Brugmansia, or Angels Trumpet, is such a magnificent flower. Taken at a recent Volunteer Park Conservatory event, you can tell this flower, about the size of my hand, is one of my top faves because I used its pink cousins on the cover of my book. They’re quite challenging to photograph, at least if you want them to look as graceful and elegant in your photo as they do when you’re looking at them. How a flower like this can look awkward I do not know, but it happens.

Mellow Yellow Monday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday are neat places to visit. Try Color Carnival, too. Remember, if there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

Camping! Can you just smell the woodsmoke? We love to get out in the woods for a few days and smell actual fresh air, day and night. Even a trek through the campground to the facilities can be a lovely experience. A warm day in August in the Pacific Northwest is like no other. I love the range of light to darks, with the blue sky peeping through, and I’m calling this my Best Post of the Week.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, and this week the theme of Unique Exposures Weekend Challenge is 100 Years Old (or more). It’s pretty close to qualifying for SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) but I did adjust the curves just a tad, so it doesn’t. But take a look there anyway. Remember, if there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

This is the only rose in my garden whose name I do not know. It had no tag when I bought it, but its lovely soft pink with the faintest red edges, and its lovely fragrance, won me over. Anyone know its name?

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Color Carnival, Pink Saturday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday. 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! Getting to the latest post here (if you’ve arrived from a link) is easy: just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

Highline Botanical Garden is so worth a visit. Just north of SeaTac Airport, south of Seattle, this small but lovely garden only becomes more beautiful with time. Those gardeners and volunteers must work very hard!

Visit Skywatch Friday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Today’s Flowers. Returning to the latest post (if you’ve arrived from a link) is easy: just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above or here.

Time for a scenic photo. This is at little Lake Burien, south of Seattle WA, a few weeks ago. Don’t you just love, love, love those pink skies? I also thought it was nice of the person to wear that pretty red top for me to photograph.

Visit Skywatch Friday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Wordless Wednesday, Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Ruby Tuesday, Pink Saturday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and Weekend Reflections. And my Best Post of the Week! If there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others. Thank you for visiting!

Oriental lilies are the latest in the summer and the most fragrant, I am told. Worth waiting for! And they will bloom in part shade, another plus. A lily grower in N. California told me that they like having low plants at their feet, like oxalis, perhaps, or some other low forest plant. All I know is I adore their smell.

Visit Pink Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Friday.

Bonus photo: Here I am at my book launch at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in the Bromeliad House yesterday. It was so much fun and such a great experience! Thank you to all who helped make it a success.

A warm evening in the summer is heaven anywhere, but here in the Seattle area we feel particularly blessed when we can eat dinner on the patio and take in the garden view. This was last evening’s lovely view. Hope you can enjoy it with me.

Visit Pink Saturday, Scenic Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Color Carnival, Today’s Flowers, and Wordless Wednesday. Also, I think it is so cool that my new book and the launch party at Volunteer Park Conservatory on Thursday, August 4 got a mention in the Seattle PI garden blog!

Dusty is one of those kitties who loves everyone. Doesn’t matter if you love cats or not, smell of dogs or not, feed her or not, she is your friend. “Pet me!” she says. In our last house we had a deck with weathered wood, and I swear sometimes it was hard to see her when she lounged on it. She’s still a bit camouflaged here on our patio but makes herself known quite well.

Shadow Shot Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) and Camera Critters this week have other interesting insights. Take a look! But do browse around here first. Click on Sara’s Fave Photos here if there is only one photo below. Thanks for visiting!

I believe that the name of this rose is Simplicity, but if anyone knows for sure, I would appreciate your letting me know. I saw it in a neighbor’s yard on a walk yesterday. I love this flower, and if that’s the name, it surely is perfect for it.

Visit Pink Saturday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Color Carnival, Today’s Flowers, Outdoor Wednesday and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera). Clicking on the Sara’s Fave Photos banner above brings you back to the latest post here, always.

Reminder about the free Open House Aug. 4 at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory where I’ll be signing my new book! Hope you can make it.

Seattle’s extra cool and rainy spring this year, and hardly any summer to speak of (all the heat elsewhere in the USA) have been great for the peas in my garden. Keep ’em picked and they keep pushing out more. Yum!

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), for more fun stuff. If there is only one photo below, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the others.