San Luis Obispo Co., April 1988, Photo: Bob Walker; Collection OMCA

More than 150 species of freshly gathered flowers will be on display in this year’s 32nd Annual California Wildflower Show at the Oakland Museum of California on Mother’s Day Weekend. The annual exhibition features native flowers gathered in the field, brought into the museum and sorted, identified and labeled by botanists. The show takes place Saturday, May 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, May 13, from noon to 5 p.m.

Each year’s Wildflower Show is a surprise, featuring a selection of species from locations chosen just before the collecting takes place, as the season’s weather dictates. This year’s focus, if nature cooperates, will be on flowers of the greater Bay Area.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before the show, teams made up of museum staff, California Native Plant Society (CNPS) members and other volunteers will fan out across the area to collect as many species of flowers as possible. Threatened or endangered species are never collected. Friday, botanists from the Jepson Herbarium of the University of California, Berkeley, along with other botanists, identify the species collected. Volunteers arrange the flowers in the museum’s Natural Sciences Gallery Side Bays, and a staff member of the University of California Botanical Garden composes mixed wildflower bouquets for the exhibition.

CNPS volunteers will be on hand during the two-day show to answer questions. Visitors can learn more about using native species in their gardens and conserving the botanical diversity that is found in the state, and acquire information about existing threats to native wildflower populations and organizations devoted to California’s native plants.

Blue-eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium bellum, Photo: Bob Walker; ©IDG Films

Magnifying glasses distributed among the tables will provide closer looks at the often complex and fascinating structure of flowers.

The Annual California Wildflower Show is organized by the Natural Sciences Department of the Oakland Museum of California in collaboration with the California Native Plant Society, which monitors the collecting; the Jepson Herbarium of the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California Botanical Garden; the East Bay Municipal Utility District; and the Natural Sciences Guild and members of the Oakland Museum of California.

Mother’s Day Programs
Two special Mother’s Day Weekend programs will accompany the Wildflower Show.

On Saturday, May 12, from 12 to 4 p.m. on the museum’s first level, a family program celebrates Mother’s Day and Asian Pacific Heritage Month. Families will make a botanical gift for Mother’s Day, and will explore the year of the snake through Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean crafts. Asian dancers, artists and storytellers will perform. Included in museum admission. Call 510/238-3818 for information on family programs.

The New World Scottish Dancers of Lafayette will perform Scottish country dancing and step dancing on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13, at 2 p.m. From the dance halls of the gold rush to Victorian ceilidh parties to contemporary Scottish rock music, mothers and others will be charmed by this group of 17 dancers.

© 2000 Oakland Museum of California | Credits |Phone: 510-238-2200