Can’t you almost smell them? Lilac shrubs are very long-lived, I understand, so sometimes there’s a bit of a wait before they will flower, even if conditions are good. I know they can get huge, as I once saw clumps of them in Maine that were the size of small apartment buildings. Here in Seattle the acid soil can be a problem, so a handful of dolomitic lime in the fall and spring has really helped. Finally, the flowers are beginning to look like something this year. They bloom on last year’s growth, so I’ll wait until next year for a bouquet.

You might check out Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Macro Monday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Pink Saturday, Color Carnival, Outdoor Wednesday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. Try a new category or tag, perhaps My Garden or Close Up, just for fun?

This grape-leaf passion flower, or Passiflora vitifolia, is in Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory, seen on a recent visit. It’s also on page 32 of my book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory, available on this website, at the Conservatory’s Gift Shop, and also on Amazon, by the way. I think this image might even be better than the one in the book! Oh well, that’s the way it goes. Sometimes the flowers pose so prettily for the camera, don’t they?

Interesting photo memes include Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Macro Monday, and SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), and it looks like Color Carnival is happening again, too!

Here’s some round food in some squarish bins. Photo fun at the Farmer’s Market yesterday!

This photo qualifies for SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Pink Saturday (those potato skins look awfully pink), Ruby Tuesday 2, Mellow Yellow Monday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, and Shadow Shot Sunday 2. I sure miss that Color Carnival meme, as this would be a perfect entry. Anyone want to start that up again?

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Today my daughter and I were at the Burien (WA) Farmers Market. Wonderful weather, if a bit nippy, and the flowers for sale were spectacular. Here’s one of the bouquets we saw—for $5 each!

You might like Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Ruby Tuesday 2, Mellow Yellow Monday, and Outdoor Wednesday, with lots of great pictures, too. If there is only one post here, be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog on top or at upper right to see the entire blog here. Thank you so much for dropping by.

Happy Mother’s Day! Everyone had a mother who gave birth to them, and we thank you. In honor of this day, I am pleased to post a photo taken by my daughter, who is the reason I am a mother, on her recent trip to Northern California. The vineyards were filled with not just orange, but red poppies also!

Please visit Scenic Sunday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Ruby Tuesday 2,  Skywatch Friday and Outdoor Wednesday, lovely entries all, for more great photos. If you’ve arrived via a link, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see the entire collection here. Thanks for visiting!

Sometimes I just have no idea what a flower is, especially trees. Anyone have an idea? But isn’t it pretty, with the light coming through the petals like that?

Various flower memes worth visiting include Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, plus there’s  Pink Saturday, Macro Monday, Skywatch Friday and Outdoor Wednesday, just for fun.

If you’re in Seattle, be sure to hit the Volunteer Park Conservatory plant sale tomorrow, Saturday. It’s the best, and I’ll be there, signing books, too.

Air travel seems very magical to me. As much as I understand how the air thins out over the curved top of the wing and creates lift, or think I understand it, the fact of a huge metal structure flying through the air is something to wonder at, no matter how many times I have flown. And the opportunity to see our earth from above the clouds is one of my favorite experiences. This photo was taken somewhere over the midwest, in late March. I bet it’s greening up now!

Skywatch Friday has many other sky photos from around the planet. Visit Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, and Scenic Sunday if you have a minute or two. Be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above to see the latest post here if you have arrived via a link. Thanks for visiting!

Not too long ago I was in an interesting living room in Seattle. Besides lots of cushion seating, there was this pattern of fabric on the high ceiling. I loved it.

You might enjoy a visit to  Ruby Tuesday 2 and Mellow Yellow Monday, but browse around here first, why don’t you?

I had forgotten that Swiss chard really is a biennial plant in the garden, and was disappointed last summer when the small plants I had grown from seed just didn’t do that much. But after a fairly mild winter with no really hard freezes, the plants are looking just fine. Dinner! I like to pick a good bunch, cut the stems from the leaf parts, roll up the leaves and slice in half inch ribbons. Then start steaming the cut-up stems first, add the leaves after a few minutes, and when picked fresh from your garden, they don’t take long to cook. You can cook up a nice white sauce with cheese melted into it to go over the steamed chard, or go the Italian way with chard added to garlic fried in olive oil, all mixed together on steamed red potatoes. So good.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Ruby Tuesday 2 and Macro Monday, why don’t you? And if you enjoy the photos in this blog, please click the new follow widget to the right. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.!

I believe these are crocosmia leaves that I came across in the Highline Botanical Garden the other day. I have some in my own garden and they look just like this in the sunshine. They flower (spray of tiny red/orange flowers on a stem) only in late summer and spread so well they might be called invasive, but look at those neat patterns!

Visit Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) Scenic Sunday, Shadow Shot Sunday 2, and see the complete and up-to-date blog here by clicking on the curly lettering on the banner above.

Ah, Seattle’s Pike Place Market in the spring! Aren’t these just the most exciting tulips, even all still in bud? They make me think of a Dutch still life painting.

You might want to wander over to Ruby Tuesday 2, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Macro Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday, and Pink Saturday for many lovely images. And if you see only this one photo here, please click on Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above for the complete blog with lots more photos you might like.

My favorite cousin just got back from her first trip to India, and she has shared her favorite photo with us, taken on the steps of the Ganges river. This is what she had to say about it: “The richness of multi-sensory experience was so palpable, I could only be in the present moment, always. This is in Hariwar, at Ma Ganga, washing, dunking, blessing, offering.”

I love this image and I hope you enjoy it also. I think it is remarkable and am calling it my Best Post of the Week.

It’s a good offering for Scenic Sunday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Mellow Yellow Monday and Pink Saturday. Please follow this blog on the new widget to the right if you enjoy the photos. And thanks for visiting!