Mercado de Flores Xochimilco
Francisco Goytia 5624, San Marcos, Xochimilco, 16050 Ciudad de México, CDMX
http://www.palaciodelaflor.com/
Xochimilco is not only a destination that is known for its canals and trajineras, but it also has other things to offer to visitors such as museums, like the Dolores Olmedo Museum which unfortunately just closed recently for “an indefinite time of repairs”, Xochimilco also has its markets that have on display a wide array of exotic flowers and plants, and really any sort of accessory that’s needed to tend one’s garden. These are some of the oldest markets in the city, the main ones in Xochimilco being the Market of Cuemanco and the Madre Selva Flower and Plant Market. These markets have some plants for sale that are difficult to find anywhere else, such as papyrus and the black-eyed Susan vine.
The Cuemanco market, the Madre Selva Flower and Plant Market, San Luis Tlaxialtemalco, and the Palacio de la Flor (“Flower Palace”) offer the variety of flowers that the residents of Xochimilco cultivate in the chinampas (little islands in the canals of Xochimilco) and the greenhouses located in the area. Some claim that the Mercado de Flores de Xochimilco has available some of the most beautiful flowers in the world, and walking through its corridors filled with all kinds of colorful and exotic plants and flowers on a sunny weekend truly is a beautiful experience even if you don’t purchase anything, even though if you are residing in the city, you’re bound to pick up something to decorate your home or pad, a budget of some $500 pesos will get you a good bundle of plants, dirt, fertilizer, and pots for your gardening needs. Some places accept banking cards but it’s best to bring cash just in case.
The Cuemanco market is across the street from the Xochimilco Ecological Park and its entrance is on Periférico, one of the main traffic arteries in the city. This market opened in 1993 and is the biggest of its kind in Latin America, as it hosts some 600 different vendors and a much larger variety of plant species not only from Mexico but from all over the world, here you can find cacti, fruit trees, tulips, violets, bonsai, and aromatic plants. There are vendors dedicated specifically to bonsai and some even offer workshops on how to care for these delicate little plants, also of special interest are the shacks dedicated to orchids, and a special environment is created in these shacks where it’s permanently hot and humid, as well as they allow just the right amount of sunlight to enter the premises so that the notoriously delicate orchids can thrive in this rainforest kind of atmosphere till they find their new home.
