The pre-birthday visit to Kew - and something a bit extra

Hello fellow Kew fans!  Today's trip to Kew was a bit different for a couple of reasons...  Because it's my birthday on Monday, I wasn't going to miss a trip to Kew today! not that I need a reason as you know..

Network Rail in their kindness. are working on the rail track at Sutton so there are no trains at all in either direction (they wrote to us residents as we back onto the railway, and they're working overnight tonight and tomorrow so we could have noise disturbance all night) so I had already looked into the possibility of going by bus -two, actually.   It meant an even earlier start from home as the bus to Kingston is half hourly and the one that would get me there for the 8am early opening, goes at just after 6.30 .. so that was a 6.15 departure... It was an easy journey though, as the second  bus to Kew itself went from the same stop I got off at.  In the end I got there with 20 minutes or so to loiter waiting for 8 o'clock.

It was drizzing as I went in, but after the intense heat of earlier this week it was LOVELY and COOL.. (did warm up later)

So, onto the photos then.... not as many as normal, for reason I will explain in a while...

so we start, as usual at the corner of the Palm House Parterre.

 and head for the Broad Walk.

the Eryngium are looking fantastic this week!

 they're towering above my head

 the daisies in the wildflower meadow by the Hive are fading now,

but there is lots else that have come out since last week

 such a delicate pink
must try and find out what all these wildflowers are!

 the bottle brush outside the Princess of Wales glasshouse

 tree fern stem, interesting mix of textures

 through the Rock Garden, still lightly drizzling...

love the bright orange and magenta combi

 strong purple shades..

 the poppies have gone over though, I am sure the heatwave last week didn't help them

 have photographed this statue before, but not for some time

 should have tried to video this, he was spinning round, never seen them do that before

 really pretty tiny white flowers

 more eryngium

wafting in the breeze..

 peeling trunk of the eucalyptus tree in the grass garden

 gorgeous pink poppy

 Statue in the grass garden, not shown him for some time either.

 walked past the edge of the rock garden again,

 flower pot  anyone?

 foxgloves looking tall and statuesque   hollyhock!  I knew that
thanks BJ and Lesley

the sun has done for the rose pergola too.

 the giant stone lion (there are a pair of them, donated to Kew in 1958)

I was heading for breakfast about now I think.

When I am at Kew, I always listen to a little pocket radio, the Danny Baker show on BBC 5Live.   Today, he was talking about always wanting a greenhouse...

I tweeted the show a photo of the Palm House, saying, did that count as a greenhouse... just a throwaway comment... I got a reply, saying they'd love to get me on the show, could I DM them my number.... so I did....

a little bit later they rang and asked if I'd come on the radio.. so I said yes...

 Rose Garden... gorgeous scent...

 sitting outside the Palm House waiting for the BBC to ring me (how weird does that sound!)   Had time for a bit of a wander....

 love this new bedding...

quick look at the work on the Temperate House...

 back to the Palm House - decided as I was on the radio to talk about greenhouses (loosely) I'd better be nearby the one I'd contacted them about
This is the photo I took whilst on hold to go live on the radio....

and this is the podcast of the programmer






http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08v667q#play     Not sure if this will work.. (you may have to copy it into a browser) . I also don't think it will work unless you're in the UK.     My moment of fame is at a bout 1 hour 45 ish...  It lasted a couple of minutes in total.....

 more roses from the rose garden...

pitcher plants in the Princess of Wales glasshouse

never been very fond of these (my ex husband liked them, maybe that's why!) but love the bright yellow-green of this one.

 went for a sit down along the Broad Walk and  carried on listening to the radio...

 love the bronzey stems of these

 and these tall lillies packed a punch of fragrance

 walking past the Palm House again to go home took this photo of some new bedding in one of the urns alongside the pond

 oo-er look at those clouds...

headed for the exit and the bus stop home... (via shopping in Kingston, and the Cass Art shop sale....where I was very good!)

maybe the trip next time will be more ordinary!!  (and t didn't rain on me, no idea if it did at Kew!)