One of the things I miss about working in downtown Chicago is the summer farmers' market. They were (are) held in a couple of different locations and I would often buy flowers. Going home there would be people carrying farmers' market flowers home on the train. I saw gladiolas on sale at the supermarket, and that is one of the flowers I used to enjoy bringing home from the farmers' market. The one at federal plaza had live music on the first Friday of the month, too- so you could bring your lunch, listen to music and leave with something from the farm.

When I went to Russia with the church team there was a street market near our hotel with beautiful and inexpensive flowers, and pretty hand-made crafts.