If you haven’t been to the Dahlia Garden in the big lawn across from the Conservatory in Volunteer Park in Seattle, it’s time right now for a visit. Put “dahlia” in the search field to the right to pull up more posts showing this stunning garden, free to stroll and photograph.

Glorious yellow dahlia with red tips

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We have a very young cherry tree with five different kinds of cherries grafted onto a dwarf rootstock. This is its second year and it actually had some cherries. I put some old sheer curtains around the fruiting branches and attached it with clothespins, which I had read about online, and it did work to protect them from the birds, even if it looked ugly in the yard. So here are the bing-type black ones that I picked a week or so ago, and they did taste as wonderful as I had hoped.

Do you see that the cherries are so shiny that they are like little mirrors, and they are reflecting my backyard with the tall trees and the blue sky? The trees to the left in the reflection are still in the sunlight and the others are now in shade. Fun!

Shiny black cherries, just picked

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This unusual, frilly double hollyhock can be seen at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory right now. The flower is maybe 10 cm or 2-3 inches across. The tiny purple buds are throatwort.

Deep magenta hollyhock with ruffled, very double petals

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This is the signature fern of Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory and they use them to fill in spaces and add texture to the showier plants. The little leaflets or fronds are about a centimeter, or less than half an inch. The frilly, scalloped edges and shiny black stems are so pretty! These are actually not too hard to grow in the garden or of course as houseplants, but do NOT let them dry out. See post below for update about the Conservatory.

Macro of maidenhair fern at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle, WA

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I’m on a lily kick. These are in a close neighbor’s garden. I heard that all lilies used to point down and be droopy, so when a grower managed to get it facing up, he or she called it Stargazer. Great name.

Stargazer lily in dappled sunlight against a wooden fence

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These lilies aren’t the first to bloom, but they are worth waiting for. Oriental lilies bloom the latest in the season, but their intense fragrance (one blossom is fine for a big room or more, in my opinion) is so much more thrilling than the no-fragrance Asiatic types. Be careful about brushing close to them, as their pollen can stain clothing.

Pink Oriental lilies bloom in a Seattle garden

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I’ve been picking some of the lavender and put some nails in the carport so I could hang up the bunches, tied in rough twine. And before the mint goes to flowers, why don’t you cut some and dry that, too? Mint tea is wonderful.

Peppermint leaves and lavender drying in a breezy, shaded area

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Peach and red nasturtiums with variegated leaves from my patio garden. Don’t you love those round leaves?

Peachy orange nasturtiums with red throat and variegated leaves

Participating this week in Ruby Tuesday 2, Monday Mellow Yellows, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Outdoor Wednesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Garden Tuesday, My Romantic Home, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday and Fishtail Cottage Thursday. Have a great day and thanks for visiting here.

At friends’ garden for their wedding today, a glorious experience. Here are some purple/lavender clematis flowers (about the size of my hand), climbing up a wall.

Purple clematis blooming in a Seattle garden in July

Joining up at Outdoor Wednesday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, My Romantic Home, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, Macro Monday, and Garden Tuesday. Thank you for visiting here, and please come back soon.

I was late planting the seeds, it’s true, but I hope that the nice warm weather coming up will make these brand new string bean seedlings do their wonderful thing. They were my mom’s favorite vegetable and I think they are right up there with my own top faves. Easy to grow (but need a little heat and sun) and so delicious to eat, just raw from the garden. Hope, hope!

First true leaves of a baby string bean seedling, in the sunshine

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