If you want potted flowers in contemporary New York City, you head to a garden center or farmers market. In an earlier Gotham, however, you waited for the flower carts to come, laden with petunias and begonias and other beautiful varieties for replanting in front yards, back yards, and on terraces.
Artist Henry Ives Cobb Jr. was moved enough to capture this scene, somewhere on Fifth Avenue. The date is unclear, but it looks like the flower cart is the only vehicle still pulled by a horse.
Tags: Flower Carts Spring NYC, Henry Ives Cobb Jr. Flower Cart, Henry Ives Cobb Painter, Midcentury NYC Paintings, spring in New York City
Ephemeral New York 
March 21, 2022 at 1:59 pm |
30s or 40s I’d guess. The auction house doesn’t even attribute it to the right person.
March 22, 2022 at 12:18 am |
Looks about right, judging by the cars and the hemlines.
March 21, 2022 at 3:19 pm |
I love the way that cart bursts with the colors of the plants
March 22, 2022 at 12:18 am |
Agree, the flowers steal the show!
March 21, 2022 at 8:32 pm |
And no one even heard of “Impatients!”
March 21, 2022 at 8:35 pm |
Could have been during the war years when the few remaining ice men, junk collectors, milk men and some other local delivery services resorted to horse drawn vehicles, sice they could not get or even use motorized vehicles.
March 22, 2022 at 12:19 am |
Good point.
March 23, 2022 at 11:11 pm |
I remember these still appearing in the mid to late 50’s. I lived on the UWS. I think there were vegetable wagons, too, in the summer. The horses would sometimes have straw hats.