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.

OK, it’s not the best photo in the world, and there are all those wires, but who doesn’t love a spring rainbow? Hope you have good luck all day long today.

A spring rainbow in Burien, Washington

Linking up at Outdoor Wednesday, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Scenic Weekends, Skywatch Friday, Pink Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Monday Mellow Yellows, and A Piece of Heaven. Thank you for visiting and please come back soon.

Rhododendrons, or rhodies as we call them affectionately, bloom extremely well here in the Pacific Northwest. They reach their peak about now. If you live in the Seattle area, you can probably see ones as tall as houses, here and there. This old one is blooming right in front of my house. Lucky me!

Many shades of pink in this rhododendron blooming in the spring sunshine

Linking up at My Romantic Home, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Macro Monday, Fishtail Cottage Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and Straight out of the Camera Sunday. I do appreciate your visit here. Browse around and see what you find.

I learned the fancy word for what a lilac flower is: a panicle. Seems like a nice, strong word for a flower with such a remarkable shape and fragrance. Unforgettable. The ones in my front yard are finally beginning to bloom. Thank heaven for the garden.

Double lilac flowers decorate the sky.

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I love our two columnar apple trees. These are dwarfer than dwarf trees, bred to do well in containers or on patios. These two trees are 7 or 8 years old and have been in the ground a few years. One has red apples and one has yellow, and both are yummy. At this stage, the most important thing you can do for your fruit trees which need pollination is to make like a bee. Unless you have lots of bees and other helpful insects around, go out there with a little dry paintbrush, or a Q-tip, and go back and forth between the blossoms of the two trees. It’s incredible what a huge difference this makes in the amount of fruit that you get. Do it a few times so you get the early blooms and the late ones. Apple crisp, here I come.

Two columnar apple trees blooming in a bed of forget-me-nots

Linking up at My Romantic Home, Outdoor Wednesday, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Straight out of the Camera Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Scenic Weekends, Pink Saturday, Skywatch Friday, A Piece of Heaven, Floral Love and a new meme, Fishtail Cottage Tuesday. Thank you for stopping by here, and happy Spring to you. May your garden flower well for you.

The magnolias are gorgeous this year. This tree in our backyard is one of the many dotting the neighborhood right now. And the horses in the pasture adjoining our property just love the fallen petals. They even eat the blooms that they can reach off the tree! No harm seems to be done.

Pink Japanese magnolias against a sunny sky in springtime

Two horses graze magnolia blossoms on a sunny spring day

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These red fritillaria, or checkered tulips, decorating my garden this week just float my boat. Both this kind and the other more purple-and-cream color a few posts below are doing so well in my garden. I love things that just come up and bloom, all by themselves. Those are grape hyacinths in the background, also easy and fun, and so welcome in springtime.

Dark red checkered tulips, or fritillaria, in the garden

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It’s raining. Yesterday there were a couple of breaks from the wet; today not so much. Here is a tulip out in front of my house taken on a weekend afternoon in Seattle.

Raindrops on dark pink and orange tulip petals

Linking up in My Romantic Home, Outdoor Wednesday, Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers,  Outdoor Wednesday, Thursday Challenge (Pink), Water World Wednesday, Nature’s Footsteps Waters Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Ruby Tuesday 2, Pink Saturday and Macro Monday. Thank you so much for visiting. Try a new tag or category, just for fun, why don’t you? See the tag cloud at the lower right for ideas. Have a great day.

This clump of old-fashioned variegated (green and white leaves) hosta grows in a very protected area at my front door and is up early, almost fully leafed out. When I was a tiny tot in Philadelphia in the fifties, I remember these grew at our house. Plant nostalgia!

Variegated hosta leaves almost fully leafed out.

Linking in My Romantic Home, Outdoor Wednesday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Thursday Challenge (Spring), and Macro Monday. Thank you so much for stopping by here. Come back soon!

Saw these incredible trees today in Georgetown near the Seattle Design Center. That neighborhood has the most magnificent old cherry trees! If you are a fan of streets lined with masses of pink, head on down there. For your oooh-ing pleasure! I love this image and I’m calling it my Best Post of the Week.

Linking in Floral Friday, Weekend Flowers, NF Blo-Ma Tuesday, Today’s Flowers, Scenic Weekends, Outdoor Wednesday, and Pink Saturday. Maybe try a new tag or a search, just for fun. You never know what you might turn up.