2017 Glide Wildflower Show
It takes a lot of people and a lot of work!

 

The week before the show, a lot of things happen that the public doesn't see.  Beginning the Saturday prior to the show, collectors hit the roads.  They are on a scavenger hunt.  Flowers that have always bloomed  in this exact spot for years, may not be there this year or may not be blooming.  And the hunt begins.

Collectors are spread from the California border, along the Oregon coast, clear up to 5,000' in the Cascades.  They are looking everywhere.  They want to make sure as many specimens as humanly possible are in the show.


The roadside is awash in glorious colors.
          



There are so many, which one to pick?


It's springtime in Oregon.
Sometimes it is cold, gray, and rainy.  Hard on the collectors, but the flowers love it.
The flowers begin to arrive.

  


The botanists start working on verifying plant IDs.
 

Slowly the flowers trickle in.
The volume of flowers really begins to grow as more and more collectors deliver their bounty.
By Thursday, the number of botanists has grown.


 The vasers join the fray.
The kitchen is crowded with ladies putting flowers in the perfect vase --
and working their magic to revive wilted plants.

 
The ID has to be exact!
  
Sometimes even the botanists are enthralled by a plant
 and want to capture an image.
 

It was a whipple vine blossom that had botanist Dan Luoma fascinated.  Here is his photo.

It IS impressive!
The workers take a lunch break.

 Now the number of flowers is really growing.
Plants are still waiting to be identified



The tables must be precisely placed!
 
There is always a need for extra hands.

 It is starting to shape up.
   

Plants large and small are part of the show.  Sometimes the small ones are REALLY small.

Hummmmm.  That bottle cap is not quite up to the normal vasing standards, but it was the smallest "vase" we could find.
 
Saturday the show opened.
The first to arrive were the photographers.
Followed by a lot of flower loving visitors.
Then the bees arrived.

 






The surprise of the day was the gift of a very unusual plant.
A visitor brought a Kopsiopsis hookeri for the show.
From the look on Jeanne's face, you can see she was pleased.


It was the first time this plant appeared in the show!
The sky may have been clear blue outside,
but a brief rain storm took place inside.
The fern table really prefers things on the moist side.
 You did know there is a native plant sale?
The Elkton Community Education Center nursery has brought a lot native plants - flowers, shrubs, and trees.

The visitor who traveled the farthest - Chile. South America
 
Late Sunday afternoon we still had guests checking out the flowers.

The show is definitely a family affair.
 By the late evening the kitchen was down to 3-1/2 pies.
At the time the doors closed, ALL the pies were gone!
   


Show dates for 2018

April 28 - 29

hope to see you there!