This is the plate I made for New Year’s eve to go with our ritual crab and creamcheese dip and potato chips. I love veggie platters. People only really eat raw vegetables when they are cut up pretty and on a plate in front of them. This assortment is especially fine because the carrots and purple cabbage came FROM MY GARDEN. That is so exciting to me, especially since we had a serious cold spell last month. But the cabbage waited in the fridge and the carrots waited in the ground! Their green tops were ratty from the freezing weather but the carrots are just fine, if not even better than in the summer. I will grow them again, that’s for sure.

For more ruby redness seen in photos around the world, visit Ruby Tuesday. And Color Carnival is back!

Saw these purple and lavender asters last week in a Wallingford garden, planted for all to admire in the narrow strip at the road (which I think is called the verge). I haven’t grown asters very much, but may reconsider after seeing these.

For more floral magnificence, visit Flowers for Today. And for more brilliant color, visit Color Carnival.

I’ve entered 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

Visiting a well-designed nursery is a delight, even if you don’t have a budget for much purchasing, or even if there’s no room to put anything, a common complaint of avid gardeners. Here’s a display of asters with pansies, and in the left corner, that white little flower is called Chinese Jasmine and very fragrant, even that one little bloom.

Visit Today’s Flowers for more flowers around the world.

This is from about three weeks ago, but the impatiens and geraniums are still looking good. For some reason this anemone plant decided to bloom in August. Who knows why, but so welcome. Purple is one of my favorite colors, so it was especially welcome.

For more extra-bright colors, visit Color Carnival. It’s cool to see so many different ways that people see “colorful.”

This Des Moines, Washington nursery goes in for petunias in a big way. Bigger than anything I have ever seen in the way of petunias, or any flower grouping, really. They must have over 100 feet of the most amazing installation of petunias I have ever seen. And they are fragrant, too! It had just rained pretty hard earlier, so these were not even at their perkiest, but wow, is all I can say.

For more flowers, visit Flowers for Today. It’s great.

And be sure to stop by Color Carnival for more amazingly bright colors.

This clematis just knocked my socks off. And the rain didn’t hurt the photo either. For more marvellous macros, visit Macro Monday.

I keep looking at the photos I’ve taken in Arizona when I think of shadows. This time I’m including a zoomed-out one so you see what this place is like. Jerome, Arizona is a neat, touristy but artsy town way up in the hills a few hours north of Phoenix. Since there are ruins I figure the town’s been there awhile. The middle photo is a restored tin ceiling in a cafe. And the bottom one is the real shadow shot, taken about a week before the solstice and pretty far south, so that shadow is dark and short. This was taken just walking down the main street. A good shadow, I think! For more fascinating shadows from all over the world, or to post your own, click HERE.

This is a from a trip to a wholesale florists supply store in Kent. You might think that the flowers would be the subject of choice, but these ribbons were amazing. There were several long aisles of them!

Wordless Wednesday (not just Wednesdays any more) is a fascinating opportunity for photographers around the world to show their photos. You can find it HERE.

Since we got a late start with the dahlias with our move this spring, they are just now getting going. Here’s one that is really beautiful, right in my back yard. For more flowers around the world, click HERE for Today’s Flowers, to view or participate.