Tips & back stories on Dangwa, Manila’s flower district

Flowers are the loveliest of ephemeral pleasures, with their colors, shapes, and scents beguiling even the most jaded among us. We are surrounded by a great variety of tropical beauties, from the bougainvillea that blooms all year round to the trees of yellow golden showers, lavender banaba and fiery flame trees that are about to delight us in these hot summer months.

Yet we also grow a wealth of upland flowers in the cold climate of Benguet. Roses, chrysanthemums (or mums for short), carnations, snapdragons, and more lend themselves more readily to bouquets and flower arrangements because they last much longer after being cut. You can even visit the Northern Blossom Farm in Atok, Benguet to see the glorious mountain setting in which these “western” flowers are grown.

If you have ever enjoyed visiting flower shows or simply wandering through flower markets abroad, you will love Dangwa. This is our very own flower market in the heart of Santa Cruz in Manila. According to The Varsitarian, the student publication of nearby University of Santo Tomas, when World War II curtailed gold mining in Benguet, many of the locals turned to agriculture and floriculture. The Dangwa Transportation Company, owned by the late Samuel Martin Dangwa, would transport strawberries, beans, carrots and potatoes grown by the Benguet farmers to Manila every day.

Soon, flowers were included in the daily deliveries arriving at the Dangwa Bus Company Terminal on Dimasalang. Now, the entire area encompassing the streets of Dimasalang, Dos Castillas, and Laon Laan is known collectively as Dangwa. From an original eight vendors decades ago, there are now a hundred stalls selling these upland flowers, plus orchids and asters from Laguna and Batangas. There are also roses, stargazers, orchids, and lilies from China, Bangkok, and Holland.

More than just a dazzling array of Benguet astromeria, lilac agapanthus and snapdragons bloom at the market. The amazing prices of flowers bought right at the “bagsakan” have allowed romance to blossom: Even students on small budgets can afford to buy these sweet tokens of affection. Today, the average price of the local blooms is P100 a bundle, which is normally a dozen stems. Now that is truly an affordable luxury. You can buy flowers for a loved one or to grace your home for no reason at all except to enjoy their beauty.

Flowers also enabled opportunities and careers to bloom. Profits from this “green gold” enabled many of the children of the vendors to complete their schooling. Not surprisingly, since the earliest vendors lived right on Dos Castillos, the nearby UST was their school of choice where they finished courses like pharmacy and nursing.

It is a delight to wander down these streets and purchase flowers for your own arrangements and bouquets. If this will be your first time to visit our very own flower district, here are some tips.

The first thing you need to know is that there is no parking available, except at Chowking. There are already cars parked there early in the morning, so hailing a Grab might be a better option.

I would start at the Dimasalang end of Dos Castillos Street. The less showy stalls are here, rather than at the intersection of Dos Castillos and Laon Laan where you might end up buying at the first stalls you see. Take a look around first, if you can.

On Dimasalang, there are already a number of flower stalls and the prices are ever so slightly less expensive as it’s away from the main hub of Dangwa. But I’ve combed the streets, side streets and little alleys; the prices do not vary wildly as there is too much competition.

Remember that some flowers may have been marked down because they are not as fresh, in which case they will also not last you as long. Rather than bargain hunt, I suggest you keep an eye out for what is unusual or what appeals to you.

The most common flowers in Dangwa are roses, chrysanthemums, carnations, statis, asters, gerberas or daisies, and orchids. Roses can come from Benguet where they are priced at P200 for two dozens in the bundle while the large China roses of fancy paper roses can fetch upwards of P400.

Take the time to work your way down from Dimasalang to Laon Laan, across the street to the Manila Flower Center, then back down Laon Laan where there are stalls for another block. On my last visit with my daughter Hannah, she spied stargazers at a shop along Laon Laan. No one else that morning had this gorgeous flower whose petals looked like many layered stars. It was pricier at P250, but we found to our delight, when the vendor pulled it out, that there were five or six blooms on one stem!

At the Manila Flower Center, as well as in some of the shops in the smaller alleys, all the decorating supplies you need can be found. Apart from baskets or stands, there is the all-important water-resistant, non-woven paper in all colors, plus a variety of ribbons.

When choosing flowers, I normally tell freshness from the leaves—the greener the better, with no signs of yellowing. This will help you in choosing roses. But at Dangwa, the other flowers are already well bundled up in plastic so it’s best to check the petals for any discoloration.

Consider buying the small white asters, in addition to the main flowers of your choice because they soften the overall look. Many kinds of greens, like eucalyptus, are sold both for color and also as fillers. Personally, I prefer just the main flowers and the asters.

Ask the vendors how long your flower of choice will last. The less expensive astromeria, which I love for its freesia-like appearance, starts to wilt after just a few days, The orchids, like dendrobriums, can cost considerably more, but will stay fresh-looking for three weeks or so.

You do have the option of having your flowers arranged by the vendors themselves but after trying that once, I found it was much more fun to do it myself at home. Also, if you are really in a hurry, you can buy ready-made bouquets at Dangwa for P400 and up!

When you get home, be sure to trim just a little off the stem ends of your purchases and keep them in a pail of water till you are ready to use them. Cut your non-woven paper into approximately 8-inch and fold the edges. A layer of these papers (which can be in different colors) is the backdrop for a spray of flowers, my favorite kind of bouquet as opposed to the round ones.

Arrange your flowers on the non-woven paper in layers, from taller to shorter, interspersing colors and varieties and softening with your asters or greens. Use clear scotch tape to bind the flowers together, then to bind the non-woven paper to your bouquet, one piece at a time. Finish with a nice simple bow made of wide satin ribbon.

After the bouquet has been used, carefully undo the layers of non-woven paper and keep them for another use. Rearrange the flowers to lower the taller ones at the back, and put them in a vase with water. Change the water daily.

After you have celebrated the special occasion you created the bouquet for, you can enjoy gazing at the flowers for days to come.