A scorcher of a day and another early start at Kew

We've been "enjoying" a few days of scorching heat and sunshine in the UK and of course as this is a Bank Holiday weekend, storms were forecast and rain... However, despite the promise of scattered thunderstorms before another hot day I decided to go again anyway.

The train journey was interesting... got to Clapham Junction where I change trains to find news of the trains towards Hounslow (where my Kew train ends up) were disrupted due to an "incident"  This normally means a jumper on the track but apparently it was a trespasser, not so traumatic for the train driver!!  So I was diverted and had to go a different way; but managed to get to Kew just as the gates opened at 8am... and just as dark clouds were looming...  never mind; we're British, we just carry on..

 I knew from a tweet from one of the Kew accounts that the alliums at the Palm House were fading... amazing how much in just a week!

 an early morning stroll with the family...

 these were still beautiful in purple last week - still gorgeous, just green now!

 and a gaggle of adult geese out for a walk too...

 this variety is obviously longer lasting

 the blooms on the huge tulip tree are coming out...

this is just one of the side branches, love the patterns!

Started to walk down the Broad Walk.

 a favourite colour combination of the purple-blue with the dark yellow behind

 and this beautiful dark iris

more yellow and purple combination



I could feel spots of rain in the air now.. needed to find shelter...




I headed for the Hive where I knew at least I could stand under the glass bottomed layer...


another lady had the same idea and we chatted for a bit till it lessoned


the rain only lasted a few minutes though the sky was still quite dark

 staring up through the hexagonal shaped structure whilst waiting for the rain to stop

 the wildflower meadow has changed a lot in a week too

 I couldn't resist zooming down to the Broad Walk alliums from the Hive; you get great views from there

 yes, the sky is still very dark!

 love the daisies (they're probably proper posh wild daisies but there are no labels in the meadow) through the rusty bars

 heading back down... bright skies coming, that's good!

 new planting outside the Princess of Wales....

hedge full of white blooms... didn't notice the butterfly till I got home (the sun was very bright on my screen so I couldn't really see a lot of what I was taking!) - also, I was zooming in from quite a distance.... and not wearing my glasses either!

 the Davis Alpine house already had it's doors open and someone was working in there, so I was able to walk through

 no idea what this was, but it's tall!

 always love climbing roses against a brick wall!

 ...or pergola

 the Californian poppies were glorious,

 and the bees were hard at work

 spent ages trying to make the camera focus on the red poppy not the ones in the background!  perhaps I should go manual.....

 the roses make a great frame for the white "fluff" behind
will go and check what it is next time!

love a group of delphiniums.. wonder what the collective noun is....

 and I knew they would look stunning with the golden Californian poppies behind them

huge peonies!

 couldn't resist going back for a last close up

 beautiful blue mecanopsis

spent ages trying to force the focus on this too!

 walked round the Palm House pond to the cafe and breakfast...

 gunnera growing!

 this cistus was just beautiful

 the bee flew in just as I was taking this one!

 after breakfast, came out and walked past one of the Beasts (I'll tell you about them one day) outside the Palm House round to the Rose Garden...

 where the sky was blue and it was now very hot, no sign of rain.  (it's still not even  9 am)

I love playing with perspective in my photos...

 I love this tree, it reminds me of the Whomping Willow in the Harry Potter film  (I know it's not a willow, it's the shape!)

 love the sun shining through leaves

 tiny little blue flowers in the grass..

 I walked round the lake, looking for shade, to rest...
love the reflections today

 hmm.  have a few of these at home!  (cobwebs, I mean, sadly!)

 sat on a bench for a few minutes...










a group of babies (4 or 5) came marching past, right by my feet, not a care in the world,

 I carried on round the end of the lake,

 haven't seen the tree house since I came across it by chance the first time!  did the same again this time!

 gorgeous dappled shade, was tempting to linger a while....

 certainly couldn't face climbing up the Treetop today!

 so I walked through the Mediterranean garden and lots of Cistus...

 bathing in the sunshine..

love the papery look to this one.

 a tantalising glimpse of the Temperate House - they are on the final year of the redevelopment/refurbishment programme..

 huge groups of Cistus

back at the Palm House, now 10 am

 So I walked through the middle door and

 couldn't resist a last look at the alliums..

 love these big open ones, rather than the tight ball-like ones - they look like they've exploded!
I think these still have some way to go to their best..

 quick look in the Waterlily house.

 walked down the Broad Walk again to find a loo, a cold drink and home...

 more huge peonies in the small bed outside the Orangery restaurant.

 more fabulous iris

and pink/purple grouping

 love these tiny pink flowers, covering a huge shrub, it was taller than me

 and horse chestnut flowers

that's it for today...

checked that the trains were ok, headed for home..

3 and a bit hours...240 more photos.... and  6 miles walked, according to the pedometer I had found to take with me...  (thanks to Josh at work) -
that seems an awful long way, not sure if it's accurate or not!  
(edit... the pedometer thingy says 13280 steps.. so maybe it was 6 miles!)