Placeshot: THE FLOWER STALL

For over 40 years, a tiny plant and flower shop has called 13th Street home.

“Plants that don’t need much light to live because not everyone has a southern exposure.”  This is how the The Flower Stall’s brochure describes what the store has to offer.  Written by the shop’s proprietor, Cornell Edwards, the flyer continues to describe the business as “a world green with plant life right on 13th Street.”

After graduating with a degree in English from NYU  in 1954, Edwards had trouble finding employment in the city.  Not deterred from his dream of coming to New York and never looking back, Edwards eventually put an old knowledge to good use.  Growing up in Norfolk, Virginia with a mother who sold annuals, Edwards was well versed in the world of plant life.  In 1967 he opened The Flower Stall at 143 East 13th Street, and it still sits there to this day along with Edwards.

With more rex begonias than anyone else in the area–15 varieties–Edwards is able to keep an edge by having more exotic plants than larger stores and researching each that he has.