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.

Here is a  magenta and white waterlily for your enjoyment, seen at Hendricks Garden in the Federal Way Garden Tour last month.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday, Today’s Flowers and SOOC for more great photos. And try clicking on a tag like My Garden, perhaps, for a new photo selection. If you’ve gotten here via the permalink, you can find the latest photos always at 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?

Roses in the sunshine may not have the tender delicacy they show in overcast, soft lighting, but they practically sing their joy in bright light. To me, anyway.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more intriguing shadows and Scenic Sunday, and Today’s Flowers for great photos. If you’re here from another link, you might want to click on Sara’s Fave Photos above to see if there’s an even more current photo. And you might try the “rose” tag while you’re here. There are a quite a few rose photos, I promise!

Note: There’s now a little surprise if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. Hope you like it!

I discovered a gem of a dahila garden in Seattle, in Volunteer Park. If you are leaving the Conservatory at the north end, it is in the big field in front of you to your left. There appear to be maybe a couple of hundred different dahlias blooming, all staked and named and perfectly groomed. I was in heaven. The sign says it is maintained by the Puget Sound Dahlia Association and I say Thank You to them.

Here’s a pretty pink one for Pink Saturday. Also for Macro Flowers Saturday. And visit Color Carnival, too!

While you are here, try clicking on the Dahlia tag for more lovely blooms. And if you’ve arrived by the permalink, you can always get to the latest post and the full blog by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, above. Thanks for visiting!