An August rose for your January day.

Close up of a rose and bud with its soft shadows in my garden in summertime

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It’s gray and rainy in Seattle this week, with more darkness on the way. Let’s think about summer sunshine and tomatoes, just for a bit, shall we?

Orange sungold and red cherry tomatoes from my garden, with their little star-shaped hats I love so much

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In Seattle on a sunny afternoon at this time of year the shadows reach far into the house.

Striped shadows on my glass of milk

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The cotoneaster berries are super red this year. Birds and photographers love their winter redness. Note: this plant has an extremely weird pronunciation. You might think it was “cotton Easter,” but no. It’s actually pronounced cuh-tone-ee-AST-er. Isn’t that something?

Brilliant red cotoneaster berries from above

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Okay, a day late. But I love the cheeriness of its smile. May all the spooky times be over with!

Ready for the big night, a Halloween pumpkin is transformed into a smiling creature

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I adore my little carnivorous plant, a Cape sundew. It eats fruit flies and soil gnats! A few short months ago I transplanted the three little plants that were in a 2″ pot into a 4″ pot, filled with sphagnum moss. They are so happy—I need a bigger pot already! One just bloomed and now the second one is getting a flower.

Care tips: 1) Must sit in an outer pot kept filled with water about halfway up. 2) NEVER give it fertilizer. The bugs feed it. Learned this the hard way.

Tiny droplets attract fruit flies and soil gnats on the Drosera capensis, commonly known as the Cape sundew

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Sometimes just one rose petal is enough to tell the story. Autumn is here.

A single rose petal falls on the table.

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While natural light is my fave, here’s some person-made light illuminating my bouquet of garden roses.

Ready for her close up, a perfect Sundowner rose in the evening

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The only name I know for sure is string of pearls for the middle one. Some kind of rosette with pink-gray leaves on the left, and the weirdest one, a cactus with long papery spines that are kind of like fingernails, but very pointy indeed, on the right. We’ll be getting sun in this window all winter.

Some succulents in the afternoon sun

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I have over a dozen rose bushes out front, and I love to look out at them, preferring to leave them where others can also enjoy them. But a big rain is predicted (2-3″ in a couple of days), and I know that it will just beat up and ruin all the opened ones, so what could I do? I had to pick them.

Fragrant roses on my kitchen counter, before a big rain

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Just a year ago, took a quick tour of the Cactus House at Volunteer Park Conservatory, in Seattle. I hope they can open again soon. We all miss it so much. Bonus image below!

Pretty little hen-and-chick succulents (not cactus!)

Bonus image:

Stunning accordian-pleated cactus (also a succulent!). When they have more water, they expand.

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These cheerful yellow perennial sunflowers come back every year, spread in a reasonable manner, bloom when not that much is happening, and look good even under smoky conditions. Seattle’s air is not too good, but it’s better than other places for sure.

Yellow to the max!

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