It´s big, it´s green and it´s covered in painted flowers, so it´s hard to miss Jennie´s Florist at the corner of Habana and Columbus. The unique building offers an attractive hint of what lies beyond the door. Inside, the scent of freshly cut flora envelops the olfactory system in fragrant delight. Refrigerators containing arrangements line the walls, and everything from a solitary sunflower to a full-scale garden is waiting to be wrapped up and given to a loved one. Jennie´s stocks only the freshest cut flowers and assembles them into amazing bouquets right before your eyes in its expansive open work area. It´s this transparency that has endeared the place to shoppers for more than half a century. For the digitally inclined, ordering online is a snap, and Jennie´s is affiliated with FTD to handle all those instances where you´re too far away to deliver your own bouquet. Quick, call your mother!
Jennie´s Florist, 2730 W. Columbus Drive, Tampa, 813-872-8441, www.jenniesflorist.com.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.
