Finally, those fat peony buds are opening. We’ve had two warm days and the peonies and the roses have leapt into bloom. We are happy.

A pink peony blooms in my Seattle garden

Participating in Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, My Romantic Home, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, Macro Monday and a new meme, Garden Tuesday. Thank you so much for your visit here!

We have a neighbor who does a fine job with foxgloves, or digitalis, and yesterday I finally got to stop and take a photo when the flowers were at their peak, the sun was out, and the light was at a nice, slanty angle. Flowers look good all the time, but taking a photo of them is not as easy as all that, at least to get a photo that you want to look at twice. Isn’t their white picket fence the perfect backdrop?

Tall foxgloves, or digitalis, bloom along a white picket fence

Linking in at Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Scenic Weekends, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Pink Saturday, and Fishtail Cottage Wednesday. Thank you for visiting and please let me know how you feel about what you see.

We went to Seattle’s Arboretum yesterday for a lovely stroll. Don’t you just love the way a path beckons?

Side note: You can find some of our botanical image Glass Tile Jewelry in the gift shop at the visitor center there, and of course some copies of the “Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory” book, too.

A gravel path beckons in Seattle’s Arboretum in the springtime.

Participating in Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Scenic Weekends, Skywatch Friday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2 and A Piece of Heaven. So glad you stopped by! Be sure to browse around here if you have a moment. How about putting Path in the search field at the upper right?

Bulbs are great. When you find some that are happy where you put them, their return each year is such a gift. These white Dutch irises are such a pretty sight in my May garden.

Simple yellow and white Dutch iris with moisture from a recent shower on its petals

Check out Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, Monday Mellow Yellows, Water World Wednesday, Nature’s Footsteps Waters Sunday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. I appreciate your visit here. Have a great day!

There’s a Winco supermarket not too far away, and their parking lot is quite scenic, as they are on a bit of a hill so the sky shows through the trees. Makes shopping an art experience, if you look up.

A row of trees at sunset in a supermarket parking lot

Take a look at Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday, Skywatch Friday, Thursday Challenge (Weather-Clouds), and A Piece of Heaven. I so appreciate your visit. Please try a new category or tag while you are here: Clouds, perhaps?

I love lupines. [Where I used to live in Northern California, the blue ones grew wild on hillsides and they bloomed at the same time as orange California poppies. Unfortunately, if you have CA poppies in your garden, you will never get rid of them, and might be sorry you ever planted them and their resulting millions of offspring. However, in the right spot, it’s a winning combo. But I digress.] These purple ones in my garden make me so happy in the springtime, and return every year. Removing spent flowers really does extend the bloom time for them.

Lavender and purple lupines bloom in Seattle in May

Linking up at Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Anyone know any purple memes? Do share!

This year my garden is looking good. We didn’t have any hard frosts or unusual amount of rain and the plants are relieved. Purple and red is a fine color combination, in my opinion. The red is geum, a perennial, and the mauvy-purple ball is a kind of allium, a bulb. In the back are white Dutch irises, and in the upper right, the peas are climbing.

Red geum flowers plus purple allium light up this flowerbed in Seattle

Joining in Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Glad you are here visiting!

The bees were out and buzzing today. They love some of the flowers, and don’t care so much about others. This perennial blue bachelor button, also called Centaurea montana or Mountain bluet, is almost too vigorous, but what a fabulous, almost-purple color, and on such nice long stems for bouquets.

A bee busily working a perennial blue bachelor button flower

Linking up at Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday 2, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. So glad you could drop by. How about trying a new tag or category, while you’re here? My Garden is a good category to browse, just as a suggestion.

Our next door neighbors have a little baby, a girl nine months old. Do you believe that they got this playhouse for her? It is the cutest thing I ever saw, and she was quite happy sitting on the floor inside, chewing on the toy spatula that comes with it.

Playhouse with a picket fence nestles among the rhododendrons

Please visit Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday, My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Thank you for your visit here and be sure to browse around.

Well, the pasture behind my yard (the between the two fences) has been sold, and a house will be built on it this summer, we are told. Sigh. The horses are gone. Things change. Here is what it looked like from my patio, today.

Backyard garden in Normandy Park, WA, with red and pink flowers

Participating in Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. I so appreciate your dropping by.