Hendrick’s Park Rhododendron Garden

Flowers on the right side photo are peach-colored.
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I am not tall, but these rhododendrons sure are!
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Three different shades of yellow-flowered rhodies.
Yellow is not a common color for these flowers.
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Hendrick’s Park is in the west hills of Eugene, Oregon.
Peeking through the trees is a view of Skinner’s Butte,
behind the downtown area.

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Spring Abloom in Winter

Violets bloom all winter long here.
They look beautiful in the snow,
but no snow this year, so far.
These blossoms have naturalized in many of my beds.
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Bergenia are early bloomers here, also.
They grow on the sheltered east side of my house,
protected from deer.
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Hellebore are also growing in a sheltered east-facing area.
The ferns came up naturally,
and keep these flowers shaded.
While the white flowers are in full bloom,
the pink ones are just beginning.
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The first strawberry blossoms
from a warmer area in the yard.

Very Early Spring Daffodils

Spring bulbs are emerging particularly early this year.
Not only blooming snowdrops & daffodils,
but tulip & hyacinth leaves have poked through the ground, also.

I have been gardening in this same place for over 35 years,
and this is the earliest, by a large margin,
for these flower bulbs.

Argh!  Please excuse my focus.
I should have had my glasses on!

Here the flowers look so small & insignificant.
It is a south-facing rise, a break in the trees,
a particularly sunny area.
Also a tractor & vehicle shortcut,
across a fork in the road,
which makes me think it amazing the daffodils have persevered.

December Flowers in Paradise

There really is a town named Paradise!
In the Sierra Mountain foothills
of Northern California.
We visited friends at their new home in the sunshine.

Manzanita, a native plant, is blooming now.
*  *  *

Pineapple Sage is in my friend’s garden.
*  *  *

I saw a number of Camellias in bloom.
Where I live, further north, it will be a few more months
before I see my plant flower.
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We think this is a Coreopsis.
Sure looks like one.
*  *  *
I know Lavender can rebloom if cut back.
But in December?

Thanksgiving Flower

In the past, we have always had our first frost by now.
Killing all flowers until spring.
(Save the violets, which bloom even in snow.)
But the weather is changing.

Not only the hollyhock flowers,
but the deer have left them alone.
I speculate there is so much other greenery
for the deer to browse,
they don’t need to eat my plants.

This pink-flowered plant is on
a different side of the house.

Ontario, Canada

Visiting grandboys.
A walk around the neighborhood.
Day before Halloween.

Flowers above were growing in the drainage area next to the road
Orange flower was hard to photograph,
camera kept focusing on background.
It resembled a statice flower.
*  *  *

Cosmos, Aster and Autumn Joy are on their last legs before snow.
*  *  *

Beautiful dahlias!
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I saw a variety of hydrangeas.
They looked pretty even after the flowers die.
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Geraniums – saw them at multiple houses.
One lady told me she already took cuttings for next year’s flowers.
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Lychnis and pink Candytuft.
I’ve never seen Candytuft in pink.
An older woman told me she brought the seeds from Germany,
many years ago.  It freely reseeds now.
*  *  *

It was a well-kept yard that we found the mushrooms.

Leaves of Change

This Sugar Maple tree
is always the first to exhibit leaf change.
* * *

Leaves of Japanese Maples
change color over a
long time period.
* * *

A baby Wisteria
doesn’t have many leaves
to fall!
* * *

Rose of Sharon
is already getting a blanket
of leaves down below.
* * *

Tree Peony leaves
on the older stems
are changing colors after
leaves on the younger stems.

Oregon Coast

We drove along the Oregon Coast recently.

I stood on the overlook at
Devil’s Punch Bowl and saw
these alyssum flowers on a ledge.
* * * * *

It is pretty amazing to me
that any plant can survive,
much less thrive, living in the sand.
* * * * *

I noticed a number of wildflowers
on the highway along the beach.

This yellow blossom was my favorite.
It grew in clumps along the road.
* * * * *

Queen Anne’s Lace is a prolific grower.
Can you see some of the blossoms have gone to seed?
The seed burrs are most annoying;
I have picked them out of too many socks.
* * * * *

Everlasting Sweet Peas grow along many roadsides.
I accidentally planted them in my own flower garden.
They are near impossible to eliminate.
But they sure look pretty along the highway.
* * * * *


Dandelions grow everywhere!

Aster or Astor, What’s the Diff?

Variations in the spelling of American’s surnames,
leads me to wonder if these words have the same origin.

From a discount plant at the end of summer,
this flower has become invasive here.
Okay, if I deadheaded conscientiously,
there would probably be significant number
of fewer garden additions.

Interestingly, three colors of flowered plants have evolved.

Pike Place Market

In Seattle, the Pike Place Market is famous
for fish, seafood and every other type of
food, craft, flowers,
and the bounty of this city’s homegrown.
A giant farmer’s market open 363 days of the year.

There were a number
of floral vendors.

Sunflowers were $1 a stem,
Less, if a dozen were purchased.


I saw many people
carrying purchased bouquets.


Dried flower arrangements
of statice in various colors.