Saturday, May 2, 2015

Bank Holiday - and Kew. Of course. where did you think I'd go...

It started out chilly and dull.   It finished slightly less of both..  It felt really strange leaving "so much later" to arrive for the new opening time of 10 (from 9.30) - amazing what half an hour does.  Anyhow, there was quite a crowd waiting at the gates..  I wanted to check on the bluebells, so took the most direct route I could ..

 past beautiful blossoms,
 tall, fluffy cowslip type wild flowers ( not sure if they are cowlslip though...)
 pretty pink blossoms
 and the beautiful parterre outside the Palm House - the fabulous pink tulips, wide open, just gorgeous against the forget-me-nots


 white tulips with a flash of yellow, these are nearly finished already!


 male ducks chasing a lone female!!

 past the rhododendron dell
 not sure what these are, but they are beautiful, tall, blue flowers..
 great swathes of them..

into the bluebell wood, these pretty white flowers growing amongst them

the bluebells look so pretty against the bright almost acid green of the bursting leaves on the trees.
at least the sun was out - or trying to come out - casting dappled shade over the dell.

 close up of the pretty white flowers

 headed for the Treetop Walkway, past these gorgeous pink blossoms
 once again resisted the temptation to take the lift up to the top, but used the stairs, bit of aerobic exercise!
 interesting to see the renovation work going on at the Temperate House, which is behind hoardings now so you can't see what's happening from ground level.
 bit of an accident, this shot, the camera was trying to focus on I don't know what, but I quite like it so am including it!
 the horse chestnuts are bursting into life
and you get such a good view of the bright acid green of the trees from the top of the walkway
 back at ground level, I had to start deleting old photos from the memory card as it was full (I keep lots of them on the card after I down load them, just in case my computer goes wrong as I haven't backed it up still!)
 think this may be hawthorn.. looks like a shaggy dog anyhow!
last look at the pink blossom on the way home

Hope you enjoyed these, it'll be at least 3 weeks before I get back, as I am busy for both of the next two weekends... so much will have changed by then!

9 comments:

craftimamma said...

Lovely, lovely treat as always Helen, especially as it's raining quite fast here! I'm wondering if the pretty white flowers had a pungent smell because they look like what we used to call Stinking Nannies (or wild garlic I think). They & bluebells always seem to grow close to each other. The woods next to my primary school were full of both & the smell was overpowering when we went out to play.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Little Arty Journeys said...

Gorgeous ! Thoroughly enjoyed my virtual Kew trip with you. Thank you.

margaret said...

Lovely photos Helen

Sally H said...

Lovely photos, Helen. Found you through my crafty friend Lesley. The white flowers are a type of wild garlic called Ransoms, and the tall fluffy white flowers are probably cow parsley or another closely related member of the carrot family

Claire said...

Great photos today! Love seeing these as it always amazes me how much further ahead the plants are down there compared to up here. Bet you see major changes in them all by the time your next visit comes round. Claire x

sam21ski said...

Wow you were very restrained with your photos this time. Lovely colours on the first few.

xxx

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

As always, I am in AWE of your lovely photos. I was thrilled to see the photo you took of the renovations of the Temperate House. I can see from your photo how it would be impossible to see the work when at ground level. BTW, I'd gladly walk up with you, but have to take the lift coming back down. I'm still a bit too shaky to trust myself coming back down.

I also perused the tulips when you visited Kew two weeks ago. The Flags of Liberty was beautiful, but of course, my favorite photo was of the angles and repeating patterns. THAT shot could win a prize, I would think!!!

Thanks for taking me with you to Kew this past weekend. I had fun and didn't have to walk many miles to see it, either.

Scrapmate said...

Gorgeous pics, takes me back to my youth when I used to save my bus fare and walk home through Kew after school (well it only cost 1p to get in then). I agree the starry white flowers are Ransom's garlic - they make a fabulous soup.
The white shrub in the penultimate pic may be a spirea or an exochordia depending on how large it is.

Kirsten said...

Sorry I missed this post earlier in the week Helen. I thoroughly enjoy your Kew posts & the photos in this one are just gorgeous. Thank you.