EXHIBITORS GO WILD WITH FERNS, REDWOODS, FLOWERS

It's a dirty job and someone had to do it-- researching a flower show

exhibit.

That's why David Nystrom of Nystrom Landscape spent several days in Oregon

and Northern California communing with nature and getting ideas for this

year's Sonoma County Fair Flower Show, ''The Spirit of the Northwest.''

Truth is, Nystrom says, not all research trips are fun, but this one really

was.

''I came back with a much better understanding of virgin redwood growth and

forests,'' he says. ''Our theme is wildlife wilderness and we're trying to

build on that. I was trying to work on some natural settings wildlife could

inhabit, like a forest background with a stream coming out.''

Now in its 33rd year, the flower show, open daily throughout the fair,

Monday through Aug. 6, is housed in the 28,000-square-foot Hall of Flowers. It

is free after regular fair admission. Eleven professional exhibitors are

participating this year. Junior and amateur exhibitors will again be in the

south annex.

For flora, Nystrom is bringing in live trees, including a 25-foot redwood,

firs and conifers. For fauna he brought back carved wood replicas of bears,

mountain lions, eagles and coyotes carved by a roadside vendor in Oregon.

He will make the transition from forest to meadow with azaleas, mums and

fibrous begonias.

A lot of people, especially newcomers from the Midwest and East Coast, do

not realize that Sonoma County marks the transition to redwood tree country,

and how close to us the Northwest really is, Nystrom says. ''It's our corner

of the world.''

Nystrom is not alone in his research and planning. Joyce and Buzz Doughty,

owners of Doughty's Pleasant Hill Nursery, drove to Santa Cruz in search of

10-foot redwood trees. Jim King of the Men's Garden Club of Santa Rosa says

club members have been busy growing show plants and potting them. Mark Hulsman

of Santa Rosa's Hulsman Landscaping has been busy preparing stress-free

conditions for plants in his exhibit.

Nursery professionals like the Doughtys leave most of the show's set

building to director Greg Duncan and his crew, spending their time on plant

selection and placement.

Duncan wanted the Doughtys to work around a redwood creek setting, which is

''just up our alley,'' Joyce says. A small cabin will help depict a deserted

mill.

The Doughtys plan to use ferns and miscellaneous color provided by mums,

impatiens, cyclamens -whatever looks best by show time.

Before the exhibitors even thought of beginning their research, Duncan was

hard at work on his own, learning how to capture as realistically as possible

the Spirit of the Northwest theme.

Although Duncan has a large collection of reference books at home, he says

when he travels, ''the first thing I do is hit the book stores.''

When he's not traveling, he's a frequent visitor to Treehorn Books or

Copperfield's Books, not to mention the main branch of the Sonoma County

public library, all within walking distance of each other in downtown Santa

Rosa.

''The tidal pool involved the most research,'' Duncan says. Luckily his

wife Janette, a former anthropology student, had a number of books on the

subject.

Duncan also thoroughly researched totem poles because no

one helping put the show together is Native American. ''We wanted to be

sensitive and we didn't want to put up an inappropriate image,'' he says.

He learned, for instance, that ''there are a number of different types of

totem poles. There are totem poles for funerals. There are house totem poles

that indicate the entrance. There are certain images that go on totem poles

that mean particular things to (a particular) tribe.

''We primarily focused on a series of images -- Kwakiutl -- from British

Columbia,'' he says. ''Their carvings seemed to work out best.''

But -- this being a flower show, not to mention one in Sonoma County --

Duncan admits he and his crew incorporated grapes and grapevines into the

totem pole, local touches that might not be exactly authentic, but done in the

same style the totem pole makers might have used.