Saturday, June 24, 2017

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!)

16 comments:

sam21ski said...

You should have brought one of those pots home to Powertex!!!

BJ said...

Wow on the radio, will go try and listen in a mo. I'm thinking what you've said is a foxglove isn't a foxglove but can't remember what it is right now. It'll come to me I'm sure. Super photos Helen. BJ

craftimamma said...

Fab post as always Helen and I will try that link again after tea.

I'm not too keen on those pitcher plants either but I do love the patterns of the red veins against the bright green. I think my favourite today are those stunning white roses....absolute perfection! The beautiful pink poppies come a very close second though and I think the statue in the grass garden is my favourite of the ones you've shown too....perhaps because he's quite a hunk, lol! He reminds me a little of Burt Lancaster (showing my age here) in his heyday, lol! My final pick of the pics today is the one of those lovely fluffy seedheads alongside the little blue bells. Do you know what they are?

Thanks for sharing your birthday trip which turned out to be a bit different.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

craftimamma said...

Me again! I thought the same as BJ about the 'foxglove'. Is it a hollyhock by any chance?

Hugs
Lesley Xx

BJ said...

Ah Hollyhock the word on the tip of my tongue, although I had been googling and only came up with Verbascum Temptress White, it could be either as they are quite similar.
Listened to the recording whilst I was googling (signed in this time and wondering if I will have to do that on all devices???) anyway, yes it IS your garden and great that you got on the radio too
What a great birthday treat and didn't get rained on either, hope the trip back was OK and the trains will be sorted soon.
BJ

BJ said...

Still me the other flower on the tip of my tongue was Delphinium???? BJ

Helen said...

oh yes of course, I knew it wasn't a foxglove... brain not working - will change it.

Little Arty Journeys said...

Lovely photos and added excitement. Brilliant!

Artmadnana said...

Wonderful photos again Helen. You never disappoint. Only just been able to sit down and enjoy looking through them all. So relaxing and uplifting. Do you ever do any sketching while you're there? Tried listening to the podcast but don't think I can listen to Danny Baker for very long trying to find your slot. Will try again tomorrow. Thanks for sharing such a beautiful array of colour.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Happy birthday on Monday. Even the trains not running couldn't keep you away from Kew.

Those cone shaped "topiaries" on the Broad Walk are much, much larger and taller than I envisioned before. Seeing people near them put their size in perspective.

The flowers outside the Palm House are really beautiful. I see a few purple ones, too.

I swear those may be tall sunflowers, but they don't look like any they grow here in Kansas, the Sunflower state!

OhWOW. I haven't seen bottle brush since I was in California several years ago. It wouldn't survive our winters. What a rare treat.

I suspect the peacock was putting on a show for his female friends.

Yes, both those statues are new to me.

The wrapping on the restoration of the Temperate House was looking in need of restoration, itself!

I LOVED the last photo. It was different from ones I've seen in the past.

Congrats on your 15 minutes of fame that only lasted 2 minutes. I'm sure it was fun and rather exciting, though. A pre-birthday gift, if you ask me!

Hazel Agnew said...

Great photos Helen and listened to you on the radio and you sounded great. What a great experience. Happy Birthday for tomorrow! Xx

Carmen said...

I'm loving these posts. Am so not a natural gardener so whenever you name an interesting plant I google it and add it to the list. I'm trying to start a little potted rockery in our tiny yard in memory of Mum. Criteria - they have to be perennial (because I'm lazy) and take care of themselves (because I forget!) So am loving alpines at the moment. Today I've added eryngium to the list because your photo is gorgeous - looks hardy enough to take care of itself and I just googled - it's perennial! Whoop!

Loved your interview, did make me smile! What a random thing to happen - a Saturday walk to remember!

Kirsten said...

Over to Helen, the BBC's Kew correspendent!!! That was great and another fab post too, full of gorgeous photos.

nanskidrewski said...

Happy birthday Helen💐🌸🌹🌻 beautiful photos!

pearshapedcrafting said...

As ever I loved seeing Kew! It was great to hear your voice too! Fame at last!! Hugs, Chrisx

Miriam said...

Oh Helen - your photos never disappoint. What a fabulous way to spend your birthday weekend. I wanted to jump into the photos to smell the roses and lilies! lol!