Wildflower Tour

We just got back from the wildflower tour to Jackson Hole and we had a great time!  We had 45 "Friends of the Gardens" come with us and everything on the trip ran smoothly and without any hiccups.

Our group awaiting our tour at Aberdeen.

We left from the gardens on Wednesday morning at 7am on the bus and headed towards Idaho.  Our first stop was at the University of Idaho research plots in Aberdeen.  There we saw many native Idaho flowers that they are evaluating for use in home gardens.

A selection of Blanket Flower at the Aberdeen research plot.

From there we went to Rexburg to see the beautiful gardens at BYU-Idaho.  I personally had never been there and was pleasantly surprised to see such beautiful flower displays. 

Some of the beautiful & colorful pots at BYU-Idaho.

Hollyhocks at the entrance of their Victory Garden.

Rexburg is known for high winds and cold temperatures, but we had great weather when we were there.  The gardens were awesome!  Their gardens are maintained exclusively by students and each year they have students complete their class projects, which helps their gardens to grow and evolve. 

Blooming water lilies in one of their many water features.

After Rexburg we were off to Jackson Hole and stayed at the Snow King Resort.  Thursday we went to Teton Village and took the tram up to the top of the mountain to look at the wildflowers. 

Our group waiting for the tram at Teton Village.

Richard, JayDee, and Jerry gave tours and help everyone indentify the many wildflowers that we saw there--about 30 different varieties of wildflowers. 

Some of the many wildflowers from on top of the Tetons.

Wall flowers

There was still some snow left along some of the ridges and everything was so green and lush.  It was such a beautiful place to see wildflowers and the weather was just perfect!

Look at that view!

Later that night we went to the Bar J Ranch and saw the show and enjoyed a great dinner.

On Friday we visited three landscapes in the Jackson Hole area.  The landscapes were beautiful and the homes were spectacular.

This house had a stream running right under the house and flows right into the Snake River.

We had so much fun on the trip and made many new friends.  Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a great time!  We hope to have more "friends of the gardens" join us next year!