The magnolias are gorgeous this year. This tree in our backyard is one of the many dotting the neighborhood right now. And the horses in the pasture adjoining our property just love the fallen petals. They even eat the blooms that they can reach off the tree! No harm seems to be done.

Pink Japanese magnolias against a sunny sky in springtime

Two horses graze magnolia blossoms on a sunny spring day

Visit My Romantic Home, Outdoor Wednesday, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Scenic Weekends, Camera Critters and Macro Monday. I appreciate your stopping by here and hope it’s flowering gangbusters where you live.

These red fritillaria, or checkered tulips, decorating my garden this week just float my boat. Both this kind and the other more purple-and-cream color a few posts below are doing so well in my garden. I love things that just come up and bloom, all by themselves. Those are grape hyacinths in the background, also easy and fun, and so welcome in springtime.

Dark red checkered tulips, or fritillaria, in the garden

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I’m wishing camping season was here already. I love getting to spend all day and night in the fresh air, even if the weather is not so perfect. I don’t want to tent camp in the rain because cooking is just impossible, but gray is OK. Here’s a photo of Bowman Bay, at Wahington’s Deception Pass State Park, on a gray and slightly foggy July day last summer.

A sailboat at rest in Bowman Bay at Deception Pass State Park in Washington

Participating with this post at Water World Wednesday, Nature’s Footsteps Waters Sunday, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Scenic Weekends, Weekend Reflections and Outdoor Wednesday. Thanks so much for visiting! If there’s only one photo here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos above to see the rest of the blog’s recent posts.

It’s raining. Yesterday there were a couple of breaks from the wet; today not so much. Here is a tulip out in front of my house taken on a weekend afternoon in Seattle.

Raindrops on dark pink and orange tulip petals

Linking up in My Romantic Home, Outdoor Wednesday, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers,  Outdoor Wednesday, Thursday Challenge (Pink), Water World Wednesday, Nature’s Footsteps Waters Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday and Macro Monday. Thank you so much for visiting. Try a new tag or category, just for fun, why don’t you? See the tag cloud at the lower right for ideas. Have a great day.

These sweet and strange fritillaria bulbs have been coming up in my garden like champs. The checkered patterns on the sides are so extraordinary that when I first saw a drawing of them, I thought it was a joke. Now that I can grow them in my garden, I love the tops like paper lanterns and their lovely, nodding stems. So shy, so strange.

Frittilaria (checkered tulips) nod their heads, in a rainy flowerbed

Participating in My Romantic Home, Outdoor Wednesday, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Thursday Challenge (Spring), Pink Saturday and Macro Monday. Glad you stopped by!

Daphne odora marginata is a fabulous, mostly evergreen shrub that grows very well in the Pacific Northwest. It likes acid soil and not too much sun. I’ve always had good luck with them and adore them for their intense fragrance and also for the cheerful start to the spring blooming season they provide. One little bouquet of these tiny flowers will scent up the house.

Daphne odora marginata blooms on a sunny windowsill in late March

Linking in My Romantic Home, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday, Thursday Challenge (Spring), and Macro Monday. Have a great weekend, and hope you get some sun and fragrance in it. Thanks for dropping by here.

This clump of old-fashioned variegated (green and white leaves) hosta grows in a very protected area at my front door and is up early, almost fully leafed out. When I was a tiny tot in Philadelphia in the fifties, I remember these grew at our house. Plant nostalgia!

Variegated hosta leaves almost fully leafed out.

Linking in My Romantic Home, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Thursday Challenge (Spring), and Macro Monday. Thank you so much for stopping by here. Come back soon!

The sun was out! Our five-graft plum tree in the back is popping into bloom! This is its second year so we might get a plum or two. I love the idea of five different plums on one dwarf tree. Jars of jam, here I come!

Young plum tree opens white blossoms in the sunshine

Participating this week in My Romantic Home, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Scenic Weekends, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Thursday Challenge (Spring), and Macro Monday. Thank you so much for stopping by here, and hope it’s Spring where you live. 

Saw these incredible trees today in Georgetown near the Seattle Design Center. That neighborhood has the most magnificent old cherry trees! If you are a fan of streets lined with masses of pink, head on down there. For your oooh-ing pleasure! I love this image and I’m calling it my Best Post of the Week.

Linking in Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Scenic Weekends, Outdoor Wednesday, and Pink Saturday. Maybe try a new tag or a search, just for fun. You never know what you might turn up.

Took this photo of Seattle’s iconic Space Needle in early spring just on Friday in Belltown. Don’t the clouds look pretty? We do clouds well here, or at least have lots of them. Usually all seamless gray, unfortunately. This kind is so much nicer, especially when there’s a bit of blue, too.

Seattle’s iconic Space Needle, seen from Belltown, against a cloudy sky

Participating with this post at Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Scenic Weekends, and Outdoor Wednesday. Thanks so much for visiting! If there’s only one photo here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos above to see the rest of the blog’s recent posts.