Flower Mart 2026

In the front beds and gardens the flowers of Baltimore are blooming. The crocus of March set the stage and now the azaleas, the forsythias, and the tulips are leaping to the stage. As we drive around the city, the brick and concrete are bedecked with bright spots of color. There’s a freshness, a real beauty, to this season. I hope you’ve had some chance to savor it! I know that we are.

In our home, we’ve spent a lot of time curating our garden (see my previous blog post for a recommendation for a favorite garden store of mine) and now we’re beginning to see the fruits of our labors. Our hanging planters are blooming and growing into their fuller form—the creeping jenny is starting to drape over the edges in the loveliest way—and we’re really enjoying some opportunity to sit in this warming sunshine and savor our garden.

And in the continued spirit of garden, of April, and growth, I wanted to take the opportunity in today’s blog post to offer a recommendation for one of my favorite local events: the Mount Vernon Flower Mart.

Flower Mart—which has held a beloved place on the Baltimore seasonal calendar since the early 1910s—has been going strong for over a century now, and I can guarantee it is just as joyful as it’s ever been! The market is held at the Washington Monument circle in Mount Vernon, between Peabody (by the way, step inside and take a glance at that gorgeous library if you have the opportunity!) and the Walters Art Museum. Local vendors bring not only impossible quantities of flowers, but also handmade ceramics, prints and wall art, jewelry, crafts, and, of course, some of the best of local Baltimore food. The Ekiben truck, I assure you, always does an excellent turn of business, and I definitely think the line is worth the wait. The air is rich with the smell of flowers, the sound of hustle and bustle, the comfortable warmth of some May sun, assuming those April showers are through. And, for a fun historical experience, you can enjoy a classic Baltimore lemon stick here. For those of you unfamiliar, the lemon stick is an old-time Baltimore treat—a halved lemon with a peppermint stick for a straw. As you suck the lemon juice through the peppermint, you get a wonderful sweet-spicy-sour experience that is pretty much irreplicable!

In our family photos there are plenty of my daughter and her friends when they were little, exploring the Washington Monument circle, looking at plants, and savoring their very own lemon sticks. This event is a cornerstone not only of Baltimore’s social calendar, but also our personal history. It’s a real treat every year, and I can’t recommend it enough.

This year, Flower Mart will run May 1st & 2nd, from 11 AM to 8 PM, at the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon.

Take the time to appreciate a little natural beauty, and maybe bring some home for your own outdoor spaces!