Sara’s Fave Photos

Roses in the sunshine may not have the tender delicacy they show in overcast, soft lighting, but they practically sing their joy in bright light. To me, anyway.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more intriguing shadows and Scenic Sunday, and Today’s Flowers for great photos. If you’re here from another link, you might want to click on Sara’s Fave Photos above to see if there’s an even more current photo. And you might try the “rose” tag while you’re here. There are a quite a few rose photos, I promise!

Note: There’s now a little surprise if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page. Hope you like it!

These are from my Peace rosebush a few weeks ago. There are still blooms out there, but not in the full heady flush you get in July. Enjoy their vision of perfection.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more interesting shadows, Today’s Flowers for more lovely blooms, Macro Monday for more wonderful close ups and Mellow Yellow Monday for more photos with a splash of yellow. If you’ve arrived via the permalink, you can find the latest posts at Sara’s Fave Photos. Don’t be shy; click it and see what’s new!

The roses look good now. The challenges of the awful black spot and mildew that the endless wet weather created are mostly gone. I try to keep the fallen leaves and petals off the ground, so that means deadheading when the blooms start to get loose, before the petals fall. What a wonderful excuse to wander among the roses, clippers and bucket in hand, happily peering into the heart of each rose and gathering the spent ones. A pleasure, not a chore, to me.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more ruby redness. And click on a new tag or category while you are here, you hear? The latest post can always be found at Sara’s Fave Photos, above.

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 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.

My ‘Oklahoma’ rosebush has the deepest red roses, which try as I might, I cannot photograph, or even Photoshop, into a closer approximation of reality. The actual color of the flowers is the deepest, darkest, richest, burgundy red, and almost black in the shadows. You’ll just have to imagine.

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more ruby redness around the world. And this is also a post for Macro Monday and Blue Monday. Is that sky blue enough? And I like this photo so much I’ve called it my Best Post of the Week.

If you’ve found this post from the permalink, getting to the latest photo post is easy. Just click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.

When we went shopping for roses last summer for the new bed, this one had no name but I could see it was pink and fragrant. Sold! Anyone know the name?

Visit Pink Saturday for more pretty pinkitude, Today’s Flower for all flowers and Macro Flowers Saturday for amazingly lovely flower close ups. You might try clicking on a new tag like “scenic” or “rose” while you are here. The latest posts can always be found at Sara’s Fave Photos.

The sun is finally here. This cosmos flower is just basking in it! Another perfect day tomorrow is predicted, and then showers again. Actually, it’s amazing how quickly the flower beds dry out. Our water bill will be way higher in July than up til now, that’s for sure.

Visit Thursday Challenge and view the entries for the theme Weather. Mine is sunny!

You might want to check out a tag or category here first, easily returning to the main page here by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

I like this photo very much and am putting it in the Best Post of the Week category.

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.

Feverfew is one of those herbs that sometimes appear as a weed, brought by the birds. I am lucky I recognized it and put the small plant where it would thrive. Sometimes volunteer plants are a gift, no? Now it is covered with masses of small white flowers, great in bouquets, that even did fine in our recent heatwave. It’s asking a lot of a garden to go from cool and 60s to a couple of days of sunny and mid 90s. But all is well.

Visit Macro Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday for more of the same. Try browsing here and there first, and you can always get back to the main blog by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos.

In California, it is illegal to pick the orange poppies growing by the side of the road, as they are the beloved state flower. I heard you can’t even pick them in your garden, but that can’t be true. Here in Seattle, they grow very well also, maybe too well sometimes. They actually are great in bouquets. Clipping the long seedpods will extend the bloom quite a bit and help prevent way too many plants from appearing everywhere.

So, which view do you prefer? Leave a comment and let me know.

Visit Color Carnival for more brilliant color and Shadow Shot Sunday for more intriguing shadows. Both shots were straight out of the camera, or SOOC. And I like this post so much I’ve called it my Best Post of the Week.

Took this yesterday in the brilliant sunshine we had so briefly. It’s the flower border we put in two summers ago. Not too bad for just getting established. I’m trying to use fewer and fewer annuals so it will just do its thing, but of course there must be flowers continuously spring through fall, if at all possible. I’m working on it. The veggie beds are to the right.

Visit Flowers for Today for more flowers around the world. And happy Independence Day to my American readers!

The rain never ceases to fascinate me in the garden. I love the almost spherical drops, just poised like that. I once saw a hummingbird take a bath in droplets like this on rose leaves, but of course had no camera with me. Every time I see perfect droplets like this on rose leaves I do think of that tiny bird, in the world’s smallest bathtub.

Visit Outdoor Wednesday and Watery Wednesday after looking around here. Return to the full blog by clicking on Sara’s Fave Photos on top.

I like this post very much and have categorized it as Best Post of the Week.

I find these Double Delight roses irresistable. Their form, their magnificent coloration, their sweet and spicy scent just is perfection in a rose to me. I read that their unusual reddish edging, which is much darker in full sunshine and only a streaky (but still beautiful!) pink when the rose is blooming mostly in shade, was considered a flaw. How about that?

Visit Ruby Tuesday for more ruby redness of all kinds. If you browse around here, be sure to click on Sara’s Fave Photos when you want to get back to the latest post.

This yellow King’s Ransom beauty is fragrant, too.  Most of the roses in my new rosebed had to be pruned off due to the rain (they got all brown and ugly) but this one made it to perfection for us. But more are in bud, so if the weather dries out a bit we’ll have some more soon.

Visit Macro Monday and Mellow Yellow Monday after browsing around here. To return to the latest post, click on Sara’s Fave Photos above.