A recent visit to Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory showed this amazing orchid bud:

Bud of a lady slipper orchid (?) at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory

Linking to Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Pink Saturday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Floral Friday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday,  and Saturday Show Off. Thank you so much for your visit here!

Hunting for another photo, I found these perfectly pink peonies, with their soft shadows, languishing in a folder. Here’s to the bliss of summer flowers.

Frilly pink peonies from my summer garden

Linking to Pink Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Wordless Wednesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Blooming Friday, Macro Monday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, I Heart Macro Saturday, Saturday Show Off and My Romantic Home. If you see only one photo here, try another tag or category to see a few more. Thanks, and glad you could stop by.

While strolling along the lovely shops of Cannon Beach, Oregon, we passed this mass of sweetpea flowers amazingly in full bloom. Mine at home, not so far away in Seattle, are completely over. Aren’t they lovely in the soft seashore light?

Lavender sweetpeas bloom on Labor Day at Cannon Beach, Oregon

Linking up with Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Garden Tuesday, Saturday Show Off and My Romantic Home. I appreciate your visit here and please drop by again soon.

I’m going to be on vacay for a bit so I’ll schedule posts of a few photos from a recent visit to my favorite flower haunt, Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory and link to the various photo memes I love so much when I return.

This agapanthus or Lily of the Nile is almost more beautiful in bud than in flower.

Dark blue Lily of the Nile in the growing beds outside Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle

Linking (eventually) to Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Weekends and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Thanks for visiting and please come back soon.

At a friend’s birthday party in the park yesterday, I brought flowers and there was a purple tablecloth. I like this photo because such a tiny slice is in focus, and that isn’t even much of the big rose and its petals, but mostly the sepal of the bud. Do you like it? Be honest, now.

Double Delight rose blossom with rosebud

Linking to Pink Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday 2, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, My Romantic Home, Garden Tuesday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, Outdoor Wednesday, Saturday Show Off, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Please click on Sara’s Fave Photos at the top to see all the photos if only one image is shown.

Sometimes petunias in the garden get leggy, and the only thing to do is cut off the long stems, feed the plant, and hope you get a second flush of blooms. I brought in the cut stems and figured I might as well put them in a vase. I was surprised to find how fragrant they were.

A petunia bouquet shows color, form and texture

You might check out Pink Saturday, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, My Romantic Home, Garden Tuesday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, Outdoor Wednesday and Saturday Show Off. If there is only this one petunia photo here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos at the top to see several others. Thanks!

Bulbs are great. When you find some that are happy where you put them, their return each year is such a gift. These white Dutch irises are such a pretty sight in my May garden.

Simple yellow and white Dutch iris with moisture from a recent shower on its petals

Check out Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Water World Wednesday, Nature’s Footsteps Waters Sunday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. I appreciate your visit here. Have a great day!

A fine image for the beginning of January, don’t you think? This was taken at the most recent NW Flower & Garden Show in Seattle, the largest garden show on the West coast. And we will be there! Daughter and jewelry designer Lila, and I, will be showing our jewelry and of course, my Flowers book in booth 2806. Come see us!

Yellow and white striped tulip is almost open

Visit Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma and Monday Mellow Yellows (new meme!). Please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see the other images here. Thanks for visiting and Happy New Year!

Oriental lilies are the latest in the summer and the most fragrant, I am told. Worth waiting for! And they will bloom in part shade, another plus. A lily grower in N. California told me that they like having low plants at their feet, like oxalis, perhaps, or some other low forest plant. All I know is I adore their smell.

Visit Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday.

Bonus photo: Here I am at my book launch at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in the Bromeliad House yesterday. It was so much fun and such a great experience! Thank you to all who helped make it a success.

I can’t believe I got last year’s amaryllis to actually rebloom. A miracle! Garden tip: For one thing, they tend to be so top heavy that I’ve learned to plant the bulb in a clay pot, not the plastic one provided in the “kit” sold around here. Toppling over is so not good for those huge blossoms. So after the bloom a year ago I kept the plant on my sunny, south-facing windowsill, kept watering with the dilute plant food I use for all my houseplants, enjoyed the sculptural strappy leaves all year, watched as they died back gradually, and was amazed when I saw a flower stem emerge!

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more photos with red, and Outdoor Wednesday. You might try a tag of RED here (lower right) first, just for fun.