umpqua.

I don't know what the word means, but the Umpqua River area is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. It's in southern Oregon on your way over the great Cascade divide, meaning that it's lush and beautiful and full of plant diversity.

My good friend and fellow plant nerd Jennie took a drive out to a tiny town called Glide, which hosts a huge wildflower show each year. They boast over 600 species of plants, mostly wildflowers, and have some other fun displays. All the plants are labeled, many with little range maps. The vast majority don't grow where I live in the high desert, so it's even better to get to see them in person. They also sell pie, which I was pretty excited about. Unfortunately it wasn't very good pie. And I like pie.

The show brings in over 700 people PER DAY of two days! Unreal. Our Wildflower Show brings in 400 people over 3 days - pathetic. The Glide Show, however, has a 40ish-year reputation and most visitors, I would wager, are repeaters. Over all? An awesome time. The women running that show do one hell of a job and I'm looking forward to visiting again.

There were so many beautiful flowers to see. I'll post a few favorites here.

It was a great show, especially for a suggested donation of $3. It gave me tons of ideas for our own wildflower show, which I spent all day today accumulating into a big list. Here in Central Oregon we only manage to gather about 100 or so species of wildflower, but a local botanist told me that's pretty good for our area. After a stop at the local restaurant, Jennie and I did a smidge of exploring. 

 

Above left: a cool viewpoint where two rivers clash together in the summer. Above right: the incredible North Umpqua River. I just realized the two photos look almost the same, but...I swear they're at different location. Below: Don't you just want to drink that green water? Up on the huge rock formation, these incredible bowls of water host quite a bit of wildlife, such as this caddisfly and these tadpoles.

The last thing I'll leave you with is the incredible blue camas. Pathetic in these photos, the blue and purples of this star-shaped beauty is other-wordly. It's also one of mankind's good friends: the bulb is a famously tasty wild edible (maybe with a little seasoning), and was integral in the survival of local First Peoples tribes. Tribes would make huge events of collecting the blue camas, as it grows in enormous meadow patches in some areas. I tried digging out a bulb, but it was buried beneath the rocks. Defeated, (I had REALLY been wanting to try camas), I nibbled on the bottom of the stem instead. Verdict? Delicious. Delicious AND beautiful. I think I'm in love.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Blue Camas can easily be confused with Deadly Camas when not in flower. Deadly Camas has white blooms and, as its name suggests, can kill you if you ingest it. Never, EVER eat any kind of Camas unless you can positively identify the plant. In fact, don't eat wild edibles until you're positive you can identify any of them. Thanks. :)