Flower Show Hits the Big 9-0

On May 31, 1922 Coronado held its first ever flower show in a big tent in Spreckels Park, just as it is now.

The winner was Elsie Jessop, who nabbed the top spot with her bulb flowers. Whether these were iris, gladiolas or daffodils has been lost to history. We do know that Mrs. Jessop’s bouquet was home grown. 

“Back then people didn’t drive up to the flower mart in Del Mar. They cut flowers from their own gardens,” said Leslie Crawford, president of the Coronado Flower Association.

While the show began 90 years ago, it has only taken place in 87 of those years. During part of World War II it wasn’t held. But for at least one of those years – 1944 – local merchants put flowers in their windows to keep up the tradition, Crawford said. 

The community's show has grown into the largest flower show under a tent in the U.S.

This year the event will take place on April 21-22 and will honor the Summer Olympics, to be held in London beginning Aug. 3.

Any event that has been around for 90 years can get a bit ho hum. That is why over the years the Floral Association has gone out of its way to try out new ideas.

A few – a children’s parade, baby carriages covered with flowers and poster contests – wilted and fell away.  Others – shadow boxes, a children’s section and the judging of home gardens, became traditions. 

The fresh element for 2012 is “Grow Boxes.”

Every pre-school and elementary-school aged child was given a young plant in a box and encouraged to enter it in the youth horticultural division.

“After the show they can take them home and plant them in their own gardens,” Crawford said. “The box will disintegrate in the soil and the plant will take root.”

Hopefully, in just as enduring a fashion as the flower show.