I just love that late-afternoon light. After MUCH rain and clouds, the sun peeked out the other evening and of course I was out there with my camera. These are mostly ‘Double Delight’ roses, my long-time favorite rose. Very available in nurseries, fabulous fragrance, strong grower. And this image is purely SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera).

This year I am attempting to grow roses without the usual systemic plant food laced with pesticides, hoping that this year I won’t feel the guilt of watching a robin poking for bugs in the soil and hoping the robin is OK. I am using alfalfa meal as a fertilizer this year and so far am very happy with the results.

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OK, enough with the peonies, for a little while at least. Feast your eyes on these fuchsias. What an explosion of form and color. I took these at the VPC not too long ago, and if you have a chance, you should definitely check out their displays. So many kinds, and all so graceful. Little ballerinas, perhaps?

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It’s kind of peony week here. I’ve loved peonies for so many years, and this is the first year they’ve really been truly magnificent in my garden. I’ve been sprinkling dolomitic lime around them, spring and fall, for the past 2-3 years, and with our acidic soil in the Pacific Northwest that has made a huge difference, but they need a certain level of maturity to really take off. Finally! Now I want to have those dark red ones, and the dark, dark wine red ones, too. Maybe a visit to the nursery is in order. I have peony fever.

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Such great, round, pregnant shapes. It’s marvellous to think that these tight little spheres expand to the big, fluffy blooms like the one in the post below. By the way, I measured that one and it’s a full 7 inches across, and still going strong days later. I love peonies.

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This peachy pink tropical rhododendron was at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory a few weeks ago. What I love about these flowers is that unlike regular rhodies, they are fragrant, as well as beautiful. Such a sweet, charming aroma, wafting through the air. Hope you get to see and smell one in person some day.

This post is or will be linked to Macro Monday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Color Carnival, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and naturally, Pink Saturday. Also, the glowing center really makes me happy, so I’m calling it my Best Post of the Week.

Don’t forget that you can download a free copy of my “Seven Secrets to Better Flower (or any!) Photos” on the sidebar at right. No fancy equipment needed to take scrumptious photos. It’s not the camera, it’s you!

This geranium was growing in a little greenhouse when I went back East in March. I love that you can see that it is a bit fuzzy and a bit shiny. Isn’t it pretty?

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A happy garden perennial that blooms so brightly, geum (GEE-um) is a nice tall flower (2-3 feet, or a meter) with sprays of brilliant red that dance above a rosette of very toothed leaves. No fragrance, but very long blooming, especially when deadheaded. Hope you have this crowd-pleaser in your garden. An easy one to grow!

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I don’t know who Shirley was, but she must have been quite an individual to have a flower like THIS named after her. These are bigger than my hand, and you just can’t get showier, in my opinion. Red, red, red. These were taken last week at the Burien, WA Farmers Market. Such a pleasure!

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Oh, that Seattle Volunteer Park Conservatory and its orchids! A total sensual delight, especially when a stray bit of sun reveals even more frills and curves. I am a fan.

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Last year I posted a photo of the leaves of this lovely garden perennial, meadow rue, and here are the flowers. Each little puff is about the width of my finger, and the flowers are on top of a nice, tall plant at my eye level, which I appreciate. Perennials are the stars of the garden, as far as I am concerned. You get them going and they just keep doing their thing, all by themselves. So helpful!

It’s very hard to get the color exactly right. They are really a soft lavender, but this photo looks kind of magenta pink-ish. Sometimes photography seems so simple but is so challenging when you want to get an accurate rendering of color. I do my best, which is all anyone can do.

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