The bees were out and buzzing today. They love some of the flowers, and don’t care so much about others. This perennial blue bachelor button, also called Centaurea montana or Mountain bluet, is almost too vigorous, but what a fabulous, almost-purple color, and on such nice long stems for bouquets.

A bee busily working a perennial blue bachelor button flower

Linking up at Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. So glad you could drop by. How about trying a new tag or category, while you’re here? My Garden is a good category to browse, just as a suggestion.

Well, the pasture behind my yard (the between the two fences) has been sold, and a house will be built on it this summer, we are told. Sigh. The horses are gone. Things change. Here is what it looked like from my patio, today.

Backyard garden in Normandy Park, WA, with red and pink flowers

Participating in Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. I so appreciate your dropping by.

OK, it’s not the best photo in the world, and there are all those wires, but who doesn’t love a spring rainbow? Hope you have good luck all day long today.

A spring rainbow in Burien, Washington

Linking up at Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Scenic Weekends, Skywatch Friday, Pink Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Monday Mellow Yellows, and A Piece of Heaven. Thank you for visiting and please come back soon.

Rhododendrons, or rhodies as we call them affectionately, bloom extremely well here in the Pacific Northwest. They reach their peak about now. If you live in the Seattle area, you can probably see ones as tall as houses, here and there. This old one is blooming right in front of my house. Lucky me!

Many shades of pink in this rhododendron blooming in the spring sunshine

Linking up at My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. I do appreciate your visit here. Browse around and see what you find.

This exquisite yellow and magenta pink phalaenopsis orchid was blooming in the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle last time I was there. I love the warm colors and the exciting dots in the center. Come here, little pollinating insect!

Yellow and magenta moth orchid at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle

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These red and white striped tulips were in a vase on a desk. I need to have some of these in my garden, absolutely. They look so antique and so totally modern, both.

Red and white striped tulips bouquet

Participating at My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Macro Monday, Ruby Tuesday 2, and Fishtail Cottage Wednesday. Thank you for visiting and please click around for some interesting photos here. Do download the “7 Secrets to Better Flower Photos” at the right, all simple things you can do for better photos of any kind, without fancy equipment. It’s not the camera!

The color of these primrose flowers is hard to photograph properly. It’s a wonderful blend of purple and magenta and red, with bright yellow centers to set it all off. And those healthy, crinkly leaves. I want some!

Purple, magenta and red primroses with their deeply textured leaves

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I took this awhile ago when I was at the Skagit Tulip Festival in Washington. Who can resist the message, whatever it is—Bloom where you are planted? Be who you are? Primary colors rule? What caption would YOU put on this image?

One red tulip blooms in a field of yellow flowers

Linking up at Outdoor Wednesday, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Scenic Weekends, Ruby Tuesday 2, Straight out of the Camera Sunday and Monday Mellow Yellows. I love this image and I’m calling it my Best Post of the Week. Thank you so very much for visiting. Why not browse around a bit, long as you are here?

My BFF and I went to the new Chihuly museum in the city center in Seattle. I wasn’t expecting to like it all that much, but it was wonderful. This photo is a tourist being blown away by the remarkable glass sculpture ceiling, filled with sea-creature-and-flower-like forms. I like the light shadows on the walls almost as much as the sculptures.

The glass ceiling of colorful blown glass forms at the Chihuly Museum in Seattle.

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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

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