Kew- after the heatwave!

At last the heatwave has broken and this morning was a lot fresher, though still sunny and a little rain (after some yesterday too) 
Thanks to South Western Railway striking, I had to go by bus...

 they've obviously been watering the grass round the Parterre beds as they are still very green

 unlike everywhere else

 I walked round the Pond the other direction to normal, the wind was making the water ripple quite strongly

 cutting across the grass towards the Broad Walk, there was lots of strips of bark all around - it was very windy yesterday (and still today) and I imagine the heat has had something to do with it stripping the trees too - look how brown the grass is! 

 huge canna leaves glistening in the early sun

 love the orange tiger lily in the middle of the purple

 grasses blowing in the wind and shining in the sun!

 fabulous agapanthus in front of the echinachea

 dancing in the sun!

statuesque red hot pokers

 the Hive

 echinops, covered in bees

 walking up to the Hive, the wildflower meadow has mostly gone over, the wild grasses are brown and blown,

 but there's still a lot of whatever this is!!

 sat on the glass floor in the Hive

 to take some pics

 before walking down the side with the steps, where you can see the gone over grasses

 the small fountain splashing in the rill outside the Princess of Wales glasshouse

walked round to the family beds

 most of the roses on the pergola have finished and been deadheaded, but these few remain











Onions drying in the sun

 artichokes

 grapes swelling in the heat,

 I made the mistake of dipping a finger in the  outside waterlily pond to see how cold the water was.. big mistake, it came out covered in green algae slime....

 more bee heaven!

 the grass garden looking colourful

 outside the POW glasshouse

 huge jumbos constantly overhead, heading to Heathrow

heading to the cafe now for breakfast



sun glistening on the water

 coffee and cake, a perfectly healthy breakfast, yes??

(cardamon and orange blossom honey drizzle - yum! )

 then headed for the Temperate House as it was nearly 10

 arrived just as they were unlocking the doors

 pretty shaped leaves of the perlagoniums

 green tree pincushion ( photographing the labels, I don't have that good a memory)

 didn't spot this one

walked up the spiral stairs to walk round the top level, can't resist this shot each time, the tree ferns are filling out

 I headed for the Pagoda... I wasn't sure if I'd go up again, it was going to depend if there were any timeslots free early on...I certainly won't be doing it every week!

 but there was time to enjoy the dragons against the blue sky

 before they opened (they only open at 10.30)  and there was space on the first climb, so....

 as it isn't such a horrendously hot day it was a much easier less sweaty climb up those 253 steps!


the view was rewarding again, although some of the photos seem a bit blurry to me, I think it is due to shooting through the glass,

 the guide pointed out several bricks in the walls where initials had been carved by the original builders

 view down to the Japanese garden

 back down on the ground again

 walked up the vista towards the lake

past the little pond


there were loads of dragonflies about, flitting here and there (so many I was worried about treading on them)


I tried to capture some..

I managed to enlarge it to show you, it was a bit small against the ground originally

 the lake never disappoints!

 ma and pa swan were preening, the kids were snoozing...

 came across where they were performing Alice in Wonderland which is being put on for children in the summer holidays.

no, didn't get a ticket and watch...

 cloud reflections in the lake

 cut back past the Temperate House with the Pagoda behind

 walked back down to the Palm House, was intending to sit in the Rose Garden for a while

 but after lying on one of the slopes to get some birds eye views

 I headed inside the Palm House

 for a quick walk round... and out the other side...

they have the same plants in urns at the top of the steps outside the Palm House as they do along the pond... so this is just for Elizabeth

 as I came outside and sat on a bench facing the pond, there were loads of birds circling around.....

 and around...  they did a few circuits before flying off

 while I sat for a few minutes...

 before walking over to the Waterlily house

 I noticed a gourd hanging down almost into the water

 lotus flower

around the edge, the dischloth gourd, showing why it gets it's name



turning very dishclothy!





from there, I went across to the Princess of Wales glasshouse,

 where as requested for my cousin I photographed the edge of the lily pads

 and the water was quite clear so I got a good view of one of the huge fish in the pond...

 and the teeny tiny ones!

 went for a quick walk round the upper level too

 view down to the bottom level





before heading for the exit and the way home...

 past the pond again,

 the giant gunnera tower over my head now

 underneath view

there was quite a queue to get in, as I left.


I dashed over the road as a bus was coming, which I caught, then when I got back to Kingston my second bus was at the stop as I got off my first one, so for once I was home in super quick time


Thanks for looking