Farmers Garden Cubao: The 24-Hour Flower Market

Farmers Garden in Cubao is a row of flower shops beside Farmers Market that stay open 24 hours, so a bouquet can be bought at any point in a night out. Expect to spend under ₱500 and about 15 minutes, which makes it an inexpensive way to turn an ordinary dinner into an anniversary.

What is there and when

Two kinds of shop share the row. The flower shops are open around the clock. The plant shops open at 6 AM and close at 10 PM, so a potted plant is an evening purchase and cut flowers are an any-hour one.

Ask at two or three stalls before choosing. Fifteen minutes is enough to compare and have something wrapped.

The row is beside Farmers Market, and the map pin is more reliable than a written street address.

Getting there from the rest of Cubao

Rough walking times from the flower shops:

• Gateway Mall, the Coliseum and the two hotels: about 6 minutes
• Gen. Aguinaldo Ave: about 7 minutes
• Ali Mall: about 9 minutes
• Cubao Expo: about 12 minutes

Twelve minutes is the longest walk between stops in this area, so from Cubao Expo the flowers belong at the very start or the very end of the night, not the middle.

Three places to put the stop

Before dinner. Buy first and arrive with the bouquet. This is the classic move and the right one for an anniversary, because the flowers are part of the greeting. The cost is that someone carries them all night. It works when dinner is the main event and the walk is short: Le Bistro, the French restaurant on the ground floor of ibis Styles, and Grace Park on the ground floor of Gateway Mall 2 are both in the 6-minute zone.

Between dinner and the last drink. A bouquet works as an in-between stop: a short walk with a purpose after the meal. Dinner at Gateway, a stroll to the flower shops, then back for a nightcap. The Edge Skyview Bar, the rooftop pool bar on Level 22 of the same hotel, opens at 5:30 PM; check its page for the closing time.

At the end. Because the flower shops do not close, the bouquet can be the last thing that happens. Leave the bar, walk over, choose together and go home. Flowers bought at 11 PM go straight into water. This is the version for a night that started without a plan and turned out well.

Pairing it with a booked dinner

A reservation fixes the clock, and a 24-hour flower market bends around it.

MŌDAN is the hardest table to fit: a 12-seat modern Japanese tasting menu, reservation required, with seatings at 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM from Wednesday to Sunday. It is a short ride from Araneta City, and the evening takes about two hours. For the 5:30 PM seating, buy the flowers on the way. For the 8:30 PM seating, dinner ends around 10:30 PM, the plant shops have closed, and the flower shops are still open.

For a night that includes a room, both Araneta City hotels are in the 6-minute zone, and hotels in Cubao for a staycation compares them. Flowers waiting in the room need one of you to slip out before dinner. That is easy from a hotel 6 minutes away.

When flowers are too much

On a first date a bouquet can be a lot. Skip it, or keep it small. For a monthsary, one stem is a gesture. For a birthday dinner with the barkada, send one person for the bouquet while the rest hold the table. The same market has a seafood section where a group can eat, covered in paluto for a barkada at the market's Dampa.

Plan the rest

For an anniversary the night-out planner looks for a proper dinner and one thoughtful extra, and a bouquet is the obvious extra. For a full evening built around it, read Cubao date night: dinner, flowers and a nightcap. For the dinner itself, see romantic restaurants in Quezon City, and for other budgets and areas, the anniversary date ideas guide.