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!

Dear readers: I’ve been to several craft fairs with my book, “Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory: Blooming Month by Month” and many people have told me what a great a gift it is for an older person who might be hard to buy for. People all over the country are enjoying the luscious photos of beautiful flowers displayed in Seattle’s iconic, threatened Conservatory, and how they change through the year.

Since Mother’s Day is Sunday, I’ve made a special offer on the shipping costs. Now U.S. Priority Mail shipping and handling is only $5.99 for up to THREE books, either paperback OR hardcover, and orders of four books or more are free shipping! That means you can get one for your mom, one for yourself and one for a friend, too, for just the $5.99 shipping cost (to the same continental U.S. address), and if you want to get a head start on the holidays, totally free Priority shipping on orders of four or more books to one U.S. address. Canada shipping is less, also, but will be sent First Class Mail. Please see Book Order page for more details, and the Home page here for more about the book, including sample pages.

If you’d like me to send your order directly to the recipient, please add that info in the Paypal comments section. Double check that address, because that’s exactly how we’ll send it. And if you’d like a special inscription with the recipient’s name along with my autograph, please include it there as well.

Books arrive in a pretty tissue wrap and include a gorgeous Angel’s Trumpet bookmark.

If you’d like it to arrive by Saturday, you must order by midnight Wednesday to be sure of it arriving on time. Thank you!

Tonight I was at the Volunteer Park Conservatory, attending its annual Friends of the Conservatory meeting. The first part was in the Conservatory itself, with perfect late afternoon light showing off many of the exquisite floral displays to perfection. Here is an orange hibiscus flower, all glowing in the light.

Please explore Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Mellow Yellow Monday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Ruby Tuesday 2, Macro Monday, and Macro Flowers Saturday, if you have a minute or two. If you’ve arrived via a link, clicking on the curly letters of Sara’s Fave Photos Blog above will get you the complete photo collection here.

Yesterday I was at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show, which is open through Sunday, volunteering at the booth for the Volunteer Park Conservatory. It was great to see such an outpouring of concern and support for Seattle’s threatened icon. Before my shift, of course I wandered around taking photos. The Orchid Society’s display with the big wooden structure evoking the facade of our beloved Conservatory and helping to celebrate its Centennial was the greatest. Here is one of their perfect orchid specimens.

Please visit Shadow Shot Sunday 2, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Floral Friday, Color Carnival, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera) and Pink Saturday for lots of lovely pictures from around the planet. As always, a reminder to click on Sara’s Fave Photos above if you’ve arrived via a link and see only the one post below.

Here’s one of Seattle’s hidden gems, the Volunteer Park Conservatory, all decked out in its bright new LED lights. They were installed not only for the winter holidays but also to kick off its 2012 Centennial celebration. I read that there are only three remaining Victorian glass conservatories in the U.S.A.— this one, the smaller one in Tacoma, WA, and the one in San Francisco. What an architectural and historical treasure we have here!

Visit Thursday Challenge (Light), Skywatch Friday, Outdoor Wednesday, and Scenic Sunday, for fascinating photo frolics. Click around the blog here first, if you have a minute. The banner Sara’s Fave Photos will get you the complete collection.

The other night at the lighting ceremony at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory, there was magical harp music. In that mysterious and romantic environment, it only sounded more beautiful, if that is possible, than harp music usually does. Wish I had a video of it, but I’m a still camera kind of gal, at least so far.

I like the special mood of this photo and I’m calling this my Best Post of the Week.

Take a peek at Thursday Challenge (Light), Color Carnival, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Ruby Tuesday, Pink Saturday, Mellow Yellow Monday, all tons of fun photoblog memes. Before you go, be sure to try a new tag or category here at Sara’s Fave Photos, just for a lark.

I was at the lighting ceremony at Seattle’s Volunteer Park Conservatory last night, and it was exciting to see that amazing structure outlined in lights. I had never been there at night and it was strange to see “my” beloved flowers and plants in the almost spooky shadows. Of course I had to take a photo anyway. Here’s a pretty poinsettia for you, and the lights!

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Scenic Sunday, Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday and Macro Flowers Saturday for other neat photos around the world. Click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the complete blog here, and thanks for visiting!

Oh, I love the Volunteer Park Conservatory. Is it any wonder I made a book about it? A recent visit to their unendingly beautiful and changing displays yielded this photo of orchids in a stray beam of sunlight. And just for fun, there’s a bonus photo below showing one of the unusual and creative plant combinations that delight me so. That one is SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), but I have tweaked the orchids slightly.

Visit Pink Saturday, Today’s Flowers, Weekend Flowers, Macro Friday, Macro Monday, Macro Flowers Saturday and Shadow Shot Sunday when you get a chance. And if you’ve arrived via a link, be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos to see the entire blog.

Spathiphyllum is a very common houseplant and does well with a bit of neglect and in dark spaces. I’m pretty sure that the white part is a bract, or a differently colored special leaf, and the true flower is the pebbly, spiky part. It was one of the very first houseplants I ever got to bloom. This particular one is in the Volunteer Park Conservatory, which is my favorite flower haunt in Seattle.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Macro Monday, Macro Friday, Shadow Shot Sunday, Macro Flowers Saturday, Today’s Flowers, and Weekend Flowers, if you get a chance. But first, see the complete and up-to-date blog here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or on the banner above.

We’ve been having meetings at the Volunteer Park Conservatory (check out their brand-new website!) to help get the much-needed completion of the restoration funded. An extra benefit is going there after hours and catching the late afternoon light. There’s a wonderful video they’ve produced and you might notice that the plantings in it show it was taken just recently. Don’t you just love sunflowers?

Sorry for the late notice, but I will be at the Conservatory’s Plant Sale on Saturday, September 17, 10-3pm, signing copies of my new book, Flowers of Volunteer Park Conservatory: Blooming Month by Month. Directions on the Conservatory’s new website above. The plant sales there are always fabulous and the book is pretty neat, too! And the special launch pricing for my new book on this website will end Thursday, September 15, so if you were thinking about getting one for yourself and maybe one for a gift, now’s the time.

Visit Ruby Tuesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Skywatch Friday, Today’s Flowers, Color Carnival, and Mellow Yellow Monday. See the complete and up-to-date blog here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, here or on the banner above.

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!

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.