This peachy pink tropical rhododendron was at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory a few weeks ago. What I love about these flowers is that unlike regular rhodies, they are fragrant, as well as beautiful. Such a sweet, charming aroma, wafting through the air. Hope you get to see and smell one in person some day.

This post is or will be linked to Macro Monday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Color Carnival, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and naturally, Pink Saturday. Also, the glowing center really makes me happy, so I’m calling it my Best Post of the Week.

Don’t forget that you can download a free copy of my “Seven Secrets to Better Flower (or any!) Photos” on the sidebar at right. No fancy equipment needed to take scrumptious photos. It’s not the camera, it’s you!

A happy garden perennial that blooms so brightly, geum (GEE-um) is a nice tall flower (2-3 feet, or a meter) with sprays of brilliant red that dance above a rosette of very toothed leaves. No fragrance, but very long blooming, especially when deadheaded. Hope you have this crowd-pleaser in your garden. An easy one to grow!

Check out Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Macro Monday, and Color Carnival and don’t forget to click on the Sara’s Fave Photos Blog banner above to see the whole blog here.

The rhododendrons are really gorgeous this year. The winter has been pretty mild, with plenty of water, and with the brutally cold winter the previous year, I guess the plants are breathing a sigh of relief and blooming their hearts out in gratitude. This scene in Seattle’s Volunteer Park is just one tiny slice of the magnificent display that rhodies put on for us in the Pacific Northwest.

Visit Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) and Pink Saturday to see lots of great photos from around the planet. And if you’ve arrived via a link, be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see the complete blog here. Have fun!

I don’t know who Shirley was, but she must have been quite an individual to have a flower like THIS named after her. These are bigger than my hand, and you just can’t get showier, in my opinion. Red, red, red. These were taken last week at the Burien, WA Farmers Market. Such a pleasure!

Visit Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Macro Monday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Color Carnival for more neat photos. If you like what you see here, please follow this blog with the widget to the right. Thank you so much for visiting, and come back soon.

Oh, that Seattle Volunteer Park Conservatory and its orchids! A total sensual delight, especially when a stray bit of sun reveals even more frills and curves. I am a fan.

You might explore Mellow Yellow Monday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Macro Monday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera),  Color Carnival, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Please leave a comment here if you have something to say; don’t be shy.

Last year I posted a photo of the leaves of this lovely garden perennial, meadow rue, and here are the flowers. Each little puff is about the width of my finger, and the flowers are on top of a nice, tall plant at my eye level, which I appreciate. Perennials are the stars of the garden, as far as I am concerned. You get them going and they just keep doing their thing, all by themselves. So helpful!

It’s very hard to get the color exactly right. They are really a soft lavender, but this photo looks kind of magenta pink-ish. Sometimes photography seems so simple but is so challenging when you want to get an accurate rendering of color. I do my best, which is all anyone can do.

Interesting blogs around the planet are Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Macro Monday, Pink Saturday, Color Carnival, and Outdoor Wednesday. Don’t forget to follow this blog with the widget on the right if you enjoy the photos here.

Can’t you almost smell them? Lilac shrubs are very long-lived, I understand, so sometimes there’s a bit of a wait before they will flower, even if conditions are good. I know they can get huge, as I once saw clumps of them in Maine that were the size of small apartment buildings. Here in Seattle the acid soil can be a problem, so a handful of dolomitic lime in the fall and spring has really helped. Finally, the flowers are beginning to look like something this year. They bloom on last year’s growth, so I’ll wait until next year for a bouquet.

You might check out Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Macro Monday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Pink Saturday, Color Carnival, Outdoor Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Try a new category or tag, perhaps My Garden or Close Up, just for fun?

This grape-leaf passion flower, or Passiflora vitifolia, is in Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory, seen on a recent visit. It’s also on page 32 of my book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory, available on this website, at the Conservatory’s Gift Shop, and also on Amazon, by the way. I think this image might even be better than the one in the book! Oh well, that’s the way it goes. Sometimes the flowers pose so prettily for the camera, don’t they?

Interesting photo memes include Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Macro Monday, and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and it looks like Color Carnival is happening again, too!

Today my daughter and I were at the Burien (WA) Farmers Market. Wonderful weather, if a bit nippy, and the flowers for sale were spectacular. Here’s one of the bouquets we saw—for $5 each!

You might like Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Ruby Tuesday 2, Mellow Yellow Monday, and Outdoor Wednesday, with lots of great pictures, too. If there is only one post here, be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog on top or at upper right to see the entire blog here. Thank you so much for dropping by.

Happy Mother’s Day! Everyone had a mother who gave birth to them, and we thank you. In honor of this day, I am pleased to post a photo taken by my daughter, who is the reason I am a mother, on her recent trip to Northern California. The vineyards were filled with not just orange, but red poppies also!

Please visit Scenic Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Ruby Tuesday 2,  Skywatch Friday and Outdoor Wednesday, lovely entries all, for more great photos. If you’ve arrived via a link, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see the entire collection here. Thanks for visiting!