Hitting the Winter Park Farmers Market is one of the best reasons I can think of to get up bright and early on a Saturday morning. Tackling my laundry? Not exactly an incentive to roll out of bed. Cleaning the house? I can certainly think of more exciting things to do. Strolling around with coffee in hand, eyeing the fresh fruits and veggies and beautiful displays of plants? Now that’s more like it.

I’ve been coming here for more than 15 years, and in that time the only thing that’s changed is the occasional vendor—some come, some go, but most of them are long-term tenants. The market sets up in a small paved lot near Park Avenue, at the site of a former train depot. In fact railroad tracks run right behind the building, and the market bustle is periodically interrupted by the piercing shrieks of an approaching train (this doesn’t happen too often, fortunately).

Inside the renovated brick structure vendors sell bagels, cheeses, croissants, pastries, salsas and other prepared foods. This a good first stop because you can get a to-go coffee, which I have to have early in the morning. Bonus points for the restrooms at the far end of the little building.

There are other specialty food vendors outside, but the meat and potatoes of this market, so to speak, are the produce and plant sellers. What I especially like about the Winter Park Farmers Market is that it’s a plant as well as a produce market.

You can buy cut flowers. You can buy hanging baskets of geraniums and bleeding heart vines. You can buy an orchid or a palm tree or some basil or a pot of petunias. There are seasonal plants, too—potted cyclamens and hydrangeas around Valentine’s Day, mums once it starts to cool down in October, and of course Christmas holiday poinsettias.

Quality is consistently high, and the prices are not bad at all. If this sounds like an advertisement, it’s not; the market is just a great place to buy plants. Gardeners and houseplant enthusiasts, I’m talking to you.

Of course you can pick up produce at the grocery store, but it’s so much more fun to hunt for it at the farmers market. There are several produce sellers, so you can compare before buying. Old market hands know when to expect the seasonal stuff.

From January through April there are half flats of Plant City strawberries. (A half flat is six pints; if you have friends or family to help eat them all, you get more for your money if you buy the half flat.) Ruskin tomatoes also start making an appearance.

Later come Florida cantaloupes and ears of sweet white Zellwood corn. Not everything is from the Sunshine State; I love the big heads of romaine lettuce and plump, sweet Driscoll strawberries from California. 

For breakfast, try one of the omelets from the Tastebuds truck (it’s parked on the street near the stand that sells kettle corn). You choose the ingredients, and they’ll whip it up right in front of you. I recommend one of these omelets paired with a toasted bagel slathered with jam or cream cheese that you can pick up inside the market building. Then hopefully you’ll find an empty seat at one of the round tables on the market building’s open-air deck.   

I keep returning to a couple of my favorite vendors at the Winter Park Farmers Market. Ann Balke (“Annie Roo” to her loyal customers) sells orchids and lovely basket arrangements, but her specialty is bromeliads. She always has a beautiful selection of the flowers at reasonable prices—definitely a better deal than at the local nurseries I frequent. Bromeliads make excellent houseplants, by the way.

Lorenzo, the “butterfly man,” has glass jars containing a caterpillar and the caterpillar’s food source—leaves of the plant on which it feeds. These caterpillars are the larval stage of common Florida butterflies like the Gulf Fritillary and the Cloudless Sulphur, and Lorenzo has answers for all the questions asked by budding young entomologists.

In other words, the market isn’t just for shopping. It’s a gathering of the community, a place to socialize. People bring their dogs. You get to know the vendors. It draws a lot of regulars, and you might even become one yourself.

As far as a market strategy, my advice is to bite the bullet, set the alarm clock and get there no later than 8 a.m. Vendors set up rain or shine unless the weather is extreme. Arriving early also means you’ll avoid the crowds, bypass waiting in line for things like coffee and bagels, and have a more relaxed experience overall. And if you’re plant hunting, show up right when the market opens for the best selection; the nicest ones sell quickly.

The Winter Park Farmers Market is located at 200 W. New England Ave. (two blocks off Fairbanks Avenue). It operates Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. year-round except the third Saturday in March, when the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival takes place. There’s a municipal parking lot next door, and you can also park on nearby side streets. 

Other farmers markets posts are:

• Homegrown Goods from the Old Beach Farmers Market
• Ferry Plaza Farmers Market: Foodie Heaven in San Francisco
• Soulard Farms Market: Serving St.Louis Since 1779