The weather in Seattle was so cool for most of the summer that the cosmos didn’t get going until the end of September, and they are supposed to be summer annuals! The good part is that those flowers, so late in starting, are now blooming like crazy, so my backyard border (shown from my bedroom window) is filled with huge bushes of cosmos, taller than I am. The roses are few but company coming called for a bouquet.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more ruby redness gracing all kinds of photos. Color Carnival has more bright colors. Scenic Sunday as always shows us scenery around the world. Windows and Doors has lots of ’em, creatively seen. And SOOC has more straight-out-of-the-camera shots. A new meme, Monthly Garden Bouquet, features photos of blooms from your garden.

If you’ve arrived via a link, the latest photos here are at Sara’s Fave Photos.

There’s nothing like a walk on a sunny day in autumn. I happened to look up and saw these leaves glittering in the sunlight. Some even seem to be heart-shaped!

Visit Macro Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday for more close ups and more yellow.

You can search here for whatever you’d like to find, or just a click on a tag or category can yield lots of fun. But to find the very latest post, click on Sara’s Fave Photos.

These potted blueberry bushes in a friend’s healthy garden are just the cat’s meow when it comes to fall color. Aren’t they incredibly brilliant? Hard to believe that a plant with so fabulous a fruit pleases the eye so much, too.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more red and Color Carnival for more color of all kinds. And check out SOOC (straight out of the camera) shots for more unedited photos.

While you are here already, you might try a new tag or search term, just to see what’s around. And if you’d like to get to the latest post, just click Sara’s Fave Photos, here or above.

I took this old-fashioned rose photo at Highline Botanical Garden not too long ago. It’s a little garden (a few acres) right north of SeaTac Airport that’s just a delight, rain or shine. And the plants don’t mind the low-flying planes.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more red wonderfulness. And you might click on the tag “red” or the category of “Ruby Tuesday” while you’re here, hmm? Visit Watery Wednesday for more cyberwetness. You might also try Color Carnival, or Scenic Sunday. To reach the latest posts do click on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or above.

If you love peppers you’ve got to get down to the Pike Place market and see the peppers. What a display! Is there anything prettier than a pack of perfect peppers? Last year I bought a string of them and they dried nicely to use in soups and stews all winter long.

I love this photo and am tagging it Best Post of the Week.

Visit Ruby Tuesday and Color Carnival for more great photos on a color theme. And this one is straight out of the camera, or SOOC. While you’re here you might as well try a new category. Vegetables/Fruits, perhaps? And to get to the latest post here, you can click on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or above.

A recent visit to Furney’s Nursery south of Seattle yielded plants and photos. They do an amazing display of a wall of flowers that goes on forever; well worth a visit.

Here in blogland, be sure to visit Pink Saturday for more pinkaliciousness, Color Carnival for more brilliant colors, SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots and Today’s Flower for more flowers around the world. You might search for “pink” while you are here, first. And if you’ve reached this post from an outside link, you can always get to the latest post by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or above.

Went to a new friend’s house and was so happy to see these cheerful plates in her kitchen. I love the colors! And did you notice that the plates are all in the same color order? Now that’s neat, in more ways than one.

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Blue Monday and Color Carnival for more very colorful photos, SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots and Weekend Reflections for more neat reflections.

You might try a tag like “red” to see what comes up. Or if you’d like to get to the very latest post, click on Sara’s Fave Photos here or above.

I belong to a garden club and every few months the various local clubs get together and do a flower show. It’s one of my fave places to find perfect flowers to photograph.

Visit Macro Flowers Saturday for more great close ups, SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots,  and Color Carnival for more brilliant color. And you might try the “close up” tag while you’re here.

If you’ve arrived at this page from a link or search engine, it’s easy to find the latest post. Just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

I can hardly believe that I got any tomatoes at all, but here is proof. September is a bit late for first tomatoes, though, don’t you think? I threw a couple of handfuls of dolomitic lime on the soil at planting and it made a huge difference. No more yucky blossom-end rot, and the vines look GREAT. Here in the Pacific Northwest the soil tends to be pretty acidic, thus easy success with rhodies, blueberries and evergreens. But tomatoes seem to prefer a more alkaline soil.

Gardening note: I was always hesitant to use dolomitic lime because I was sure it must make the soil more acidic—because it was “lime” and that had to be acid, right? WRONG. Silly me. It makes the soil more alkaline just like it says on the box and is great for plants like lilacs, peonies (mine flowered for the first time!) and hellebores, all of which really hate an acid soil.

How about browsing the “Vegetables/Fruits” category here—then visit Ruby Tuesday for more things red and ruby, Color Carnival for more brilliant color, and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots. And if you’ve arrived here from a link, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see the full blog with the latest and the greatest photos.

I know I’ve posted close ups of this kind of lily before, but they are just so showy! And I am so thrilled when something SO exciting blooms in my very own garden. Be careful about the pollen, you know. Florists pull off those pretty pollen things because they can stain your clothes badly. But photos are safe!

Visit Pink Saturday, Color Carnival and Macro Flowers Saturday for great photo browsing, and SOOC has more straight out of the camera shots. And you can always poke around here for something like “pink” or “lily” in the search field. Return to the latest blog post by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

There’s a little bonus at the bottom of the page. Aren’t they cute?