It’s officially autumn but amazingly enough, our Seattle weather has been warm and magnificent. A local nursery has all the right plants and accessories for the cool days that definitely await. If I take photos, I manage to avoid taking home all the plants I want but have no room for, even if I could afford them. Don’t you want the whole display, too?

I have read that swimming koi (goldfish?) must be pictured from above, or else it is not good luck. Okay, I’m hazy on this, but these beautiful specimens appears lucky to me. The many fish in this large indoor pond were large and healthy looking, and so thrilling, the way they move so quickly and gracefully.

For more water photos of all kinds, visit Watery Wednesday. You’ll like it a lot.

I really love this photo and have tagged it a Best Post of the Week. For a fascinating selection of the blogosphere, check out their site.

Begonias bloom and bloom, with no removal of spent flowers (deadheading) needed, and they are happy to bloom in the shade for you. I try to overwinter them in my garden by adding a lot of mulch, which sometimes actually works, or take them indoors if I can. The colors of the flowers and the leaves are so varied. This one is just red, but what a red!

For more ruby visions, visit Ruby Tuesday. And for those fans of super bright colors, visit Color Carnival.

This plant is poisonous, but so very beautiful. I had seen white ones, but never this peach shade or the pale yellow. For more close ups, visit Macro Monday. And for those who adore yellow, try Mellow Yellow Monday for more flashy color.

Visiting a well-designed nursery is a delight, even if you don’t have a budget for much purchasing, or even if there’s no room to put anything, a common complaint of avid gardeners. Here’s a display of asters with pansies, and in the left corner, that white little flower is called Chinese Jasmine and very fragrant, even that one little bloom.

Visit Today’s Flowers for more flowers around the world.

Here’s a shadow shot for you today. The weather continues, amazingly, to be mostly warm and sunny here in Seattle, even well past Labor Day. It’s supposed to be over 80 later this week! Hope you are enjoying your own weather, getting outside and breathing deep, wherever you are.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more fascinating shadow visions.

So many dahlias in these last brilliant days of summer. Here’s a pink one for your delectation, just for Pink Saturday.

Here in Seattle a sunny sky is a serious thrill. This is from a few days ago, travelling north on the Viaduct. I know it’s not right to hold up the camera and take a photo (or, ahem, more than one) but as you can see, traffic was nowhere near. And the windshield was pretty clean, so what else could I do?

The tall black building is the Columbia Tower, whose 75th floor has been the source of the view of a couple of photos in this blog. In front of it is an oldie, Smith Tower. To the right you can see part of Qwest Field. Just beyond the railing to your left, not visible, is Puget Sound and the ferries and giant cranes of the harbor, but that’s for another photo.

Happy Skywatch Friday, everyone!

I am trying out a new meme called Thursday Challenge, and the theme this week is “Fresh.” This here is one fresh flower! I sure love dahlias, in their infinite colorations and forms, and the way they truly embody the word “fresh” as they open their petals to our view.

Today may have been the last perfect day of summer. In honor of this fabulous season that’s fading fast, here’s a hymn to lovely, warm weather. I took this in August at Lake Cushman of some gentleman trying his luck.

For more watery wonders, visit Watery Wednesday.