Kew - in the sun

 Hello again,  here we are at Kew once more early, in the sun (though it was quite fresh to start with) 

Going to hope blogger plays nicer than the computer did downloading and saving the photos in the first place, as it's Cup Final day and I need to be done by kickoff...

although I'm starting with my normal first shot,  on our way from the entrance to the Palm House,  Kym Lynda and I were amazed by these goslings ..... these were with just 2 adults!

we don't know if they can possibly all be from one hatching.. but look!

Lynda noticed them first - they came from the path, ran around on the grass a bit

and then charged off again! 

we counted about 26!   Lynda said it was like a school!  

several other early visitors stopped to laugh at them as well... so cute!! 

then it was time to admire the alliums in the Palm House beds

and the little flowers growing out of the wall of the pond tumbling down

these are the ones in the round bed at the top of the Broad Walk

the fountain wasn't on, so I headed down the Broad Walk first

where of course there are more !

not sure what these are by the first clump of alliums

then I went round to the wisteria near the Hive - still looking quite sad for blooms this year but a few more than last week

it's obviously a poor year for this particular one

the sky was quite blue though still cloudy as you see - fluffy white ones, no chance of rain 

then I headed round past the Princess of Wales 

the cloud above the alpine house was quite pretty

the sun wasn't strong enough to make the California poppies open yet, and I knew i'd be back later to go into the glasshouses

as I walked down the path at the edge of the rock garden I met Lynda again admiring the white wisteria growing on the wall

in the Evolution Garden, the scilla, cuban lily are looking good

work on the vegetable beds is coming on,  and I see they've gone with gravel rather than grass round them this time,  the grass did always get very muddy in the rain, and trampled by visitors so this is probably going to be an improvement

lots of lilies

and a large clematis starting to bloom at the bottom of one of the posts of the pergola

some peonies starting to flower

overnight dew on leaves, will soon burn off 

the replanted peony beds at the far end of the Evolution garden are coming along too - though these ones weren't some of the ones that were replanted

the sun was starting to make the trees shine in the light  now

back at the pond, still no fountain, but the reflections were ok!

as I walked past the top end of the Palm House again I couldn't resist some more photos

I headed off towards the lake

walking up the grass past the trolls near the Temperate House,  

you can see it is still fenced off

but I got a bit of a closer look 

before heading round by the tulips in Cherry Walk - fading now, overtaken by grass and mostly just the darker purple varieties lefr 

at the lake 

pausing for more reflections 

I headed up to the end of the lake and towards the woodland walk

where there was still quite a lot of blossom

and the path through the woods was peaceful, (apart from the planes flying into Heathrow - lots of them today and on a very low flight path in, too!) 

the bluebells are nearly finished now and other wildflowers are taking over

but there were still quite a few bluebells

towards the end of the woodland walk,  large rhododendrons,  near Queen Charlotte's cottage

I took a right turn towards the Pagoda and the Japanese garden

top of a huge tree against the cloudy sky

walking past the Temperate House, still closed of course

I walked towards the Med garden and noticed this lovely tree

with it's bubbly knobbly bark

and green canopy

there was a plaque on the trunk labelling it as a "champion tree" from 2019 for GB and Ireland

on the Tree Register (who knew there was a champion of trees!)

in the Med garden, the bees were buzzing round this, but I was on manual macro focus so kept missing them

it's an echium 

so pretty

I came across another Judas tree - the one I usually look at in the Med garden itself has finished

this was on the path  back towards the Palm house

holly hedging near the rose garden

I walked through the rose garden as I'd seen some in flower on my way past earlier -  loads of buds to come in the central section

and some early ones out, at the far end 

these ones had the most amazing frangrance

and some yellow ones, sprawling mass of blooms lower to the ground

ooops!  can't resit

heading to the cafe for some breakfast...

I noticed they had some croissants on offer today - cheese and mushroom,  so I tried one (warmed up for you) - was delicious.

and a doughnut for "dessert" ... who says breakfast can't include dessert!  Coffee today, not hot chocolate.

ate outside in the sunshine, it was warm on the back of my neck now 

the gates opened at 10 as I sat eating  so then I headed to the Temperate house

for some reason the steps up to the viewing platform still had the barrier across (I was tempted to move it but thought I'd better not so had to stay on the lower level

of course I had to catch the Bird of Paradise flowers again, 

with the sun glowing on the petals

and through the large leaves 

the next group 

gerbera

by the door at the far end,  a yellow variety

other side of the path, a spiky (agave?)

headed back through past the first clump,  went to check in case I could get up this time, but whoever had done the watering and unlocked presumably, was nowhere in sight to ask

so back outside and walking back towards the Palm House

Japanese Dogwood in flower, love these creamy flowers

standing proud above the leaves

walked through the Palm House which was very hot and humid today

as i came out of the Palm House I noticed the white wisteria was flowering to the left of the waterlily house and knew I'd forget if I went inside first

tub at the top of the steps to the waterlily house

humid in here too, so of course had to keep wiping the lens

the leaves grow so much so fast!

at the edge of the water

the purple waterlilies are huge too

new flowers coming

reflections

then it was to the Princess of Wales

the California poppies outside were opened out

inside,  perlagoniums

and lots of cacti in flower

was easier to get more in from the phone, over the top of the glass barrier

in the cool orchid rooms

the wall covered by the bougainvillea - still forgot to go up to see it close

my fave

rock garden

alpine house 

round the other side of the alpine house near the waterfall

as I walked round the pond on my way out, I noticed the huge group of goslings again

still all together

amazing!

thanks for looking, 

just finished before kick off,

come on Liverpool!