BLOOM BASH: While orchids do pop up in some surprising places, they can be famously tricky to find in the wild (or at least so the movies tell us). But if we want to see the beautiful and delicate blooms with their colorful protrusions and willowy stems, we only need get to Santa Barbara a couple of times a year. The venerable International Orchid Show opens up its petals each spring (and has done so for the better part of six decades), while the Santa Barbara Orchid Fair blooms in the summertime. And it is set to bloom again, from Friday, July 8 through Sunday, July 10.
THIRTY VENDORS PLUS: Several sellers and purveyors of all things petal-y will be gathering at the Earl Warren Showgrounds to talk to flower fans and sell those fans bare-root plants and other orchid ephemera. If you're an orchid fan, you know all the additionals are essential (the orchid enthusiast we know has given over the better part of a room to her flora, and to that we say bravo). There's no admission, but parking is five bucks.
