Last year I planted several different lilac shrubs in front by the street. I had a few flowers this spring (they are young plants, and lilacs are very long lived and so take their time about flowering) but this season I am surprised to find that some of the leaves are yellow, some purplish, and some have these pretty red and yellow leaves, with pink tones. All right!

Try some new sites: Mellow Yellow Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Pink Saturday, Macro Friday, Macro Monday and Outdoor Wednesday. Quite interesting, you’ll see. But first, be sure you have the complete blog on view here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

Hope you don’t mind a visit to my rose garden in July. This lovely is called Front Page, and it’s very fragrant. As a rose should be! After all, with so many flowers to grow, why deal with thorns and black spot if not for the fragrance?

Try checking out these cool meme sites when you have a chance: SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Shadow Shot Sunday, Scenic Sunday, Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Ruby Tuesday and Outdoor Wednesday. Whew! Don’t forget that if there’s only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the rest of them.

I like the early parts of autumn, where the leaves are just starting to show their true colors and tease us with the color to come. The Capitol Hill neighborhood in Seattle has some lovely old buildings, including this one—so scenic I wish I lived here!

Browse around SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, and Ruby Tuesday, why don’t you? and be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to view the complete blog if you see only one photo below.

Each year I buy a string of peppers at the farmers market. They are so beautiful, and I hang it up in the kitchen and the peppers dry out nicely. Then I first take the seeds out of one (I’m a pepper lightweight; not too spicy for me!) and put it in a soup or stew I’m making, then take it out later like a bay leaf. I only wish I could actually use up the whole string each year. Time to make some chili!

Make a little visit to Blue Monday, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Macro Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Ruby Tuesday, and Outdoor Wednesday. Why not? While you’re here, browse around, clicking on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner to view the complete blog if you see only one photo below.

The Burien WA Farmers Market was a perfect place to visit on Thursday. Fruit and vegetables were plentiful, beautiful and cheap, and look at these flowers! The grower said he cuts back his mums not once, but twice, to get them flowering so compactly and timing them to bloom for this fall display. I wish I could have bought them all!

Visit Ruby Tuesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Color Carnival, Outdoor Wednesday,  Scenic Sunday, Mellow Yellow Monday, and Weekend Flowers for more fascinating photo fun, and be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to view the complete blog if you see only one photo below.

That Garden Club District flower show not too long ago was so much fun. I love seeing what other gardeners can grow that do well around here. I believe this is a hardy fuchsia, which means that the top part may die back in the winter, but the plant will survive. They bloom late, but so welcome in the garden.

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Color Carnival, Macro Flowers Saturday, Macro Monday,  and Macro Friday. Remember, if there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

We’ve been having meetings at the Volunteer Park Conservatory (check out their brand-new website!) to help get the much-needed completion of the restoration funded. An extra benefit is going there after hours and catching the late afternoon light. There’s a wonderful video they’ve produced and you might notice that the plantings in it show it was taken just recently. Don’t you just love sunflowers?

Sorry for the late notice, but I will be at the Conservatory’s Plant Sale on Saturday, September 17, 10-3pm, signing copies of my new book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory: Blooming Month by Month. Directions on the Conservatory’s new website above. The plant sales there are always fabulous and the book is pretty neat, too! And the special launch pricing for my new book on this website will end Thursday, September 15, so if you were thinking about getting one for yourself and maybe one for a gift, now’s the time.

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Skywatch Friday, Today’s Flowers, Color Carnival, and Mellow Yellow Monday. See the complete and up-to-date blog here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or on the banner above.

Some scenes just beg for their picture to be taken. While all the world loves to photograph a hot air balloon, or, even better, a bunch of them at a balloon event—since that’s an extremely early-in-the-morning sort of deal, it’s not for me. But kayaks! Just sitting there, floating on the water of Puget Sound, waiting to be rented. Or photographed. I obliged. And I’m calling this my Best Post of the Week.

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Mellow Yellow Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Weekend Reflections, Watery Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday for neat sites with photos on a theme (a meme!) Remember, if there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

Visiting Poulsbo, WA last week for the first time (locals pronounce it POLS-bo) we had some coffee looking out at Liberty Bay. Nice, huh? Nobody does a great summer day like the Seattle area, in this case, on the Kitsap peninsula, an hour or two from Seattle. An extremely cute Norwegian town, perfect for a summer afternoon.

Take a look at Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Ruby Tuesday and Color Carnival for some fascinating photo fun. You might try a new tag or category here before you go, though. Click on Sara’s Fave Photos to get to the newest post here.

A few posts down there’s a vase with rose stems, and you probably wondered what the roses looked like. I would have! Here they are, straight from my garden, for your viewing enjoyment. So sorry computers aren’t quite up to transmitting fragrance, yet.

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Color Carnival, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday, if you have a moment. If you’ve arrived via a link, getting to the latest posts here is easy: just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.