Koyambedu wholesale flower market

What it is

Koyambedu is Chennai's wholesale complex for vegetables, fruit and flowers, and the flower block has its own halls. Here you see what a Tamil household and temple actually use: tight white jasmine buds, orange kanakambaram (crossandra), pink oleander, marigold, roses for garlands and fragrant green leaves such as davanam and maruvu that are tied in with the flowers. Women buy strings of jasmine for their hair, and garland makers pick up their stock for the day. In the wedding months and before Pongal, Ayudha Puja and Deepavali the halls are packed from the small hours.

Before you go

• Trade starts well before dawn and thins out by mid-morning.
• Flowers are sold by weight or by the string length. Watch a few sales before you buy.
• Keep to the edges of the aisles so loaders can pass.

The flowers you will see

Arabian jasmineA small white jasmine with a strong, sweet scent, treasured in Asia for garlands and ceremoniesOleanderA showy, evergreen shrub with clusters of pink, white or red flowersAztec marigoldThe golden-yellow flower of Mexican altars and Day of the Dead offeringsRoseWoody perennial plants with showy, often fragrant flowers in many colours

Also part of it, and being written: Crossandra infundibuliformis.

More in India

🇮🇳 Mumbai · All yearDadar flower market at dawnMumbai's wholesale flower market beside Dadar station, at its busiest before the city has had breakfast. 🇮🇳 Kolkata · All yearMullick Ghat flower market under Howrah BridgeA crowded riverside flower market on the Hooghly, in the shadow of Howrah Bridge. 🇮🇳 Bengaluru · All yearKR Market flower hallBengaluru's old city market, where the flower floor is best seen from the stairs above. 🇮🇳 Madurai · All yearMadurai malli at the Mattuthavani flower marketThe wholesale market that sets the daily price of Madurai malli, the jasmine the city is famous for. 🇮🇳 Delhi · All yearGhazipur phool mandiDelhi's wholesale flower market in the east of the city, where the capital's bouquets and garlands begin. 🇮🇳 Nagercoil · All yearThovalai flower marketA village flower market near the southern tip of India that supplies Kerala, above all at Onam.