Stopped by the NW Flower & Garden show yesterday. Wonderful, of course! Here’s a blushing pink rose, a bit late but here for Pink Saturday. And visit Today’s Flower for more floral magnificence!

They do smell heavenly. But be super careful about getting the pollen on your clothes, as it can stain permanently, I’ve found out, unhappily. I grew this and it bloomed in August. They are actually pretty darn easy to grow, but do put in stakes early, because they get tall and delightfully covered with flowers and then maybe a wind comes along and pfffft, it’s a mess. All you gardeners out there, stake early and stake well! You’ll be glad you did.

Visit Macro Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday and Ruby Tuesday for more great photos in blogland. And for sure, Color Carnival, too.

On that walk a couple of days ago, I actually found a rhododendron that is in bloom! Wow, that’s early. I thought I’d share the pretty flowers with you for Pink Saturday.

Oh, another flower meme! How can I not? This one is in Norway, and it’s called Blooming Friday. Lovely photos. Here’s one to start thing off, something actually blooming here in the Pacific Northwest in January in a rare burst of sunshine. It’s called Heather and I think its real name is Erica. Maybe.

It’s straight out of the camera, or SOOC, bright enough for Color Carnival, and PINK as well!

Some of my 18 rosebushes roses have about an inch of new, red growth showing. That means it’s getting to be time to prune, soon as it’s dry out. I’ve been raising roses for a number of years, so here are some suggestions for all you people who feel intimidated by rosebushes. Feel free to let us know via comments if you know differently.

1) Wear good gloves! Leather is best, cuffs are good. Don’t wear a sweater which can catch on thorns.

2) Use nice sharp pruning shears. I like a bypass style with hooked blades to get in closely.

3) The basic desired shape of the bush should be an “open vase” which lets sun into the center.

4) Don’t prune away more than 1/3 of the rose bush. Roses store food in their canes.

5) For older roses, if you must remove a big cane, take the oldest first. The oldest ones are the grayest and roughest. Use a little hand saw if you need to. Be careful! Do not leave more than a short stub if possible. Dead wood invites insects.

6) Always start by removing dead wood and any scrawny little branches thinner than a pencil. Trim those flush to the bigger stem. Roses bloom on vigorous, new branches.

7) Remove any crossing branches, especially if touching, and any that point or cross into the center of the plant. Remember, gently upright canes slanting outwards is best.

8 ) Cut less than you think. You can always cut more later! Never remove more than 1/3 the plant. Young plants: prune very lightly until rose is well established. Cut no shorter than knee height, possibly waist height if they are taller roses. You probably want the flowers to wind up no higher than your face, and the stems have to grow a bit before they have flowers, so you do want to cut them back somewhat.

9) Make each cut just above new growth that is going to grow in the right direction, outwards. Look closely! Those leaves or red bumps are where the new cane will grow. Leave about 1/4″ of the cane remaining over the new growth joint, using a slightly slanted cut.

10) Break off any small shoots that point inwards or are growing down below a cane towards the ground. Just break it off with your fingers, so the plant doesn’t waste its energy growing a cane in a bad place. You can do this throughout the growing season.

I would wait to fertilize until the weather warms up a bit. You don’t want to encourage tender new growth if it still might freeze.

That’s it! Enjoy your beautiful new well-pruned roses, this year and every year.

Here’s a yellow rose to get you dreaming of roses come June. Visit Macro Monday for more close ups, and Mellow Yellow Monday for more golden hues.

Yes, it’s from the archives, but very soon flowers like this will actually be blooming. The weather here in Seattle has been in the 50s, which is a good bit above normal, and some plants are taking it seriously, I saw on my walk today. Personally, I think we’re in for some cold weather yet.

For more blissful pinkness, visit Pink Saturday.

That bouquet my sister brought last week yielded another photo I really like. Here is an alstroemeria blossom with its floral friends. I do like daylight best, but sometimes even incandescent light can be lovely for flowers.

Visit Today’s Flowers to see other flowers, and Shadow Shot Sunday for more shadow creativity. Macro Monday has close ups, and Mellow Yellow Monday showcases golden yellow. Have fun!

I really like this one a lot, so I’ve tagged it Best Post of the Week. Check out some other self-selected posts. Fascinating.

That amaryllis bulb from a week or so ago is continuing to open. It’s in a south-facing window, but it’s mostly been cloudy and rainy, which is actually great if you are a plant like this one. I’ll keep you posted.

For more rubine redness, visit Ruby Tuesday. Color Carnival is always a thrill. And go check out SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots.

My sister brought me some flowers the other day and these gerbera daisies are still going strong. So cheerful in the Seattle “sunbreak” we had for a while this morning.

See more interesting shadows at Shadow Shot Sunday. And more brilliant colors at Color Carnival. More straight-out-of-the-camera shots at SOOC. More yellow at Mellow Yellow Monday. More macros at Macro Monday. And more flowers at Flowers for Today!

I’ve discovered that I’ve left incorrect links to some recent meme entries, and I apologize. I thought that by leaving the link to the category it would help people find things, but I didn’t realize that sorting by category disables the comment feature. No wonder it seemed so quiet out there! Sorry, everyone. I’ll go back to leaving the general blog url for most memes and let visitors find their way by category if they wish, or just by scrolling down a little bit. Please DO leave a comment if you feel so inspired; I love them. I’ll do my best to return the visit as soon as I am able.

Since everyone likes this photo so much, and since I like it a ton also, I’m calling this my Best Post of the Week. Check out the cream of the blog week there.

This is the plate I made for New Year’s eve to go with our ritual crab and creamcheese dip and potato chips. I love veggie platters. People only really eat raw vegetables when they are cut up pretty and on a plate in front of them. This assortment is especially fine because the carrots and purple cabbage came FROM MY GARDEN. That is so exciting to me, especially since we had a serious cold spell last month. But the cabbage waited in the fridge and the carrots waited in the ground! Their green tops were ratty from the freezing weather but the carrots are just fine, if not even better than in the summer. I will grow them again, that’s for sure.

For more ruby redness seen in photos around the world, visit Ruby Tuesday. And Color Carnival is back!