I can hardly believe that I got any tomatoes at all, but here is proof. September is a bit late for first tomatoes, though, don’t you think? I threw a couple of handfuls of dolomitic lime on the soil at planting and it made a huge difference. No more yucky blossom-end rot, and the vines look GREAT. Here in the Pacific Northwest the soil tends to be pretty acidic, thus easy success with rhodies, blueberries and evergreens. But tomatoes seem to prefer a more alkaline soil.

Gardening note: I was always hesitant to use dolomitic lime because I was sure it must make the soil more acidic—because it was “lime” and that had to be acid, right? WRONG. Silly me. It makes the soil more alkaline just like it says on the box and is great for plants like lilacs, peonies (mine flowered for the first time!) and hellebores, all of which really hate an acid soil.

How about browsing the “Vegetables/Fruits” category here—then visit Ruby Tuesday for more things red and ruby, Color Carnival for more brilliant color, and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots. And if you’ve arrived here from a link, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see the full blog with the latest and the greatest photos.

This is the third year for this hanging begonia basket. Doesn’t the recent rain make the petals look even better? Picotee means those pretty edges of color it has, by the way.

I bring it inside in the winter, it dies back, and in the spring I give it fresh soil, feed it some acid fertilizer and voila! This year the weather was so un-summery that it didn’t really bloom until the beginning of September. So much for summer flowering. Well, I’ll enjoy it all fall until the really cold weather when it will come in again.

Visit Flowers for Today for flowers from around the planet and Color Carnival for brilliant color; Macro Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday are also great sites, and SOOC has more straight-out-of-the-camera shots. Such fun!

While you are here, try a search for something like “begonias” to see this plant last year, perhaps. And if you’ve arrived via a link or a search engine, you can always click on Sara’s Fave Photos above for the latest posts.

I know I’ve posted close ups of this kind of lily before, but they are just so showy! And I am so thrilled when something SO exciting blooms in my very own garden. Be careful about the pollen, you know. Florists pull off those pretty pollen things because they can stain your clothes badly. But photos are safe!

Visit Pink Saturday, Color Carnival and Macro Flowers Saturday for great photo browsing, and SOOC has more straight out of the camera shots. And you can always poke around here for something like “pink” or “lily” in the search field. Return to the latest blog post by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

There’s a little bonus at the bottom of the page. Aren’t they cute?

At the Pike Place Market in Seattle a couple of weeks ago, the dahlia display was breathtaking. Every color, every form, and armloads of them, all grown locally of course. Here are some red ones for you to enjoy.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more redness of all kinds. Perhaps click on the tag “red” while you are here? Visit the latest post always by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

Here’s a bouquet of roses I picked for my cousin Sheila who is visiting. If only you could smell the fragrance! The top dark orange one is Dolly Parton (love that name!), the yellow one is Peace, and the apricot one is Sundowner, I’m pretty sure. One day, I hope in my lifetime, there will be a device attached to your computer which will emit odors. Good smells only, of course. After all, if there’s enough computing power, why not? Fragrance is only molecules wafting towards us. In the meantime, you must imagine.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday, Color Carnival and Macro Monday for more of the same, and SOOC has more straight out of the camera shots. And you might try a search for bouquet here, always returning to the full blog by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

Sometimes the back of a flower is at least as interesting as the front, don’t you think? This pretty thing was at that dahlia garden in Volunteer Park in Seattle.

Visit Macro Flowers Saturday and Pink Saturday for blog photo fun. While you are here, try a category like Flowers (a big one!) or maybe SOOC, or straight out of the camera, just for fun. You can always find the latest post at Sara’s Fave Photos above.

There was a dance thing at Sculpture Park in Seattle tonight, part of the Dancing til Dusk series the city has put on this summer. If you’d like to see a video of a great waltz demo, you can see it here: Waltz Demo. But the setting overshadowed even the great dancing for awhile, as the sunset turned into one of those red fire ones. This is straight out of the camera, handheld, and no special settings or cropping, either. I’m calling it my Best Post of the Week.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies seen round the world, and Scenic Sunday rocks. Color Carnival and Weekend Reflections are great, too.

Try a new tag or category today. Sunset, perhaps? And you can return to the full blog, if you’ve arrived via a link, by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

On a recent morning, this woman was calmly paddling her board across the shallow waters out towards the deeper waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, or all the way to Canada for all I know. I love the look of still water, and reflections are a bonus.

Visit Watery Wednesday, Blue Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday and Weekend Reflections for more interesting photos with a theme.

While you are here, you might as well explore a bit. Click on a new tag. Blue, perhaps? And if you’ve arrived via a link, be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see the entire blog. And check out my new book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory, if you have a moment, for more beautiful photography.

There might be a special name for this kind of marking on flower petals, but I don’t know it. If you do, please clue me in. [later: Striated! Thank you!] They aren’t really stripes; more of spots and stripes mixed together. Anyway, I just love the way it looks. I took this in Seattle’s Volunteer Park dahlia garden that I just discovered this week, maintained by the Puget Sound Dahlia Association. Enjoy!

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more ravishing photo redness and SOOC for more straight-out-of-camera shots.

If you got here by clicking on a link, it might not be the latest post—Sara’s Fave Photos above will take you there. Be sure to try a tag or search for “dahlia” and see what you get!

This cactus macro lives at the Volunteer Park Conservatory, in the succulent area. All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti, you know. This one is about as wide across as my hand on top. I’ve been to the American Southwest and you develop an appreciation for how beautiful they can be.

Visit Macro Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday, and a new meme, Cactus Monday, for more interesting photos. If you’ve arrived here from another link, you can access the latest blog posts by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, above. But before you leave, try visiting a new tag or category here. “Close up” tag, perhaps?