Chicago Flower Markets with Marc Waters | Classic Chicago Magazine

By Judy Carmack Bross

Flower Market blooms at Bunches (a Flower Shop)

When I told Marc Waters, owner of Bunches (a flower shop), that I could spend a day just hanging out in his Fullerton Avenue store, he said, “Let’s start at the flower markets.”

After hopping into his delivery truck bound for Kennicott’s and the Bill Doren Company, my affable host let me quiz him about color trends, shelf life, personal favorites and how he chooses flowers for the multitude of events he executes, his shop where part of the fun is using new varieties as a testing ground, and the weekly orders he fills for numerous business clientele.

Marc Waters

Waters grew up in Lincoln Park where his father taught Economics at DePaul University. “My mother and father were very involved in the Old Town Triangle Association, Sheffield Neighbors and other groups committed to urban renewal. They liked city life and celebrated the multi-ethic context of our neighborhood as a good place for their children to learn about a country and a world made up of many different kinds of people.”

His first job was driving a flower delivery truck in college where he majored in art history. He has owned Bunches for 24 years, with its sunny current location in a former Montessori School near Fullerton and Clybourn. He says he never tires of viewing flowers wherever he travels with his husband Jim McGuire. “London is a favorite location, but I always have to miss the Chelsea Flower Show because May is such a busy month.”

Marc at Kennicott’s with husband Jim McGuire

As Sarah Potter, General Manager of The Casino, told us recently:

“Marc doesn’t just arrange flowers; he orchestrates moments of beauty that linger in memory long after the petals have fallen. As a florist, his creativity knows no bounds, transforming spaces from mundane to magical with his artistry. But beyond his talent lies the essence of friendship, making every collaboration not just a professional endeavor but a journey shared with a close confidant. In the world of blooms, Marc isn’t just a maestro, he is a trusted friend who paints life’s celebrations with the vibrant hues of camaraderie and creativity.”

Before we reached the city’s west side and the two flower markets, only open to wholesale customers, I had learned:

A Summertime bouquet

About shelf life for flowers: “Flowers are like tomatoes—although hopefully better. We are always looking to improve them. In your own home, it is often how cold you are willing to have the temperature if you want to make the flowers last. Those packets included with some flowers are powdered bleach, sugar and salt, but the only problem is that some flowers don’t like all of those things. You can use one tablespoon bleach to one gallon of water to make flowers last longer. For those that don’t like using bleach, putting a few pennies in the water, as the copper will retard the growth of bacteria. Flowers don’t like soap suds, so, rinse your vessels thoroughly, and of course, cutting the stems and changing the water often is very important.”

Trending items: “Young people love succulents. I think they are popular because they don’t take up much space and are low maintenance.”

When you need a centerpiece in a hurry: “Tulips are just the ticket. There’s no strong supermarket association, and they are like blue jeans, they go with anything. I love the way they continue to grow after being cut and gravitate to warmth and light, a gesture that suggests a zest for life! ”

Waters loved these yellow tulips he found at the market

Busiest time: “December and May are our marathon months, the former with decorating homes and commercial spaces, parties and, of course, holiday centerpieces, and the latter with Mother’s Day, graduations, parties and birthdays—in those times the stock of flowers is like a giant soup pot we keep filled with ingredients. Valentine’s Day is our single busiest day of the year– very a la minute— and Mother’s Day our busiest week, typically more pre-planned by the consumer.”

Source for majority of flowers: “When I started working in the flower business in the early 1980’s, California was a major source for flowers, particularly roses. Today it is Central and South America where the quality and intensity of the light is high and the climate cool at higher elevations. To accommodate the current craze for peonies in this country, there are plantings from Alaska to Arkansas to maximize the season. Holland is still the main source as they are grown similarly and at a larger scale in a series of weather zones from North Africa to Northern Europe. “Presently, it’s a very exciting time for flowers. New varieties are being produced more quickly than ever and the general public’s enthusiasm for something new and different has created an audience among young people that wasn’t there before.

“Much like groceries, after COVID the cost of flowers went up in equal proportion in that period, about 25 percent. The cost of fuel is always asserting an influence as well. Miami is the main port for flowers here in the U.S., even for those coming from Europe, and they are stored in huge coolers the size of airport hangers and sold in large case lots. In warmer months it’s great to take advantage of local growers in Wisconsin, Michigan or Indiana, but most of the time, the flowers are sourced from large farms far away. Some flowers have a bit of mileage on them by the time we receive them. For example, Dutch product starts with a fifteen-hour journey by truck to Heathrow airport outside London. Presently, they are no longer shipped from the large hub that is the Dutch airport complex.

Does he have a garden: “I have a very small shade garden with textured greenery. I love ferns. My husband Jim enjoys doing the flowers for our condo. They are more often than not modest, which is refreshing for me after a hard day slaving over the big urns, and brilliant for the subtlety

Like one of those sugared eggs you might remember today on Easter, the scene inside Kennicott’s Ashland warehouse is an unexpected vision inside its walk-in refrigerated storage: walls and walls of roses of every spectacular color, greenery of every shape—Waters loves variegated leaves, he adds. At a bucket of sweet peas we learn: “some Chicagoans believe that they should be planted on St. Patrick’s Day so that they will bloom in early June. I’m going to call that the Chicago school of Irish botany.”

Unexpected finds for Waters that day included magenta dahlias and lavender clematis, previously thought of as climbing flowers. He places these beauties next to previously ordered tiny Gerber daisies including yellow trimmed ones called Salvador Dali.

Gerber Daises including the yellow-tipped Salvador Dalis

Sprays of yellow mimosa add to arrangements

Waters visits the flower markets weekdays and often adds to an order already placed. “An arrangement is often intuitive, add three of these, four of that, and greenery can be like adding salt and pepper. “For my corporate clientele, I choose flowers that last a week and don’t shed, and the arrangements are more sculptural.”

At Kennicott’s we meet Waters’ husband Jim McGuire, a longtime salesman there—a delight to see them work together as a team. Laid aside for Waters are red dried leaves and stems which he will combine for dramatic arrangements set on black leather concert in the future at the House of Blues. Later at Bunches we will see how the reds combine in both a large arrangement and individual table vases where McGuire suggested red moss to complete the look.

At Kennicott’s, Kevin Karlowicz, recently recognized by Kennicott’s for his fine leadership, wraps up the order

Waters wheels carts to his truck that has the charm of a Harry Potter vehicle and somehow makes it all fit in perfectly, including a space of honor for a specially ordered pot of three orchids planted together. The secret to orchids, Waters says, is sunshine, and ‘never water’ in the folds of the leaves. We have written our own care tag because I’ve never seen it clearly stated.”

At the Bill Doren Company, founded in 1945 in Rockford and now with 600 employees nationwide, we delight in the amazing collection of containers in all categories, a sea of plants including succulents, and flowers of all varieties in its refrigerated rooms. Manager Mark Golec shows us around.

Manager Mark Golec with Marc Waters at the Bill Doren Company

Bill Doren’s refrigerated rooms: such beautiful flowers, how do florists choose?

At Bunches (A flower shop) a couple of days after our field trip, the signature trail of rose petals outside the shop greets us. “When Jim and I were on our honeymoon in Paris we saw a florist there who scattered petals and I had to try it here.”

Inside, Jamin Ho completes an arrangement including those magenta dahlias Waters spotted earlier that week. Like Waters, Ho is filled with joy and loves working with flowers.