Prairie Flowers, Potato, and Wheat—in Connell WA

The drive to Spokane from Portland is a long one, about 6 hours including a stop in the Tri-Cities to fuel up, stretch your legs, and use the restroom. I've made the trip enough times that I have a few landmarks I look for along the way, the Connell Art Sculptures by Nick Lyle and Jean Whitesavage are one of my benchmarks. Up until my trip in April I'd only seen 3 of the 6 sculptures, ones you can easily see from Highway 395. This trip I made it a point to find all 6...

This is (obviously) Wheat, Triticum aestivum. One of the sculptures—along with Potato Flower—that were done as a tribute to the crops that "exemplify Connell's continuing farming heritage."

Potato Flower, Solanum tuberosum

From the City's website: "Prairie Flowers, Potato and Wheat - Six steel flower sculptures from Seattle-area artists Nick Lyle and Jean Whitesavage highlighting the diverse and beautiful native and agricultural flora of the Coulee Corridor ranging 12 to 17 feet in height placed along the City's mile-long walking and bike path. The City dedicated the walking path artwork in November 2009."

I'd never before seen Wheat or Potato Flower, as they're at the very beginning of the path and hidden from Highway 395.

Blazing Star, Mentzelia laevicaulis is one of the sculptures I was familiar with, in fact you can see the Highway passing by just beyond the path and chain-link fence on the far right.

It's also where I spotted the dedication plaque that told me I needed to find 6 sculptures total.

Fiddleneck, Amsinckia menziesii

Another that I was familiar with, but it was still pretty incredible to see it up close, towering over me.

Shooting Star, Dodecatheon sp. Instead of facing the Highway for this photo I turned to get the neighborhood on the other side.

There's an airplane doing a nice shooting star impersonation there in the background, do you see it?

The 6th and last sculpture (and another that was new to me); Yellow Bells, Fritillaria pudica.

I'm so glad I made the time to get off the Highway and hunt down all of these sculptures.

The Bit at the End

If you're curious you can see a little more of Whitesavage and Lyle's work here.

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