My tomatoes look and taste great this year. Last year many of them split, which was so disappointing. What I learned was that happened because I had underwatered, so the tomatoes had thick, tough skins which burst when the plant got a good dousing when it rained. This year I was better about the watering and it made a big difference. Also I used better fertilizer, added alfalfa meal at planting, AND went out with a dry paintbrush when it was flowering to try to get better fruit set. Something worked!

Cherry tomatoes in different stages of ripeness

Linking to Homemaking Party Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Garden Tuesday, Saturday Show Off, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, Outdoor Wednesday, and My Romantic Home. So glad you stopped by here and hope you come back soon. Try my tips for better photos free download at right if you like the pictures here.

Outside Seattle’s beloved Volunteer Park Conservatory the planting beds are unusually beautiful this year. Here brilliant red zinnias are set off by some kind of ornamental grass. So pretty!

Brilliant red zinnias in an outdoor planting bed in Seattle’s Volunteer Park

Visit Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Weekends, Ruby Tuesday 2, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Thanks for visiting and please come back soon.

I’m going to be on vacay for a bit so I’ll schedule posts of a few photos from a recent visit to my favorite flower haunt, Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory and link to the various photo memes I love so much when I return.

This agapanthus or Lily of the Nile is almost more beautiful in bud than in flower.

Dark blue Lily of the Nile in the growing beds outside Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle

Linking (eventually) to Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Weekends and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Thanks for visiting and please come back soon.

Some friends have a lovely place with a gorgeous view, even on a gray day.

Late day sunbeams decorate the sky in this Seattle area scene

Joining Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Water World Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, My Romantic Home, Garden Tuesday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, and Scenic Weekends. I appreciate your visit here and please come back again soon.

From last year at this time, some begonias in front of my house:

Rieger begonia flower basket on a foggy August Seattle day

Visit Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, My Romantic Home, Garden Tuesday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday and Outdoor Wednesday. Let’s try a new one, Saturday Show Off. Don’t forget that you can download free tips for taking better photos without fancy equipment or confusing settings, in the sidebar at right.

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

More themed photos at Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Stop back soon, or sign up for email notification so you don’t miss a post.

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

Visit Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, Weekend Reflections, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, My Romantic Home, Garden Tuesday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Have a great day and please come back soon. While you are here you might try a new tag or category. Vegetables/Fruits, perhaps?

Was at Seattle’s beloved Volunteer Park Conservatory yesterday and was just gaga at how gorgeous the outside beds are this season. What colors, and this photo does not do it justice. The purple stuff is heliotrope and sometimes it has a heady fragrance.

An update about the Conservatory: It’s now out of the woods financially, due to the fundraising efforts of many dedicated folks, and if you go you’ll pay a big $4 admission, but you can get an annual pass for unlimited admissions, and still free parking! Closed Mondays.

Flowerbeds outside of the Volunteer Park Conservatory with purple heliotrope

More neat photos at Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love and Scenic Weekends. Thanks for visiting here and please come back soon. Sign up for email notifications at upper right so you don’t miss even one pretty picture.

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

Check out Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday 2, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Pink Saturday, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Weekend Challenge (Pink), NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Garden Tuesday, Thursday Floral Love and Fishtail Cottage Thursday. If only one photo appears here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos above for the latest photoblog posts. Scenic and flower photos are almost guaranteed.

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

Please visit Ruby Tuesday 2, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Pink Saturday, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Garden Tuesday, My Romantic Home, and Fishtail Cottage Thursday. Let’s try a new meme, Thursday Floral Love. Thanks for visiting and please come back soon!