Kew

 My weekly visit to Kew today was meant to be very wet but yay! mostly dry and just a little drizzle... took lots and lots of photos (what's new!) - hope you enjoy.

it was reasonably bright without being sunny

went partway down the Broad Walk first

then round to the Evolution Garden

day lily

the purple poppy is a bit blurry, but it's such a pretty colour I couldn't leave it out!

everything is so tall!  

always fab to see the echinacea back!

calycanthus

roses, of course 

the lavender smelled beautiful

love the colour of these alliums

Duke's Garden

day lilies

I adore hardy geraniums

alpine house from the grass garden

coleus, outside the Princess of Wales - looks like it's been paint spattered - or "pox'd" as Dina Wakley would say!

smoke bush

wildflower meadow at the Hive

then cut back to the Broad Walk,

and past the end of the Palm House where the geese were cutting the grass!

and through a sweet smelling rose garden

then across the grass past a few small funghi - this was one of the bigger ones

they were enjoying the lush, damp grass 

past the Mediterranean garden

broom

the poppies by the steps at the Temperate House are still flourishing

then I went and had a rest on "please be seated"  - it started drizzling after a few minutes but I'd been lucky it had held off so long

so I walked across to the meadows installation and peeked through some holes in planting 

this is how the Temperate House looks through it 

and soon the doors opened and we could escape the drizzle

there was a coral-pink passionflower in bloom this week

I didn't get such good macro shots today, think my eyes weren't working to check the focus well!  

I think this looks even better this week

  

you can see how high it grows

then I came across a little clump of funghi

they looked as if they'd toppled backwards in the soil

phone ones

when I got to the other end it appeared to have just about stopped raining again 

so I headed back towards the entrance 

(stopping at the sand dunes installation

reflection in the pond

the fountain  was on a sporadic setting today!

into the Palm House

outside the waterlily house

lotus flower

then took my one-way walk round the pond

Nepenthes (carnivorous plants)  in a hanging basket 

back outside, the fountain was on

so I walked that way

and had to wait till it came back on again

then into the Princess of Wales glasshouse

past a spiky cactus

it's grown a lot! 

fabulous markings on this orchid

lily in the alpine house

sempervivium (house leeks)

still drizzling as I walked through the rock garden 

then back round the pond again on my way to the loo and then refreshments!

I sat on a (damp) wall to eat my cake and coffee - not quite as milky this week Julia! 

then along the path in front of the Palm House

looking at the urns on the edge of the pond

then it was time to leave - 

I was home just in time for the ladies final at the Wimbledon tennis championships. 

thanks for looking