I went outside and picked a few roses. I hate to cut them but I love bouquets, so I compromise by cutting only the full-blown ones, leaving as many as possible out there. But oh, my goodness, the perfume in the room from garden roses. No florist roses ever come close.

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After a tough winter, most of the roses have come back well. Lots of compost, regular food and water, and frequent tidying up (so I can take photos! and also helps prevent blackspot) make a very satisfying rosebed in front of the house. The neighbors walking by sometimes admire it. It’s a pretty good walking neighborhood, for which I am very grateful. This ‘Oklahoma’ rose isn’t loaded with blooms, but the ones it has are big and fat. And that’s a lavender plant I grew from seed behind it!

Visit  Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday. If there is only one photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others.

I am pleased to announce that so far, the squirrels seem completely uninterested in the raspberries which are bearing this year for the first time. As opposed to, let’s say, strawberries, of which I have picked NOT ONE. Nuts. I guess I can’t complain, having so few garden pests or predators, but still. You grow them and you want to eat them, or at least taste them! I’ve also learned that raspberries, even unwashed and in an open container, get moldy after three days or so in the fridge. I won’t let that happen again.

Visit Ruby Tuesday (and these berries are ruby colored, for sure!) Color Carnival, Macro Monday, and Macro Friday. If there is only the one berry photo below, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the rest of them. Thanks for visiting!

Last week it rained, before the beautiful weekend we enjoyed, so of course I had to head out to the garden when it stopped. I’m enjoying the daylilies this year in their varying shades of orange, burgundy and peach. I think I have a yellow one, but it hasn’t bloomed yet.

Visit Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Today’s Flowers, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) and Ruby Tuesday for more fun photos.

Please see my Big Announcement below if you missed it! And thanks for visiting.

It’s party time! Thank you to all my blog readers and followers who have supported me over the last three years by your encouragement and creative, thoughtful comments. You gave me the confidence and courage to actually do this! My new book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory: Blooming Month By Month is just about here and we are ready to ship books very soon. My Best Post of the Week, for sure!

This book was born from a dozen or so visits to the Conservatory here in Seattle over the course of a year. It changed so much each time I visited. I was entranced and enthralled by the beauty of the displays and the opportunity for thrilling, perfect flower photos, and could not believe there was not even one book about this incredible gem of a place. Thus this book was born. Side note: The flowers on the book’s cover image are brugmansia, or Angel’s Trumpet.

The launch party and free Open House is coming up next week at the Conservatory on Thurs., August 4, 2011, 6-8pm, so if you are in the area, please do stop by and say hello, and get the very first look at the book in person.

By the way, there is a special pre-launch price available to my loyal readers. More info about the book is on the home page lovethatimage.com (you can always get there by clicking on the photo banner at the top of the page) and the order info is here.

This cover image qualifies for these memes: Macro Flowers Saturday, Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Today’s Flowers, Pink Saturday, and Ruby Tuesday. Thanks again to all meme hosts and participants for your encouragement on this big, big project.

At an after-hours meeting at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory about their campaign for needed restoration, of course I couldn’t help taking a few photos. Thank goodness that the last time I was there I snapped a photo of the cheat sheet they had posted, a key to the outdoor plantings, so I know that this amazing geranium is called ‘Mrs. Pollack. Even though it’s just coming into flower, that hardly matters with foliage like this.

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And if you are in Seattle on Thursday, August 4 at 6-8pm, please come to the Conservatory’s free Open House and book signing for my new book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory: Blooming Month By Month. Take a tour and meet the author!

I am told that the coral poppy I showed a couple of posts below is an icelandic poppy. These are quite tall, and I didn’t know that icelandic poppies got so big, but I’m no poppy expert. Here’s another look, for your pleasure. This photo keeps fascinating me, so I’m calling it my Best Post of the Week. Hope you agree.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Shadow Shot Sunday, Pink Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday and Today’s Flowers. Please do click on the banner above, Sara’s Fave Photos, to see the latest photos here. And thanks for visiting!

Okay, I admit this photo of Double Delight roses was taken yesterday, not today (it’s raining), but the roses are blooming in my garden right now. If only you could smell them! Today is the Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day meme, where people around the world take photos of what’s blooming in their garden on the 15th of each month, post and visit each other. Fun!

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Clicking on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner above brings you back to the latest post here, always.

I was at the Volunteer Park Conservatory this evening at a special meeting on completing the restoration that was begun years ago, and of course I can never go there without taking a photo or two (a wild understatement). This shade planting outdoors is quite brilliant in color, not like the usual soft colors I think of for shade-loving flowers.

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Outdoor Wednesday,  Scenic Sunday and Today’s Flowers. Naturally, I’d love it if you browsed around here first. Clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos brings you back to the latest post here always.

This alstromeria or peruvian lily is one vigorous plant in my garden. It does give you pause when you planted a few rooted but shabby looking, scrawny plants last year and this year the clump is about 5 feet tall and almost as wide. They are beautiful but hid my peonies and so they will need to find a new spot. I read that any good garden spends about a third of its life in a wheelbarrow, and I must say that rearranging is what it’s all about. You can’t really know in advance how something will do, can you?

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday Shadow Shot Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Flowers Saturday, Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) and Ruby Tuesday for more photo fabulousness. Browse around here first, why don’t you? Clicking on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner will always bring you to the latest post here.