Flowers for Auburn, ME

Ann's Flower gets a call most mornings that goes something like this: someone's mother is at Central Maine Medical Center across the river, the family is scattered from Portland to away, and they want something cheerful in the room by afternoon. That order captures Auburn's flower business in one — the twin cities share a hospital, a downtown split by the Androscoggin falls, and a delivery map that ignores the water entirely. Auburn is the west bank, the old shoe-and-mill side, wrapped around Lake Auburn and threaded by Minot Avenue; Lewiston is the mill city across the bridges with Bates College and Lisbon Street. Flowers cross constantly: get-well runs to CMMC and St. Mary's, birthday and anniversary drops in both downtowns, and the steady sympathy work a community this size generates.

Other Maine cities.