Santa Rosa’s National Heirloom Exposition

Although we planned on spending a half a day at the Santa Rosa National Heirloom Exposition, the 94-degree heat cut our visit much shorter than that. Still, I managed to get to see the main events that I was interested in.

I really wanted to see the Chalk exhibit, and I wasn’t disappointed by what I saw.

SRChalk

There’s something special about art that has to be seen as it’s created or it can’t be seen at all.

The biggest attraction for me, though, was the dahlia exhibit. There were a couple of prize-winning dahlias on display that I would have bought on sight if they had been for sale. My favorite was this one,

SRDahlia1

but this unusual red and white one was a close runner-up.

SRDahlia2

Really, though, the exhibit made me appreciate the little dahlia garden down the street from me even more than I have before. The varieties found there certainly rivaled the varieties found at this dahlia show.

At first I didn’t really think I would be impressed by heirloom vegetables, but I’ll have to admit that I was blown away by the tremendous number of varieties represented by the “Squash Tower” in the main hall.

SqshTwr

If I had something more than a postage-sized yard here in Tacoma, I would have spent a lot more time looking at all the new technology offered at the show, particularly the drip irrigation innovations and the biodynamic aspect of gardening.