These shasta daisies are a yellow color that I haven’t seen before. I saw then on a walk in the neighborhood the other day. Nothing like seeing what grows in your neighbors’ yards for ideas about what to plant. I’ll have to try these, I think.

For more close up shots of everything imaginable, visit Macro Monday, and for more golden goodness, visit Mellow Yellow Monday. And have fun, hear?

I was lucky enough to be invited to tea at the home of a talented tea-maker, complete with little triangle sandwiches with the crust cut off. The weather was as superb as it gets, and here is a little slice of that heaven, with shadows. For more creative shadows seen in the most interesting places, visit Shadow Shot Sunday.

I admire the restraint in planting one color of flower like this. I can’t seem to help wanting one of each color. The best I can do is plant groups of similar plants in different colors, which is just not as impressive as one huge color splash like this one. A neighbor’s garden on a walk the other day was so perfectly pink I had to share it. Happy Pink Saturday to all!

Last week we had such fabulous weather. I was in Seattle driving downtown and during stopped traffic, out my open car window, shot this photo. It’s like two buildings and skies in one!

For more visions of skies around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

This is from a neighborhood yard. Such a lovely specimen of a Japanese Maple. I love this photo and hope you don’t mind me counting raindrops as water for Watery Wednesday.

We went to the Normandy Park Cove beach for the fireworks on Saturday. It was a gas, filled with fun and adrenaline as errant fireworks occasionally zoomed by. And it was loud, too, believe me, since so much was set off at once. But I have NEVER seen such a red sky. Maybe it was all the smoke from all the fireworks being detonated everywhere, but there it was.

For more rubiness, visit the inimitable Ruby Tuesday.

Oh, let’s try a new meme. After all, there are plenty of yellow flowers in the garden, so why not? The name of this one is Broadway. Pop on over to Mellow Yellow Monday for more kinds of yellow seen by people with cameras around the planet.

And since it’s a close up, let’s check out Macro Monday as well. Two for one!

The little plants I showed you a week or so ago are going gangbusters. Sweetpeas like to be picked, you know, so I must pick bouquets with fragrance like no other to enchant me and give away. What else can I do?

Here’s how to raise great sweetpeas: 1) You must nick the seed with nail scissors, then soak overnight in a dish of water before planting. The seeds are big and pretty easy to handle and it really doesn’t take long. You will see that the nicked ones swell and are ready to go and the ones that didn’t get the outside casing pierced sit there, small and hard.

2) Plant as directed, indoors in early spring if you want.

3) When planting outdoors, put them in a place where heat will not be a problem if possible. An eastern exposure like these have helps. But the big thing is, sweetpeas love manure. When planting, dig a double handful of bagged steer manure into the soil around each one. Then wait patiently for heaven in a flower to appear.

For more floriferous photos, visit Flowers For Today. Everyone likes flowers!

And hello to the Color Carnival crew. We all love bright colors; such a happy feeling.

I love roses. I grow them, smell them, photograph them, as much as I can. This one was in a Federal Way garden. The owner said it’s a David Austin rose, and that’s all I know. The big old bush was loaded with them, but this one was perfect.

Visit Pink Saturday for more pink perfection.

Driving near Seatac (Seattle-Tacoma, in case you wondered) Airport recently, the weather was changing quite rapidly, and I thought you’d like to see this dramatic sky for Skywatch Friday. Yes, it rained hard not long afterwards! Visit Skywatch Friday for skies seen and posted from everywhere, through the magic of the internet.