Kew - last day of July

 Another early start for my time slot at Kew, as I am still using my pre-booked slots.  

sky was still grey and overcast and there was a low chance of showers early on.  

I headed down the Broad Walk part way first.

scabious

the agapanthas down the Broad Walk are really flourishing and I love the contrast with the echinacea

another nice contrast with the red hot poker behind a different clump of agapanthas

walking up to the Hive, view of the Broad Walk below me

the wildflower meadow round the Hive

the Plantscapes by the rear of the Princess of Wales 

(marsh and meadow)

they're growing fast!

patch of light sky above the huge tree behind the Alpine House,

always makes a nice dramatic shot this tree

close up of the Plantscapes 

cutting through to the Evolution Garden and the colourful patch of agapanthas and alliums

the individual flowers on this variety of agapanthas are much larger than the ones on the Broad Walk, and a paler blue

but en masse they look amazing

shiny blue berries but I forgot the name 

these are all over head height

as are these

Helenium, 

I adore these

there was lots of inset life on the flowers this morning

I love taking different angles 

the planting repeats round a square

as I stood up to take a shot of the pink echinacea from above,

I caught sight of this moth siting in the middle of a flower,

I watched it for several minutes, 

it gradually turned round very slowly,

I focussed in as close as I could trying not to disturb it

it was inching slowly toward the pink petals

I moved to the other side of the square for a moment

but was drawn back, fascinated by how long it was staying on this one flower

got in close to the body.

you can just about see that the underside of his wings are orange

finally it was on the petals!

and then it was off; too fast to catch a shot in flight

I moved on

the spiky giant cardoon

(artichoke thistle) 

they tower above me 

another drift of helenium 

I love that they're not neatly clipped and tidy!

at the back of the garden on the far side are some darker heleniums

I always love these tall yellow daisy types

see how tall the cardoon are (hopefully)

walking along the path through the pergola back down the garden,

peeking through the fennel (I think) with the helenium behind

another favourite, queue lots of pics...

there is a family of 4 (mum dad, 2 kids) walking behind these, on the path in the middle of the square)

it seems to be a very yellow day today!

happy sunflowers

pumpkin flower

at the top of the rock garden

verbena

I took the top path down the length of the rock garden

but decided not to take the steps down into it

back at the pond,  the fountain was on an intermittent setting again 

iris

moorland plantscape

whilst waiting for the fountain to come back on again 

underneath the gunnera

leaves of the gunnera

then I headed to the lake,  didn't take any photos in between palm house and lake, amazing!

it was still quite dull, so not much in the way of reflections

these geese were drinking from a big puddle left from the rain recently

hydrangeas along cedar vista in the shade

it was slightly before 10 but the Temperate House was open

palm stems

trumpet vine

I always keep an eye on ground level for funghi since I discovered them growing in here

today there were little dome shaped ones

the passionflower tubs have been moved, they must have all finished. 

bananas

looking back along the centre

outside I sat for a few minutes

then went to look at the Hedgerows plantscape,

this is one of my favourites,  

time to head for refreshments

blueberry muffin today with my coffee

then into the Palm House

entering by the centre door because I can now

I had to duck under this hibiscus

had to take on the phone as the lens was misting on the camera

soft focus look!  

outside, I walked back round to the rose garden 

and walked along the edge back to the waterlily house 

where the "triffids"  from last week were causing an interest

the bigger ones had opened.... 

I took some close ups

trying to focus into it's "throat" 

I wish there was a label!

the pattern is beautiful

I took several on the phone too

hanging basket of carnivorous plants still going strong

on my way out I took a couple more

then headed to the Princess of Wales glasshouse

pink bananas

 

orchid

I sat on a bench  along the Broad Walk for a few minutes watching this squirrel eating 

before a last few echinacea and heading home!

thanks for looking again