Sara’s Fave Photos

I discovered a gem of a dahila garden in Seattle, in Volunteer Park. If you are leaving the Conservatory at the north end, it is in the big field in front of you to your left. There appear to be maybe a couple of hundred different dahlias blooming, all staked and named and perfectly groomed. I was in heaven. The sign says it is maintained by the Puget Sound Dahlia Association and I say Thank You to them.

Here’s a pretty pink one for Pink Saturday. Also for Macro Flowers Saturday. And visit Color Carnival, too!

While you are here, try clicking on the Dahlia tag for more lovely blooms. And if you’ve arrived by the permalink, you can always get to the latest post and the full blog by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos, above. Thanks for visiting!

I think this orchid is a kind of phalaenopsis, or butterfly-shaped one, but I can’t be sure, because when I am photographing flowers all thought of identification flies out of my head. I just see how beautiful they are and yearn to capture them perfectly. This beauty lives at the Volunteer Park Conservatory.

To all my international visitors, I hope the addition of Google Translate makes your time here more enjoyable. People from around the planet visit this blog and I am so grateful and happy that tools like Google Translate exist. Welcome to all!

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more ravishing redness, Color Carnival for more brilliant colors, and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots.

If you like, search this blog for Volunteer Park Conservatory and see what other gems I’ve captured from there. And return to the latest post, always, by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

We went to Sequim (pronounced “skwim”) WA and had a great few days of vacation, camping and doing the relaxation thing in the very warm weather. Notice the cloudless blue sky reflected in the window? Meeting some friends for lunch, the restaurant had a particularly fine windowbox. I envy people who can combine flowers so well. Well done, Oak Table Cafe! And the food was good, too.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more reds of all kinds. And this shot is straight out of the camera, or SOOC, where you can see more like that. Color Carnival has more bright, vibrant colors. Weekend Reflections has more visual reflections, too.

Browse around here for something new today. Perhaps a tag called “rain” might refresh on a warm day? And if you’ve arrived via the permalink, do click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the latest posts.

It’s been awhile since I showed you a display from the Pike Place Market in Seattle. This slice of flower heaven is an ever-changing spectacle of florabundance. I try to go every few weeks, and every time I am agog at the magnificent displays. Hope you like this recent one.

Visit Today’s Flowers for other flowers around the world. Color Carnival has more brilliant color. And Window Views (formerly Window Wednesday) has great shots with windows and doors.

And as long as you’re here, browse around by clicking on a new tag or category you’ve never tried before. Return to the latest post by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

A recent visit to Seattle’s Pike Place Market flower vendors delighted and impressed, as always. What a place. Do you know that the flower vendors can only sell the flowers they have grown themselves?

Here’s a dahlia bouquet with the original touch of being ringed with marigolds. Or maybe they are coreopsis. Don’t you want it on your kitchen table, whatever they are called?

Visit Macro Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Color Carnival and Ruby Tuesday after poking around here. If you’ve arrived via the permalink, Sara’s Fave Photos has the regular blog.

The Volunteer Park Conservatory had a great “Luau” event last evening, complete with behind-the-scenes tour. The flowers were ravishing as usual. That place is so magnificent. If you are in Seattle, you must go there. It’s even free, but they do accept donations. Their plants and flowers are not only perfectly at the peak of bloom, but they are arranged and displayed so beautifully and artistically. Hats off to them!

Macro Flowers Saturday, Color Carnival and Pink Saturday are entered today.

Try a search for “lily” while you are here. Why not? The latest post always lives at Sara’s Fave Photos above.

Driving on the Seattle Viaduct the other evening, there was an incredible sunset. Actually, hubby was driving and I was leaning across him and shooting out his open window. We don’t get too sunsets like this, believe me. When I saw the photos later, I was amazed to see a parasailor up there. What a view he or she must have had! Puget Sound is one gorgeous place, when the light is right especially.

Visit Skywatch Friday for more wonderful sky photos, and Scenic Sunday for more scenegasms. Color Carnival, anyone? Be sure to visit Weekend Reflections, too. While you are here, you might as well try a new category or search. Puget Sound, perhaps? See the latest photo here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

This year the seed-started cosmos plants have done very well. The cool wet spring helped them to get established, especially since the slugs don’t seem to like them. Some of the plants had a real problem, like the petunias, but the cosmos all stood undevoured. Now they are beginning to take off. Don’t forget that they are good in bouquets, too!

Visit Macro Monday for more wonderful close ups of all kinds. Color Carnival has more bright colors. Mellow Yellow Monday thinks everything is better with a splash of yellow. Isn’t it? The Shadow is kind of neat, too. And this one is SOOC, or straight out of the camera.

Try a new link or category while you are here. Why not? The latest post is always at Sara’s Fave Photos.

I was browsing through my archives trying to create a slideshow of flowers for the garden club I belong to and found this image. Neat, isn’t it? But I have no idea what it’s called. Anyone?

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday, SOOC Sunday (straight out of the camera), Color Carnival and Today’s Flowers for great sites in blogland. Browse around here while you’re already here, perhaps something like “sunset” or “rose.” And if you’ve landed here via the permalink, an easy way to the latest post is by Sara’s Fave Photos, above.

I love the ‘Broadway’ rose. The buds are the prettiest of the entire 18-rosebush bed. Not sure what exactly it is, but they just seem long and perfect to me. Plus, it’s fragrant!

Visit Macro Flowers Saturday if you like flower close ups, Pink Saturday for more pretty pinkitude (I made that up), and Color Carnival for more brilliant colors.

I love having my little Canon S90 camera with me always. I was in the parking lot at the local Trader Joe’s and we were finally having a sunset worth of the name. So here it is, for you to enjoy.

Visit Skywatch Friday for other amazing skies seen round the world, and Scenic Sunday for more visions of the outer world. And how about Color Carnival for more brilliant color?

Maybe it’s just me but I like this sunset very much. It seems like a fitting end to a fairy tale or old movie or something. I’m going to call it my Best Post of the Week.

Try exploring a new tag while you’re here, but you can always find your way back to the latest post by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

This lovely lily is probably a ‘Stargazer’ lily, rubrum speciosa, taken on that Federal Way Symphony Garden Tour yesterday. I understand that all lilies like this used to point downwards, and growers managed to develop one whose blooms pointed upwards, thus “star gazer.” Great name, no?

Visit Today’s Flowers for more wonderful blossoms of all kinds, Macro Flowers Saturday and Macro Monday for close ups, Ruby Tuesday for wonderful reds and Color Carnival for brilliant color. Whew!

You might click on the “pink” or “red” tag at left or search for something new as long as you are here. Return to the latest post by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

Godetia is a very under-appreciated annual flower in the home garden. It’s super easy to grow, a great cutting flower, and reseeds well but not too well. Its only drawback, for some, is its lack of scent. But we forgive it that minor shortcoming because we love its crinkly petals in shades of lush red and pink and that neat starburst of buds on top.

This bouquet is from the Pike Place Market, the home of the most amazing (only) locally grown flowers. I love the way they mix and match the most unusual combinations. Here we also see sweetpeas on the right, a bit of stripey alstroemeria tucked in the middle, and peppermint for greenery!

Visit Pink Saturday for more pink visions of all kinds, and Color Carnival for more brilliant color. And you might try clicking on a tag like “pink” or “red” to see something new. Easy to return to the main page here; just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

I am very happy with this first real rose bouquet from my garden. The rosebushes were put in late last spring, so we couldn’t pick very much at all last summer, or at least not with any stem to speak of, to save the energy of the fledgling plants.

But after a year they are going pretty well, most of them—at least those that are not having real trouble with blackspot, mildew, and now I see critter holes near the roots of some of them. Sigh. My mom used to shrug and say, “The vicissitudes of gardening . . .” and what else can you say? That’s why we planted 18 rosebushes, so that I would be sure to be able to have a bouquet or two.

Happy Ruby Tuesday, all. See what the participants there have going on for the weekly celebration of rubiness. And you can always click on the Ruby Tuesday category in the sidebar to see some of my other photos showcasing the color red. Or try Color Carnival for more brilliant colors. Returning to the main blog is easy; just click on Sara’s Fave Photos.

Today’s visit to the flower vendors in Seattle’s Pike Place Market was fabulous, as usual. They have lilies (and sweetpeas) in magnificent quanties, combined in surprising and unique bouquet combinations as always. This one with a lily and a happy jumble of other garden flowers beats out any supermarket bunch any day.

Visit Macro Flowers Saturday for more flower close ups, and Color Carnival for more brilliant color. This one is straight out of the camera, or SOOC, too. And try a new tag or category here while you’re here, returning to the full blog at Sara’s Fave Photos as always.