Raindrops somehow make flowers even prettier, don’t you think?

Pink-edged yellow and creamy petals on this hanging begonia, drenched in rain

Joining Pink Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Monday Mellow Yellows, Outdoor Wednesday, Nature Notes Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Garden Tuesday, Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Saturday Show Off and My Romantic Home. A reminder that there’s a free download of tips and hints for better photos, at right. You do not need fancy equipment or know a million settings to take pretty fine photos.

The town of Burien in Washington State, south of Seattle, has a great old downtown section. They do a wonderful flower basket decoration on the old lightpoles every year.

Baskets of colorful flowers decorate the “Olde Burien” section of downtown Burien, WA

Joining up at Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Saturday Show Off, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Thursday Floral Love, Ruby Tuesday 2, and Pink Saturday. Thanks for stopping by here!

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.

We went to Moses Lake WA for the first time, and I got to go to the Farmers Market and buy some fresh peaches. Is there anything prettier? I like this post very much and am calling it my Best Post of the Week.

Fresh peaches on display at a farmers market

Check out Monday Mellow Yellows, Ruby Tuesday 2, Saturday Show Off, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Fishtail Cottage Thursday, Outdoor Wednesday, and My Romantic Home. Have a wonderful day and thanks for your visit here.

Taken recently at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory. The amazing irony of a cactus in bloom! The flowers are very small, perhaps a centimeter or so, or less than half an inch.

Magenta pink flowers on a barrel cactus

More themed photos at Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, Thursday Floral Love, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by.

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.

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?

This unusual, frilly double hollyhock can be seen at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory right now. The flower is maybe 10 cm or 2-3 inches across. The tiny purple buds are throatwort.

Deep magenta hollyhock with ruffled, very double petals

Enjoy the photos at Macro Monday, I Heart Macro Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday,  Thursday Floral Love, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by.