Sara’s Fave Photos

They do smell heavenly. But be super careful about getting the pollen on your clothes, as it can stain permanently, I’ve found out, unhappily. I grew this and it bloomed in August. They are actually pretty darn easy to grow, but do put in stakes early, because they get tall and delightfully covered with flowers and then maybe a wind comes along and pfffft, it’s a mess. All you gardeners out there, stake early and stake well! You’ll be glad you did.

Visit Macro Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday and Ruby Tuesday for more great photos in blogland. And for sure, Color Carnival, too.

This was taken in the Portland Japanese Garden in May, not now in January, but I thought we could use some spring and sunshine today. Here is Seattle in the real world, all is gray. For more fascinating flowers, visit Today’s Flowers, and be sure to visit Scenic Sunday as well.

I got a lot of mileage out of that one sunny half-hour walk the other day. Here’s a nice winter shadow shot for you. Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more interesting penumbras. And it’s SOOC, or straight out of the camera, also.

On that walk a couple of days ago, I actually found a rhododendron that is in bloom! Wow, that’s early. I thought I’d share the pretty flowers with you for Pink Saturday.

Oh, another flower meme! How can I not? This one is in Norway, and it’s called Blooming Friday. Lovely photos. Here’s one to start thing off, something actually blooming here in the Pacific Northwest in January in a rare burst of sunshine. It’s called Heather and I think its real name is Erica. Maybe.

It’s straight out of the camera, or SOOC, bright enough for Color Carnival, and PINK as well!

Yesterday morning there was a half hour of sunshine, and I got to go out and walk in it. Wonderful! Here is what it looked like from the overlook near my house (elev. 700 feet) as the mist was burning off.

For more skies around the world, visit Skywatch Friday.

Visiting a friend I was surprised to see the amount of papers on her desk and all around her office. I’ve heard that “a clean desk is the sign of a sick mind,” but I can’t look at too much disorder without getting antsy. How do you find important things? Sometimes I’ve just got to straignten things up, or at least line up the piles. But we’re all different, aren’t we?

In any case, the theme for Thursday Challenge is “Messy.” This qualifies.

Here’s a scene from a perfect day last September. I just loved the way the home was surrounded by greenery and even reflected it in the windows. That light color in the middle window is the trunk of a huge tree.

For more windows and doors, visit Window Views, and for more reflections, visit Weekend Reflections.

I saw this fine old car in Portland awhile ago. I do not know what kind it is. Do you? Happy Ruby Tuesday!

Some of my 18 rosebushes roses have about an inch of new, red growth showing. That means it’s getting to be time to prune, soon as it’s dry out. I’ve been raising roses for a number of years, so here are some suggestions for all you people who feel intimidated by rosebushes. Feel free to let us know via comments if you know differently.

1) Wear good gloves! Leather is best, cuffs are good. Don’t wear a sweater which can catch on thorns.

2) Use nice sharp pruning shears. I like a bypass style with hooked blades to get in closely.

3) The basic desired shape of the bush should be an “open vase” which lets sun into the center.

4) Don’t prune away more than 1/3 of the rose bush. Roses store food in their canes.

5) For older roses, if you must remove a big cane, take the oldest first. The oldest ones are the grayest and roughest. Use a little hand saw if you need to. Be careful! Do not leave more than a short stub if possible. Dead wood invites insects.

6) Always start by removing dead wood and any scrawny little branches thinner than a pencil. Trim those flush to the bigger stem. Roses bloom on vigorous, new branches.

7) Remove any crossing branches, especially if touching, and any that point or cross into the center of the plant. Remember, gently upright canes slanting outwards is best.

8 ) Cut less than you think. You can always cut more later! Never remove more than 1/3 the plant. Young plants: prune very lightly until rose is well established. Cut no shorter than knee height, possibly waist height if they are taller roses. You probably want the flowers to wind up no higher than your face, and the stems have to grow a bit before they have flowers, so you do want to cut them back somewhat.

9) Make each cut just above new growth that is going to grow in the right direction, outwards. Look closely! Those leaves or red bumps are where the new cane will grow. Leave about 1/4″ of the cane remaining over the new growth joint, using a slightly slanted cut.

10) Break off any small shoots that point inwards or are growing down below a cane towards the ground. Just break it off with your fingers, so the plant doesn’t waste its energy growing a cane in a bad place. You can do this throughout the growing season.

I would wait to fertilize until the weather warms up a bit. You don’t want to encourage tender new growth if it still might freeze.

That’s it! Enjoy your beautiful new well-pruned roses, this year and every year.

Here’s a yellow rose to get you dreaming of roses come June. Visit Macro Monday for more close ups, and Mellow Yellow Monday for more golden hues.

Here’s another saunter into the archives, this from May 12 of last year: my backyard. I planted every single one of those bulbs the previous fall and was so happy to see how they looked. This year they might even look better, but only the barest tips of the crocus leaves are showing now.

For more entrancing flowers, visit Flowers for Today. I also call this pretty darn Scenic, too! And sunshine makes taking a perfect (or at least pretty good) photo so easy, so this is SOOC as well. But do you think it’s colorful enough for Color Carnival?

This is one of my top faves, from the archives, from when I used to live in Sonoma County, CA, which is about an hour or so north of San Francisco. I came across it and thought I might have taken it at about this time of year, or maybe March. Those huge live oaks are so dramatic when they are bare. Sure gives you that changing weather feeling of early spring.

Visit Scenic Sunday for some lovely views of the world. And this sure is a great shadow shot for Shadow Shot Sunday.

Since this is one of my all-time favorites, I’m tagging it Best Post of the Week.

Also, I’ve fixed the little problem with comments not being available when you click on a category to the left. Now comments are available whenever you click on a page (or should be). Thank you, Marsha Perry of Perry Internet Consulting! She made this blog on a Wordpress template for me, and I am so grateful. What a great addition to my life.

Yes, it’s from the archives, but very soon flowers like this will actually be blooming. The weather here in Seattle has been in the 50s, which is a good bit above normal, and some plants are taking it seriously, I saw on my walk today. Personally, I think we’re in for some cold weather yet.

For more blissful pinkness, visit Pink Saturday.

It was sunny for a little bit yesterday so I went out for a walk while it lasted. Here is our active volcano (could blow any time), Mt. Rainier, showing its winter snows. The theme for  Thursday Challenge is “Winter,” so take a look there at some other wintery ideas.

This is a good one for Scenic Sunday as well. And hello, Skywatch Friday folks!

It’s been pretty darn cloudy and wet, and dark, but there is still scenic delight if you hunt for it. OK, it’s subtle, but still lovely. Here’s a recent view of Puget Sound from the Normandy Park cove beach.

For more watery wonders, visit Watery Wednesday. I like the reflections in this one, and if you’d like more of those, visit Weekend Reflections. And find more scenic interest over at Scenic Sunday.

That amaryllis ‘Red Lion’ has bloomed and I do love it. Very satisfactory. They don’t always do so well, in my experience. The south-facing window with mostly cloudy days helped, I’m sure, plus I’ve learned to put the bulb in a heavy clay pot rather than the flimsy plastic one that comes with the “kit.” Also, they really mean it about good drainage. No wet feet!

For more interesting visions of red, visit Ruby Tuesday.

That bouquet my sister brought last week yielded another photo I really like. Here is an alstroemeria blossom with its floral friends. I do like daylight best, but sometimes even incandescent light can be lovely for flowers.

Visit Today’s Flowers to see other flowers, and Shadow Shot Sunday for more shadow creativity. Macro Monday has close ups, and Mellow Yellow Monday showcases golden yellow. Have fun!

I really like this one a lot, so I’ve tagged it Best Post of the Week. Check out some other self-selected posts. Fascinating.

I was at the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, and some intrepid flower growers were there in their usual spot in the North Arcade, showing their heaven-on-earth wares. This one grower had tulips, forced in a greenhouse heated with propane; so expensive to grow, so welcome to see and purchase. The others, mostly Hmong immigrants, had the usual spectacular, unique and incredibly cheap bouquets of dried flowers, but that’s for another day.

For more blissful pink, visit Pink Saturday. For more brilliant colors, try Color Carnival. And for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots, visit SOOC.

Here’s a view of Puget Sound from Seahurst Park the other day showing a fairly typical sky of our region. The many cloud layers with the dark rainclouds on the way are more appealing to me than straight gray, which is what we have today.

This is another SOOC shot, or straight out of the camera.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more skies seen round the world.

When I was a kid in New York City, we called them fireplugs. I think that now they are fire hydrants? In any case, I loved the bright colors seen while driving by on a wet, fall day in Portland.

Today is Thursday Challenge, and the theme this week is “Red.” This photo is also a good entry for Color Carnival.

Puget Sound (near Seattle) is huge but quite protected, so even on windy days we don’t get much wave action. I like the sound the little swishing waves make on the pebbly shore. This water shot reflecting the blue sky of a sunny day was captured about two weeks ago.

Visit Watery Wednesday for more cyberwetness, and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera photos.

That amaryllis bulb from a week or so ago is continuing to open. It’s in a south-facing window, but it’s mostly been cloudy and rainy, which is actually great if you are a plant like this one. I’ll keep you posted.

For more rubine redness, visit Ruby Tuesday. Color Carnival is always a thrill. And go check out SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots.

I took this with the new camera on Christmas Day at Seahurst Park. That sunshine was so welcome.

I’m entering a new meme today, Blue Monday. Check it out.

My sister brought me some flowers the other day and these gerbera daisies are still going strong. So cheerful in the Seattle “sunbreak” we had for a while this morning.

See more interesting shadows at Shadow Shot Sunday. And more brilliant colors at Color Carnival. More straight-out-of-the-camera shots at SOOC. More yellow at Mellow Yellow Monday. More macros at Macro Monday. And more flowers at Flowers for Today!

I’ve discovered that I’ve left incorrect links to some recent meme entries, and I apologize. I thought that by leaving the link to the category it would help people find things, but I didn’t realize that sorting by category disables the comment feature. No wonder it seemed so quiet out there! Sorry, everyone. I’ll go back to leaving the general blog url for most memes and let visitors find their way by category if they wish, or just by scrolling down a little bit. Please DO leave a comment if you feel so inspired; I love them. I’ll do my best to return the visit as soon as I am able.

Since everyone likes this photo so much, and since I like it a ton also, I’m calling this my Best Post of the Week. Check out the cream of the blog week there.

This is from my trip to New York City in May, although actually, this photo was taken in Greenwich, Connecticut. Even though the weather was very Seattle-ish, with lots of clouds and sprinkles, the beauty of the Pink Trees never ends for me. I never know if they are cherry trees or what, but I love them.

For more blissful pinkness, visit Pink Saturday.