Flowers and more flowers

This weekend the Oakland Museum presented its 50th annual Wildflower Show. In hopes that I might discover the identifies of a few more flowers seen on my recent Mt. Diablo hike i ventured in. Upon entering the natural sciences gallery I was greeted by a table of blooms. Each wildflower was in its own small vessel with a clearly printed label giving the common and Latin Name. Some flowers were in plain, glass vases other set artistically in a vase that accentuated the flower. Room after room was filled with table after table. A whole table of lupines, numerous lilies, poppies etc. etc. It was fantastic to be able to see these plants close up and in their true form rather than on a flat page in a book. There were many I had seen on Mt. Diablo last week and I was happy that I had identified many flowers correctly. The show was set against the backdrop of a photography exhibition of East Bay parks forming a perfectly integrated display of California's beauty.

After the museum I headed up to Lake Merritt for a look around the gardens. The garden center was featuring an Iris show. It looked like the organizers had just finished setting up. There were maybe 10 tables with lines of irises, each slender stem in its own elegant vase. They were divided into species, and a tag on each one. I had not known there were quite so many variation on color, size, beardedness and beauty of the iris. This was a real show with golden cup trophies waiting to be awarded to best example of each class. Quite an unexpected treat!