There’s a garden meme called Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, and each month on the fifteenth people post what’s blooming in their garden that day. It’s quite a show. Some posts give me such spring-weather envy I cannot tell you. We are having serious warm-weather delay in Seattle, with the coldest April on record and heading that way for May, too. But occasionally there are dry spells, and if it hits 60 degrees F we are so happy!

This large Blushing Lady tulip didn’t bloom at all last year and I thought she was dead, but she sent up two (out of 6 bulbs) flowers after taking the year off and I do love this tulip. I’ve learned that you mustn’t plant things that need watering over them for the summer, because it causes the bulbs to rot. So much for that garden plan. I’ll have to find a spot that I don’t want to plant in the summer for next year, and plant new tulips there.

Behind the tulip are rust-colored wallflowers and to the left are red rhododendrons.

Visit Macro Friday, Today’s Flowers, Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, Macro Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Pink Saturday and Outdoor Wednesday for more photo fun. Do click on the banner above, Sara’s Fave Photos, to see the latest photos here. Thanks for visiting!

If you’re ever in the Portland, Oregon area in the springtime, this place is a must-see. Enormous, magnificent, and brilliantly conceived and tended, it just knocked my socks off. Rain or shine, a scenic wonderland. Please see Free Photos “next door” (link below the header above) for more from that locale. You can search there for Japanese garden if that series is no longer at the top.

I love this photo and have called it my Best Post of the Week.

Visit Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Scenic Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Ruby Tuesday, Weekend Reflections, and Watery Wednesday for more intriguing photos. Browse around here first, perhaps by visiting the category for “Weekend Reflections”? Remember, always see the latest photos here by clicking on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner.

One of my favorite things about belonging to a local garden club is that every 3 months they all get together and bring flowers to show (“hort” as it’s known, or horticulture). I don’t care about the ribbons they award, but this particular venue has a skylight over the display tables and the effect on a sunny day can be dazzling. I think this kind of peony is called a single form, but I am no expert. I only wish I had grown it in my own garden, but at least I can take a photo—and share it with you!

Today, I have the honor of being Guest Friend on Today’s Flowers and you might hie on over there to see some magnolia photos I took last week in my backyard. Plus many other lovely blooms from around the world, with a new thumbnail linky!

Visit Macro Friday, Ruby Tuesday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Color Carnival, Shadow Shot Sunday, Thursday Challenge (Beautiful) and Macro Monday for more photo fascination. Do see what else is fun around here first! Click on the tag of “close-ups” perhaps?

You can’t go wrong with a huge field of tulips and a barn in the distance. Scenigasm! Just a tiny bit of sunshine peeked through the very cloudy skies to give these red tulips a little happy boost. It’s been so cold this year that I bet there are still quite a few blooming in Skagit Tulip Festival near Mt. Vernon,WA. If you’re nearby and it’s a nice day as is predicted for tomorrow, do go and see.

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Color Carnival and Today’s Flowers for a great photo browse. Before you do, maybe try a new tag or category here? To see the full blog, click on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner at the top.

Glorious tulips! Even on an overcast day, what a show. This year at the Washington State (not Holland!) Skagit Tulip Festival I went to Tulip Town as well as RoozenGaarde and found there’s a big difference between the two. Tulip Town has really great and huge fields planted in a multitude of fabulous varieties of tulips. RoozenGaarde, however, has it all over them in the breathtaking garden areas they have planted. I’ll show a bit of them later. Below is a slice of the Tulip Town fields for your scenic viewing pleasure.

Visit Color Carnival, Outdoor Wednesday, Pink Saturday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Thursday Challenge (Spring), Today’s Flowers and Scenic Sunday for more photo fun. If there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for others.

Took this in the ever-present rain a couple of weeks ago. I like the jewel tones of the colors and think I might do something like this in my garden next year. Doesn’t the daffodil look like it’s holding its arms up?

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday, Color Carnival and Ruby Tuesday for more neat photos. Do click on Sara’s Fave Photos if there is only one photo below. Thanks for visiting!

I’m pretty pleased with this bouquet because the flowers are from my garden, and with the current wintery, so-called Spring we are having, I need all the bright and cheery I can get. Also, the rhododendrom blossoms have been forced. I learned you can do this one year when I had to cut back a big old rhodie before it bloomed, and there were all these branches lying on the ground. The flower buds were showing just a touch of color, and I thought, why not? I put them in water and was amazed to see them open fully and perfectly.

Visit Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Mellow Yellow Monday, Today’s Flowers, Flowers on Saturday, Pink Saturday, Ruby Tuesday, Macro Monday, and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) for more fascinating photos. As always, click on the banner above, Sara’s Fave Photos, for the full blog here.

I have no idea what kind of flower this is. It was blooming recently in the Volunteer Park Conservatory, and I was taken aback by its perfect beauty. Any of our blog readers from Singapore, the Phillipines or Malaysia, perhaps, know its name? [Thank you, Flitterkit of California, telling us it’s a red passion flower!]

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more photos with some red. Macro Monday, Color Carnival, Macro Friday, Today’s Flowers, SOOC Sunday are all great places in blogland as well. Click on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner above to show the full blog here.

This is from this time last year. We are so not up to fields of blooming tulips yet with this cold and wet spring. Soon there will be real spring weather but until then, let us gaze upon the glory of tulips!

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more photos with red in them. Color Carnival, Macro Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday, and Today’s Flowers are great, too. I wish there was a meme for sunshine. Someone? Don’t forget to click on Sara’s Fave Photos if there’s only one photo showing here.

These tiny pink orchids (anyone know the name?) are only an inch or 2.5 cm wide, and you can see they are dwarfed by the phanaenopsis orchids and maidenhair ferns in the background. Aren’t they adorable? I saw them just yesterday in Volunteer Park Conservatory. By the way, I’m getting closer and closer to getting my new book to the printer, and flowers and the Conservatory will definitely be involved! Stay tuned.

Visit Pink Saturday, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Mellow Yellow Monday Macro Monday, Ruby Tuesday, SOOC Sunday, and Today’s Flowers for more fascinating photos and if you have a minute, do click on Free Photos “next door” for an additional selection of pretty flower and scenic photos. The full blog here may be found at Sara’s Fave Photos.