Happy New Year to all, a holiday shared round the world. Wishing you health, inner growth and contentment in 2019.

Buds are the optimism of the plant world. Paperwhites bloom on New Year’s Day, 2019

Joining Through My Lens Monday, Macro Monday, Good Random Fun Monday, Our World Tuesday, Pictorial Tuesday, Tuesday’s Wordless Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, My Corner of the World Wednesday, Friday Bliss, Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, My Sunday Photo, and Sunday Snap. Thanks for visiting here and please come back soon!

Muscari, or grape hyacinth, was one of the flowers I saw everywhere at the NW Flower & Garden show last week, along with fritillaria, or checkered tulips (see below). Their light blue color was very sweet to see, and will be perfect for an Easter nosegay. #NWFGS

Light blue grape hyacinths, or muscari, decorated many displays at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show in Seattle

Linking up with Our World Tuesday, Macro Monday, Tuesday’s Wordless Wednesday, Floral Bliss Wednesday, Floral Friday, Photo Friday, and Pink Saturday. If you see only one photo here, please click on the curly letters of Sara’s Fave Photos Blog for a few more. Thanks!

Winter is definitely still here in Seattle, but the bulbs are getting ready.

Green shoots of bulbs poke out of the soil in the Pacific Northwest in January

Joining up at Our World Tuesday, Friday Greens, Scenic Weekends, Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, NF Catching the Light Monday, My Romantic Home, and Saturday Show Off. If you see only one photo here, please click on the curly letters of Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above for a few more. Hope you enjoyed your visit here and see you again soon!

I sure would like to post something from the outdoors, but it is STILL raining. These tiny lilies of the valley (lily-of-the-valleys?) were at the recent NW Flower & Garden Show in Seattle.

Pretty little fragrant white bells bloom in February indoors at the NWFGS

Joining up at Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Blooming Friday, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday,  Straight out of the Camera Sunday, and Saturday Show Off. Thanks for your visit here and please come back soon.

I got some little crocus bulbs in a pot and they have begun to bloom. The sun peeked out today, finally, and I grabbed my camera.

Little purple crocus flower with an orange center blooms on my kitchen table

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These red fritillaria, or checkered tulips, decorating my garden this week just float my boat. Both this kind and the other more purple-and-cream color a few posts below are doing so well in my garden. I love things that just come up and bloom, all by themselves. Those are grape hyacinths in the background, also easy and fun, and so welcome in springtime.

Dark red checkered tulips, or fritillaria, in the garden

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These sweet and strange fritillaria bulbs have been coming up in my garden like champs. The checkered patterns on the sides are so extraordinary that when I first saw a drawing of them, I thought it was a joke. Now that I can grow them in my garden, I love the tops like paper lanterns and their lovely, nodding stems. So shy, so strange.

Frittilaria (checkered tulips) nod their heads, in a rainy flowerbed

Participating in My Romantic Home, Outdoor Wednesday, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Thursday Challenge (Spring), Pink Saturday and Macro Monday. Glad you stopped by!

From my backyard, the other day. I already pulled up the forget-me-nots since then. They fill in so well, looking great when not much else is blooming, but then a certain point is passed, and out they go. No problem with new plants volunteering for next year, of course, perhaps even too vigorously reseeding, but when you have a big place to fill up, these do a fine job. And the dutch irises seem to be quite easy, as well, returning now for the third time and more than I planted. Gardening is so fun when it works out well.

Visit Today’s Flowers, Shadow Shot Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Mellow Yellow Monday, Blue Monday, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Outdoor Wednesday. Clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos brings you back to the latest post here always.

This shot of Lilies of the Valley (Convallaria) is actually from last year, taken in the Bronx Botanical Garden in New York, but the ones outside my house are just about blooming now, so I thought you’d like to see these sweet and fragrant little springtime bells. Don’t they cast such cute shadows?

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more interesting shadows and Today’s Flower for blooms of all kinds. Visit SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera photos.

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Walking the other day with my visiting daughter, I found these low flowers perhaps 6 or 8 inches tall, with  no leaves. It was a typical Seattle fall day with a bit of rain still on the petals. I think they are called Fall Crocus, but I may certainly be wrong. Anyone know the real name?

For more photos from around the world of beautiful flowers, click HERE.