Hope you don’t mind my continuing to delve into the archives at exactly six months opposite our weather right now. These irises in my garden were photographed on the same session as the sunny June garden photo a couple of posts down. In June there are so many lovely candidates for the blog that many pretty flowers get passed over. In December we are extra glad to see them. I hope you agree.

Take a look at Shadow Shot Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday. Macro Flowers Saturday, and a new one, Floral Friday. Have fun! If you’d like to see more here than the one photo that might be showing below, click on a tag like “My Garden” below the photo, or just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

I was at the lighting ceremony at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory last night, and it was exciting to see that amazing structure outlined in lights. I had never been there at night and it was strange to see “my” beloved flowers and plants in the almost spooky shadows. Of course I had to take a photo anyway. Here’s a pretty poinsettia for you, and the lights!

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Scenic Sunday, Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday and Macro Flowers Saturday for other neat photos around the world. Click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the complete blog here, and thanks for visiting!

Don’t you wish someone gave you this bunch of roses? I know I do. Let’s pretend you have them right now. “For me?” “Yes, for you!” “Why thank you!” “You are so welcome. You deserve them.” There, doesn’t that make your day?

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Shadow Shot Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, and Macro Flowers Saturday, when you get a moment. While you’re here, try a new tag or category. And always find the latest post here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

The Holiday Open House at Trudy’s Floral Design in Seattle was so much fun yesterday. I met all kinds of really nice people, signed some books, and of course amused myself with photographing some of the beautiful displays. What a great party. If you missed it you must come next year.

One lovely woman said I inspired her because I created the Flowers book with only my pocket camera, not a lot of fancy equipment. That’s a pet peeve of mine, the idea that you must have super-expensive, complicated (and heavy!) equipment to get great photos. Just not true. If you are interested in learning more about my simple approach to photography, please download the “7 Secrets” pdf to the right in the sidebar. And then please write and tell me if it helped you.

If you have a moment, visit Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Watery Wednesday, Weekend Reflections, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, and Macro Flowers Saturday. It’s loads of fun to see the talent of people around the planet. If the photo of orchids in the vases is the only one here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for more. Thanks for visiting!

This Japanese maple leaf is from my front yard, photo taken last week. The dark leaf color is already gone, with only red ones now, but I thought I’d show you the combination of the purple it was all summer and the autumn red just beginning.

Take a look at Ruby Tuesday, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera). And do click on the Sara’s Fave Photo banner to see the complete blog here before you go.

It rebloomed! I’ve read all kinds of complicated instructions, but they sound like way too much work to me. All I did was keep it in a sunny (south) windowsill and keep watering it with the weak liquid fertilizer in the water that I always use for houseplants (so I don’t have to remember when to do it). Like all bulbs, amaryllis must have great drainage. After the leaves died back I still kept watering it when it was very dry. And lo and behold, a serious flower stalk emerged two weeks ago and now is in full bloom! The only other thing is that they must be inside a heavy pot because they are so top heavy and can easily fall over.

Visit Scenic Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Ruby Tuesday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, and Macro Flowers Saturday if you have a few minutes for some photo fabulousness. Be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to view the complete blog if you see only one photo below.

We have two columnar apple trees, about six feet (two meters) tall and two feet wide at most. They bear full-size apples! With apples, you must have another tree for pollination, so you need two trees, or a neighbor with an apple tree. The trees never get much bigger, so you can have them in pots. We used to have them in big pots on our deck, but when we moved to this house we put them in the ground, and they are happy. This year my hand-pollination efforts, and the plastic sandwich bags against pests, paid off well, and we have a bumper crop. Time for apple sauce!

Take a look at Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday if you have a minute or two. Browse around here with a new category or tag (“My Garden”?) and click on the banner above, Sara’s Fave Photos, to see all the posts here.

Last year I planted several different lilac shrubs in front by the street. I had a few flowers this spring (they are young plants, and lilacs are very long lived and so take their time about flowering) but this season I am surprised to find that some of the leaves are yellow, some purplish, and some have these pretty red and yellow leaves, with pink tones. All right!

Try some new sites: Mellow Yellow Monday, Ruby Tuesday, Pink Saturday, Macro Friday, Macro Monday and Outdoor Wednesday. Quite interesting, you’ll see. But first, be sure you have the complete blog on view here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

This photo was taken of an outdoor planter on the street outside of Trudy’s Floral Design in Seattle, which by the way is having a Holiday Open House pretty soon on Thursday, November 10. Cyclamens are very beautiful in person, but their graceful flowers are hard to capture “on film,” as we used to say. That’s the great thing about digital; you can just take a dozen or so until you get one that works.

Take a browse at all the talent at Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, and Outdoor Wednesday. While you’re here, do look around, perhaps trying a new tag or category, clicking on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner to view the complete blog if you see only one photo below.

Hope you don’t mind a visit to my rose garden in July. This lovely is called Front Page, and it’s very fragrant. As a rose should be! After all, with so many flowers to grow, why deal with thorns and black spot if not for the fragrance?

Try checking out these cool meme sites when you have a chance: SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Shadow Shot Sunday, Scenic Sunday, Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Ruby Tuesday and Outdoor Wednesday. Whew! Don’t forget that if there’s only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the rest of them.