These sweet and strange fritillaria bulbs have been coming up in my garden like champs. The checkered patterns on the sides are so extraordinary that when I first saw a drawing of them, I thought it was a joke. Now that I can grow them in my garden, I love the tops like paper lanterns and their lovely, nodding stems. So shy, so strange.

Frittilaria (checkered tulips) nod their heads, in a rainy flowerbed

Participating in My Romantic Home, Outdoor Wednesday, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Thursday Challenge (Spring), Pink Saturday and Macro Monday. Glad you stopped by!

I’m still enjoying the flower photos I took at the NW Flower & Garden show in Seattle last month. Soon I’ll get outside and show what’s starting out there as spring slowly arrives. But these deep purple anemones, paired with pansies, are so perfect and lovely that I just can’t resist.

Purple anemone just coming into bloom

Linking up at Catching the Light Monday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers and Macro Monday. Thanks for visiting here, and don’t forget click on Sara’s Fave Photos above if there is only the one photo showing.

Every New Year’s Eve I cut up some vegetables for our after midnight snack, along with the crabmeat and cream cheese dip, with potato chips! Hey, the veggies cancel out the yummy fats, is how I think. Hope you had a wonderful celebration, and the luckiest year to you in 2013.

The carrots and broccoli are from our backyard!

Joining up at Water World Wednesday, Nature’s Footsteps Waters, Ruby Tuesday 2, and Macro Monday. If there’s only the one photo here, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above for the rest. Thanks for visiting, and come back soon!

I love this kind of bromeliad flower. My mom used to live in South Florida (today she would have been 96 years old!) and she grew them in her yard. This pretty specimen was grown by the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle, and it was blooming in May. Since this is one of the flowers in my book about the flowers there, I know the name is Silver Vase Bromeliad, Aechmea fasciata.

Visit Macro Monday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Wordless Wednesday and Pink Saturday. You might try an odd search like “spiky” or a tag like Volunteer Park Conservatory on the right to see some new photos here. Thank you for stopping by.

I don’t know why I haven’t posted much about it, but I’ve been a busy bee with my new business, Love That Image glass tile jewelry. It’s made from the actual pages of my book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory. How it came about is that last year when I was at a craft fair with my daughter Lila, selling the Flowers book as a holiday gift, she saw all the crowds at neighboring booths selling jewelry and said, “Mom, why don’t we make jewelry from your book? I saw on Pinterest how to do that.” I was amazed at the whole idea and had no clue what she might be talking about.

Next thing I knew, we were in the jewelry business. Pinterest changed my life!

It’s a year later and we’ve learned a lot, experimented, and come up with so many pretty designs that the only problem is choosing. For now, we are selling to stores and in craft fairs only. We just had a spectacular success at the Kent WA Holiday Craft Market and we certainly will do that again next year. Check out the new Jewelry page on the navigation bar above to see other locations where the jewelry is available. Do let us know if there’s a store near you that you think would be a good fit to carry them.

The next time you can see all the pieces in person will be at the Normandy Park, WA Cove Holiday Bazaar on Dec. 1. If you are in the area, we hope you will drop by and say hi. Of course I’ll be signing books there, too!

I’m linking up at My Romantic Home, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Macro Monday, Weekend Flowers, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Thursday Challenge (Orange), Wordless Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday, and Mellow Yellow Monday. I really like this photo, set up by Lila, and I’m calling it my Best Post of the Week. Thanks for stopping by!

It’s too wet right now to go outside and find something blooming that looks nice enough to show you here. Only my fave photos get posted! Thought you’d like to see these pretty blue/purple flowers, a very sturdy grower and great cut flower. This perennial bachelor buttons or Centaurea montana (also called Mountain Bluet) was growing in my garden in May. I think they might be in the thistle family, and related to artichoke plants.

Participating in: My Romantic Home, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Macro Monday, Weekend Flowers, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. If you only see one photo below, you might click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above or a tag at right to see many other pretty flowers. Thanks for stopping by!

These chartreuse (yellow-green) and reddish-purple coleus leaves were in a planting bed at a building not far from me. I love the way they look and wish I had some fabric in this pattern.

Photo memes this week: Mellow Yellow Monday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and Ruby Tuesday 2. If only one photo below, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see the rest. Thanks for visiting, and come back soon!

My Seattle friend Sherry has an amazing garden, and even got her passion flower vine to bloom in October!

Linking at My Romantic Home, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Macro Monday, Weekend Flowers, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Wordless Wednesday, Flower Art Friday, and Outdoor Wednesday. Please click on a new tag or category to see some new photos, just for fun, and thanks so much for stopping by.   

A quick visit to the Visitor Center at the Arboretum in Seattle (they are now carrying my book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory, and might carry our new glass tile jewelry as well), and of course I need to see what’s pretty to photograph. Here’s one of a group of lovely hanging baskets outside the Visitor Center.

I’m participating at Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Flower Art Friday, Weekend Flowers, Outdoor Wednesday, and Ruby Tuesday 2. Please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog if you see only this one photo below. There are so many others to see here! The photo post directly below is particularly wonderful, if I do say so myself. Thanks for stopping by.

Asters are the “stars” of the late summer garden. I have some that need staking, and these lavender ones are much better behaved. Let’s hear it for perennials, back bigger and better each year.

Please visit Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Flower Art Friday, Weekend Flowers, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Macro Monday, My Romantic Home, and Mellow Yellow Monday. If there is only one photo here, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above. Thanks for visiting—come back soon!