The yellow of these leaves is really a very mellow shade, don’t you think? Took this photo a couple of weeks ago, but it’s so perfect for today’s meme. We’ve since had a windstorm, so maybe those branches are bare now. Autumn is glorious, but brief.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday for more ochre of all kinds.

PLEASE IGNORE IF READ BEFORE: Many readers arrive on different days, so I”m repeating this about entering the 2009 Photoblog Awards. If you like my photos, please vote for me and/or leave a comment in the link  below. You have to register (name and password only) and then click on the word Vote in the upper left. Thanks very much!

http://vote.photoblogawards.com/photoblog.php?name=saras-fave-photos

These coleus plants used to be quite popular as houseplants in the ’50s. Of course today there are many more types and varieties, but they still are the same flashy foliage, pretty if minor flowers. In Seattle they are grown outdoors as annuals, but you can root cuttings easily and have houseplants during the winter. I am particularly proud of these because I grew them from seed, and it was way easy.

For more ruby redness of all kinds, visit Ruby Tuesday and check out this week’s participants.

Begonias bloom and bloom, with no removal of spent flowers (deadheading) needed, and they are happy to bloom in the shade for you. I try to overwinter them in my garden by adding a lot of mulch, which sometimes actually works, or take them indoors if I can. The colors of the flowers and the leaves are so varied. This one is just red, but what a red!

For more ruby visions, visit Ruby Tuesday. And for those fans of super bright colors, visit Color Carnival.

Here’s a shadow shot for you today. The weather continues, amazingly, to be mostly warm and sunny here in Seattle, even well past Labor Day. It’s supposed to be over 80 later this week! Hope you are enjoying your own weather, getting outside and breathing deep, wherever you are.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more fascinating shadow visions.

Even with the warm weather we had this summer, it’s not too easy to ripen tomatoes in Seattle. But of course, I must try. The small ones seem to have the best shot at it, but I’m still learning with tomatoes, as with so many things. These are Husky cherry tomatoes, and the plant is particularly strong and sturdy. The tomatoes aren’t bad, either. I slice them on a sandwich, even the small ones, for flavor that can’t be beat.

Interesting fact: See the little star-shaped caps at the stems? There are five points. Fruits (and tomatoes are fruits, I think actually berries) that have patterns of fives, like an apple’s seeds if you cut it crosswise, are USUALLY safe to eat and not poisonous.

Visit Think Green Thursdays for more ways to live lightly on the earth, besides food gardening, that is.

Our last camping trip gave us some great shadow opportunities as well as the blessings of a warm, sunny day, softly shielded from the sun’s bright rays by the forest canopy. You can imagine how fresh the air smelled. For more shadows of all kinds, please visit Shadow Shot Sunday. People are so creative with shadows!

This little bouquet photo is a companion one to a post a few weeks ago featuring a red dahlia, which you can see to the left. I try to post only one when there are two similar images I like, but I am making an exception for this lovely. Flowers just float my boat, is all. Happy Pink Saturday to you!

And welcome to the Color Carnival meme and visitors. I think this one is bright enough!

Somehow this shadow shot reminds me of a hairdo; I don’t know why. I sure love these sunny days! For more shadows around the world, check out the Hey Harriet blog’s truly fascinating meme, Shadow Shot Sunday.

A week or so ago I went on a local garden tour and one place had bouquets of flowers on tables. This one dahlia looks more like an illustration than a photo! But I think it qualifies for Ruby Tuesday. Take a look there for more red seen everywhere. And while you’re at it, visit Macro Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday, too! I love memes.

I wish it was easier to find out the name of flowers you don’t know. This one is an oldie; my mom grew it when I was a kid in Queens, New York, in her beautiful garden. It grows well up here in Seattle and reseeds itself. It’s two or three feet tall, and kind of hard to photograph, with deep, brilliant magenta flowers and silvery foliage. I figure magenta is a kind of pink, so I’m including it for Pink Saturday.

Does anyone know the name? I’d be so grateful.