so, on the hottest day of the year, what do you do... why you go to Kew of course...
as I crossed Kew Bridge just after 7.30 the river was very low (the Thames is a tidal river of course)
as I walked past the church on Kew Green I took a photo
before my normal first pic... beds all fully planted in front of the Palm House and the sky blue, it was already about 24 (scheduled to hit 34 in some parts of the south -- it's currently 32 as I am writing this post)
Summer Sun certainly sparkling today
red and purple theme
paintbrushes shimmering
lilies - these aren't heavily scented
but were full of pollen as this little hover -type thing came in to feast
scabious
little patch of poppies
I love these! they are so tall
wildflower meadow
I sat on the floor of the hive for a few minutes
rock garden
alstromeria lilies
they still haven't finished refurbishing the family beds though you can walk down part of it (from behind a barrier)
lots of water sprinkling going on (very refreshing if you strayed close)
clematis
artichoke
these white flowers were huge ( I am sure I know what they are really....) love the centres
I took loads of this butterfly but not many of them were fully focused...
another clump of these lovelies (in the bed at the back of the veg garden)
sweet peas
another clematis mingling with lavender
back to the Palm House from behind the pond
one of the growing goslings, losing their fluff rapidly and starting to develop proper feathers
walked past the end of the Palm House beds again
past the rose garden
huge palm
phone shadow selfie down the steps to...
these (Neodymium reeds and turquoise marlins)
the temple was making a nice backdrop
and from there round the corner to...
loving the poppies growing up in the long grass
the cattails make a great backdrop for the grasses too
headed for the lake
where the cygnets were messing about in the water - with mum and dad!
I carried on round to the end of the lake (what I think of as the bottom - the nearest end to the main gardens)
where I sat in the shade of this huge tree on the Lockerbie bench for a few minutes
as you can see the benches go all the way round
I walked back up the other side of the lake so I could walk up Cedar Vista - no sign of peacocks in trees today, (it was a bit later than I was here last week) although I did hear one a few minutes later; no idea where the sound came from though
lilies in the little pond halfway up
cutting through a carpet of dandelions towards...
the now open Temperate House..
was quite restrained today though
took more of the large tubs of (ox eye daisies?)
which I love
Ikebana, from a slightly different angle
yellow ones...
more white ones, these are in beds not tubs
leaving the Temperate House headed along the path past Lime Crystal Tower
I love this one in the sun
outside the gallery where the inside Chihuly sculptures are
I didn't take any inside today, just sat in the room they're showing a film about Dale and his works, on a loop - I've seen most of it now without ever sitting through the whole thing in one go
it was nice and cool in the dark!
I think it was at this point that I had coffee and cake (inside, too hot to sit outside as there was no shade)
today's cake - a new one to try - chocolate ombre cake (appealed to the crafter in me) - light chocolate sponge with a yummy chocolate filling in the middle...
inside the Princess of Wales glasshouse now
these pretty little pink flowers are
growing on the top of these spiky cacti things
and I love how this (think it's an aloe) has pink and mauve flowers
I was looking mainly for Chinese Water Dragons of course, because 30 degree heat outside wasn't hot enough, had to come in for higher temps!
love these splotchy leaves
they grow rapidly in the humid atmosphere
this has been planted in the tree trunk thing the jaguar was sitting on from the orchid display in February
I cut through a tunnel under the upper level to the main area (where the sloth was) and whilst I was taking this, hanging from above somewhere, I saw....
yay!!
sitting on a wall of the pond (the mangroves in the background)
went round to catch him from the other side between the mangroves...
kept going back and forth to get better sots!
went up to see if I could see any others anywhere else...
there weren't any others anywhere, so I came back round.
lotus flower sitting on the water
he was still there
I didn't have the longest zoom with me today so this was as close as I could get
bright pink bottle brush
out on the Broad Walk again, red hot pokers enjoying the sun (I was struggling!)
achilliea
osteospurman (African daisies)
sat on the grass under the shade of a big tree..
watched the ice cream hut.... yep, had to have one!
Broad Walk
after I had my ice cream, I headed across the grass (in the shade where possible as it was now mid-day plus some and very hot)
to the waterlily house... can't miss this ever
large gourd hanging down over the path
back outside again, I think Summer Sun goes well with this summer colour scheme
I knew the red are begonias, but didn't know what the blue/purple were ... scaevola aemula none the wiser but now you know
variety is Whirlwind Dark Blue.. fyi!
the taller ones in the middle are I think cannas.
I had had enough now and was melting so headed for home
walking back across Kew Bridge (just before 1pm) - tide has come in!
had a faff with the trains due to signalling problems - English transport doesn't cope with extremes of weather of hot/wet/cold/windy!
but home ok in the end... today's photo count only 192 - the heat got to me - but hope you enjoyed them!
