One of my favorite sort-of offbeats spots in Dubai to visit is the plant souk, which is located a bit out of the city, in Al Aweer.  Heading into the desert’s barren scenery, the plant souk’s many nurseries appear as a veritable oasis.

While there are many different nurseries located together making up the souk, for the most part, they all offer up much of the same flora.  Some do carry more ornate garden decor such as topiaries, sculptures and water features, or even apple, lemon and lime trees, but you will mainly find yourself browsing a very wide selection of simpler trees and shrubs.

Part of the reason I love going to the plant souk is simply for a drastic change of scenery.  While browsing through the nurseries you can almost believe you weren’t surrounded by desert, as  the rows of trees and greenery is almost endless and taller palms loom above you, providing shade rarely encountered in the natural local landscape.  Secondly are the prices.  You can buy plants and large decorative ceramic pots here for a fraction of the cost that you will be charged at Ace or the Garden Center on Sheikh Zayed Road.  And considering my history with plants (they die, usually very quickly), this is quite a good deal for me.

As we have been spending the recent weeks redecorating our living area to look more tropical and lush, during this trip we picked up another indoor tree (don’t ask what type it is, because I have no clue) as well as a delicious-smelling honeysuckle bush to keep inside.

{ music: Janelle Monae / The Archandroid }