This is the only rose in my garden whose name I do not know. It had no tag when I bought it, but its lovely soft pink with the faintest red edges, and its lovely fragrance, won me over. Anyone know its name?

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Pink Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday. Today is the Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day meme, where people around the world take photos of what’s blooming in their garden on the 15th of each month, post and visit each other. Fun! Getting to the latest post here (if you’ve arrived from a link) is easy: just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

Highline Botanical Garden is so worth a visit. Just north of SeaTac Airport, south of Seattle, this small but lovely garden only becomes more beautiful with time. Those gardeners and volunteers must work very hard!

Visit Skywatch Friday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Today’s Flowers. Returning to the latest post (if you’ve arrived from a link) is easy: just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above or here.

Time for a scenic photo. This is at little Lake Burien, south of Seattle WA, a few weeks ago. Don’t you just love, love, love those pink skies? I also thought it was nice of the person to wear that pretty red top for me to photograph.

Visit Skywatch Friday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday, Pink Saturday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Weekend Reflections. And my Best Post of the Week! If there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

An old-fashioned flower, for sure. My mom used to grow this one. It’s very, very tough, can bloom in sun or shade, reseeds very vigorously. Also it’s on the tall side, which I like. But the color of its small flowers (one inch or 3 cm) is extraordinary: an electric magenta that seems to move to red—just the most shimmering, intense color, and combined with its silvery stems and leaves, a real showy plant.

Visit Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Pink Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday. And remember, when there’s just one photo showing here, click on the Sara’s Fave Photos (that curly lettering on top will do fine) and see the rest.

I went outside and picked a few roses. I hate to cut them but I love bouquets, so I compromise by cutting only the full-blown ones, leaving as many as possible out there. But oh, my goodness, the perfume in the room from garden roses. No florist roses ever come close.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Pink Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday. Be sure to browse around here first. Try a new tag or category at right, perhaps?

After a tough winter, most of the roses have come back well. Lots of compost, regular food and water, and frequent tidying up (so I can take photos! and also helps prevent blackspot) make a very satisfying rosebed in front of the house. The neighbors walking by sometimes admire it. It’s a pretty good walking neighborhood, for which I am very grateful. This ‘Oklahoma’ rose isn’t loaded with blooms, but the ones it has are big and fat. And that’s a lavender plant I grew from seed behind it!

Visit  Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday. If there is only one photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others.

I am pleased to announce that so far, the squirrels seem completely uninterested in the raspberries which are bearing this year for the first time. As opposed to, let’s say, strawberries, of which I have picked NOT ONE. Nuts. I guess I can’t complain, having so few garden pests or predators, but still. You grow them and you want to eat them, or at least taste them! I’ve also learned that raspberries, even unwashed and in an open container, get moldy after three days or so in the fridge. I won’t let that happen again.

Visit Ruby Tuesday (and these berries are ruby colored, for sure!) Color Carnival, Macro Monday, and Macro Friday. If there is only the one berry photo below, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the rest of them. Thanks for visiting!

Last week it rained, before the beautiful weekend we enjoyed, so of course I had to head out to the garden when it stopped. I’m enjoying the daylilies this year in their varying shades of orange, burgundy and peach. I think I have a yellow one, but it hasn’t bloomed yet.

Visit Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Today’s Flowers, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) and Ruby Tuesday for more fun photos.

Please see my Big Announcement below if you missed it! And thanks for visiting.

It’s party time! Thank you to all my blog readers and followers who have supported me over the last three years by your encouragement and creative, thoughtful comments. You gave me the confidence and courage to actually do this! My new book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory: Blooming Month By Month is just about here and we are ready to ship books very soon. My Best Post of the Week, for sure!

This book was born from a dozen or so visits to the Conservatory here in Seattle over the course of a year. It changed so much each time I visited. I was entranced and enthralled by the beauty of the displays and the opportunity for thrilling, perfect flower photos, and could not believe there was not even one book about this incredible gem of a place. Thus this book was born. Side note: The flowers on the book’s cover image are brugmansia, or Angel’s Trumpet.

The launch party and free Open House is coming up next week at the Conservatory on Thurs., August 4, 2011, 6-8pm, so if you are in the area, please do stop by and say hello, and get the very first look at the book in person.

By the way, there is a special pre-launch price available to my loyal readers. More info about the book is on the home page lovethatimage.com (you can always get there by clicking on the photo banner at the top of the page) and the order info is here.

This cover image qualifies for these memes: Macro Flowers Saturday, Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Today’s Flowers, Pink Saturday, and Ruby Tuesday. Thanks again to all meme hosts and participants for your encouragement on this big, big project.

At an after-hours meeting at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory about their campaign for needed restoration, of course I couldn’t help taking a few photos. Thank goodness that the last time I was there I snapped a photo of the cheat sheet they had posted, a key to the outdoor plantings, so I know that this amazing geranium is called ‘Mrs. Pollack. Even though it’s just coming into flower, that hardly matters with foliage like this.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Today’s Flowers, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) and Ruby Tuesday. Clicking on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner above brings you back to the latest post here, always.

And if you are in Seattle on Thursday, August 4 at 6-8pm, please come to the Conservatory’s free Open House and book signing for my new book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory: Blooming Month By Month. Take a tour and meet the author!