National Orchid Day

April 16th is National Orchid Day

So in honor of the day, I decided to make a photoshow of many different species of Orchids from my archives of Orchid photos. I hope you enjoy!

 

All images property of Peggy A Thompson

 

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Camellias and Rhododendrons, Oh My!

For those of you following my blog, you know how I love to photograph in certain, local botanical gardens during the springtime and other seasons. With the cold weather behind us, things are really popping now in the blooms department! Lots of pretty Camellias and Rhododendrons as shown below!

And I finally found out what these intriguing shrub blooms are—Fothergilla major, commonly called Witch-Alder. Their leaves put on a spectacular color show in the autumn!

I’ve put together a few slide shows (complete with music) of my floral photos taken recently and posted them on YouTube. I hope to be doing more of this as time permits. Here are my newest ones! I hope you enjoy them!

 

 

All photos property of Peggy A Thompson

Tea Party at the Botanical Conservatory

I recently attended a first, ever, tea party at the W.W.Seymour Botanical Conservatory, in Tacoma, Washington. What a lovely backdrop for a tea party, with all the colorful, seasonal flower displays and tropical plants all around us! The conservatory is of the Victorian glass style, albeit rather small, and one of few located on the west coast. The management does a fine job of rotating grand floral displays throughout the seasons. Here are a few photos I clicked off during the tea party. I took care not to get attendees’ faces in the photos.

All images property of Peggy A Thompson

 

A Trip to the Coast

Last week, I drove to the coast to enjoy our spate of unseasonably warm weather. If one lives in the metropolitan areas of Puget Sound, just hop on I-5 and exit in Olympia to get on the highway to the coast. There will be plenty of signage. When I say “coast,” I mean the far western coastline of the state. There is the northern coastline as well, but that is a different travel route. This particular day I visited Westport. One of the state’s most popular wineries is located just outside the city along the main highway (105) that connects Aberdeen to Raymond. This is a must stop, even if you don’t drink. They have lots of beautiful gifts and a restaurant that serves great, main meals and desserts, and they are open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Stroll the grounds and admire the many gardens and local artwork displays.

While in Westport, visit the marina, which is their main tourist hang-out spot. There is a strip of shops, eateries, a maritime museum, and other tourist offices that offer the visitor choices of souvenirs, gifts, and food. If you like seafood, you can’t get it any fresher, here!

While strolling about the marina strip, I could hear what sounded like seal barks in the distance. I got in my car and drove to the other end of the marina, where I found out where the barking was coming from. Out on some floats were about a hundred sea lions basking in the sun and vying for spots on the floats. What a raucous they were making! I took lots of video and photos of them. Here’s a few snapshots I hope you will enjoy!

On a clear day, one can view the snow covered Olympic Mountains from the marina. I seagull entered the picture, at the last second.

Here’s a Western Grebe hanging out around the floats.

All photos property of Peggy A Thompson

Happy First Day of Spring!

Hellebores and Daffodil

It’s been a long winter, and I, for one, am so glad it’s over with! The past month was unseasonably cold, here in the Pacific Northwest. We had several instances of snow, which is rare for us. Our traditional, early blooming season was way behind as a result. And now, just within the past few days, we experienced soaring temperatures that rivaled summer temperatures. In fact, we broke a high temperature record for this time of year! As a result, blooms were popping out all over the place. It’s so nice to see color, once again…the yellow Daffodils, pink Hellebores, Camellias, and blue Anemones are the mainstay. Rhododendrons are just getting started as well.

Miniature Daffodils

Anemones (Grecian Windflowers)

Camellias

Rhododendrons

I also challenged myself during this warm weather spell to walk across our Tacoma Narrows Bridges. I didn’t walk all the way across, just to the highest point midway. I could have walked the full length, but then I would have to walk back, and I just don’t have the strength to do that. Besides, it’s very windy across there! In the end, I was quite sore for a few days after that little jaunt. Look at how beautiful the snow covered Olympic Mountains look from this viewpoint!

All photos property of Peggy A Thompson