Flower shops in Chicago, IL (page 3)

Walk in from the Lake Michigan wind and the cooler hum hits first, glass fogged at the edges, buckets of ranunculus and tulips packed tight against a Chicago winter that refuses to end on schedule. The counter often holds a clipboard of standing orders bound for Loop offices and Lincoln Park brownstones alike, sorted by delivery route rather than by color. Someone near the sink is always stripping thorns off a fresh bundle of garden roses.

Short-stemmed sunflowers crowd one bucket in August. By February the peonies arrive from somewhere warmer and pricier, but the scent still cuts through wet wool coats and cold hands digging for cash at the register.