The gods smiled upon us and the Fourth was sunny. Usually in Seattle we figure summer starts July 5th and ends before Labor Day, but this year life was good. Our friends with a home on little Lake Burien had their yearly fireworks party, and of course I needed to take photos, but not bother with anything like a tripod or special “scene” settings. Thinking first does help, as does bracing my arm on a chair back if possible, but besides that, I am happy just to aim at the loveliness and capture a bit of it with what I have with me.

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Visiting a friend’s garden recently, she showed me her big-leaf hostas so happy under the trees, in a beam of sunlight. Snap! Photo fun, for sure.

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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 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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This grape-leaf passion flower, or Passiflora vitifolia, is in Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory, seen on a recent visit. It’s also on page 32 of my book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory, available on this website, at the Conservatory’s Gift Shop, and also on Amazon, by the way. I think this image might even be better than the one in the book! Oh well, that’s the way it goes. Sometimes the flowers pose so prettily for the camera, don’t they?

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Happy Mother’s Day! Everyone had a mother who gave birth to them, and we thank you. In honor of this day, I am pleased to post a photo taken by my daughter, who is the reason I am a mother, on her recent trip to Northern California. The vineyards were filled with not just orange, but red poppies also!

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I had forgotten that Swiss chard really is a biennial plant in the garden, and was disappointed last summer when the small plants I had grown from seed just didn’t do that much. But after a fairly mild winter with no really hard freezes, the plants are looking just fine. Dinner! I like to pick a good bunch, cut the stems from the leaf parts, roll up the leaves and slice in half inch ribbons. Then start steaming the cut-up stems first, add the leaves after a few minutes, and when picked fresh from your garden, they don’t take long to cook. You can cook up a nice white sauce with cheese melted into it to go over the steamed chard, or go the Italian way with chard added to garlic fried in olive oil, all mixed together on steamed red potatoes. So good.

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I believe these are crocosmia leaves that I came across in the Highline Botanical Garden the other day. I have some in my own garden and they look just like this in the sunshine. They flower (spray of tiny red/orange flowers on a stem) only in late summer and spread so well they might be called invasive, but look at those neat patterns!

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Ah, Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the spring! Aren’t these just the most exciting tulips, even all still in bud? They make me think of a Dutch still life painting.

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Football lily, or Haemanthus multiflorus, is a new flower for me. I found this in the Wave Hill conservatory, on my recent visit to New York City. I am including the second photo so you can see the fascinating green starburst, spiky bud form as well. The flowers were almost as big as my hand!

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