdays, a good time to visit is between 8am and 10am when the florists have finished their buying and before the shops start to close.  On explaining that I was a rose artist from Australia I was welcomed warmly and allowed to take as many pictures as I liked, and I left with a camera full of wondrous photo references for future paintings.