Kew - summer event Food Forever

 Hi.  Today saw the launch of Kew's summer event, Food Forever, as the leaflet says "a summer of art exploring the future of food".  

But we'll start at the beginning - at 8am of course  

and of course, also, the alliums.... 

I love the way they through up a little "arm" with another flower

as I walked along the path by the alliums I also took some of the daisy like flowers growing in the wall all along the pond

there's masses of them!

before getting back to the alliums!

then it was along the Broad Walk

drops of water on some of these groups of alliums 

and the purple iris too,  so soft and silky looking

I love all the different shades of purple there are along the Broad Walk at this time of year 

the giant cardoon is above head height this week, all the rain we had this week obviously helped that!

and these big green leaves set off the alliums in the sun 

a drift of white breaks up the purple for a patch

I carried on to the end of the Broad Walk and then took the path round to the Rock Garden 

and then through into the Evolution Garden

they are putting mesh cages round the new beds int the veg garden, to keep pests off (not human pests!)  presumably

the roses round the pergola are really coming out now

blogger is reversing photos again.... these were further along but no matter

the poppies are coming out too

and the yellow California poppies were really bright in the sun

peonies at the far end, still looking beautiful

the statue still holding his cardoon seed heads - taken from behind (obviously)

as I got back to the pond by the Palm House I noticed some of the geese from last week,  still loads of babies

and then they took off running across the grass

I went round into the Rose Garden

where a lot more roses were out

then headed off up the grass to find the first of the 5 Food Forever installations

I don't seem to have got a photo of the whole thing from outside,  will do that next week

not sure if you can enlarge this to read the blurb

Asanka bowl

further along up towards the Temperate House I would come to what is going to be my favourite of the installations...

as I walked along towards them, I could see Kym, one of the other regulars,

we both had fun taking lots of photos of Matt and Helen

The "blurb" is actually the other side of them that I approached from but I'll put it here first for your information

there were a couple of Kew guides there, (mainly to keep people from climbing on them although it wasn't going to be a problem at this time of day)

they said that Helen is the one lying down (as I called out to ask them)

and blogger is reversing the order again, dammit

apart from the one above,  I'll leave them in the order blogger things you should see them!

I love the feet

Kym and I both agreed it was nice to be able to get up close to them (despite the risk of kids wanting to climb on them)

Kym said I should have a photo with my namesake  so I posed for her - it also gives you an idea of how huge they are

eventually we dragged ourselves away

but I know I will visit them lots over the summer

i then went past the installation entitled Future Food Stories which I am not going to photograph every bit of for you!

it is designed to make us think about the future of food and how it's production affects our world, and how climate affects it...

I crossed the lake but there was nothing very exciting to photograph today

then it was off through Rhododendron Dell, or part of it 

two more large groups of baby geese as I headed past Kew Palace

the gunnera by the pond,  growing madly too

I think it was about then I stopped for breakfast

outside today as it was warm now

I went for a one course "meal"  as I'd eaten a chocolate bar on my way round already..

the cheese and mushroom croissant again that I had last week -  .yummy

about 9.30 am fyi  

then I headed off again

I was intending to go into the gallery to view the new exhibit - it was 10am now so the glasshouses etc would be open

which sounds quite intriguing...

but there was a board up outside the door saying "gallery closed for private event"  and I wasn't sure if they meant the whole gallery or just the gallery with the paintings,  or the new bit... and there was no-one to ask

so we'll wait for next week

so instead, the Temperate House

the upper platform still said closed for maintenance

so the silver daisy bush was first on my list

some new flowers opening

I crouched down far enough to photograph them from underneath (they're taller than I am )

then on into the smaller connecting octogan

two big tubs of ox-eye daisy type flowers have appeared

I love these

 took quite a few, but the exposure was wrong, on some,

so will take more next week  (the sun was bright on the screen so I couldn't see what I'd got )

I couldn't leave without seeing the Bird of Paradise

tried to get different angles for a bit of  variety 

some of them are starting to fade, so there may not be too many more of these 

Waterlily house was the next time I  took a photograph

Lotus flower in the boggy bed between the door and the main part of the waterlily house

it was extremely humid in there!

hibiscus 

the leaves are still huge, but starting to collapse in on themselves so I think they've reached maximum size for these particular ones

I wonder if they've reached the record size though!

at the far corner there is a large hanging basket of some kind of cactus which is about to burst into flower

shame that they last such a short time, as they'll probably be finished by next week

I'd bumped into Kym again just before I'd come in here and she'd asked if I'd seen the installation with the mirrors....she said it was fun and so I headed back towards the lake where it is

it was extremely hard to stand so that you can see all your reflections because as soon as you move, the reflections disappear....

I took some with my phone as well as I wandered through it

I think you can tell which ones they were!

then it was back past the Palm House

and the gorgeous white wisteria

into the Princess of Wales conservatory

where the cacti were flowering madly

shame these ones were pointing towards the outside (and you can't see them from outside, you can't get close enough)

more still to come  - these will have gone by next week too

different variety, frillier flowers

up on the upper level

I could smell this a way off,  the one in the waterlily house hasn't re-grown yet 

it stinks (rotting flesh)  

it's the pelican flower 

into the orchid room  

I like that they've left one or two  of the arches from the Orchid festival in place  

blogger must be getting tired, it's reversing orders again and I am tired too, so they're staying!

then it was along the path to the

alpine house - all change inside

lots of saxifrages 

and not sure what these are, but very pretty

and the display at the other end, is all semperviviums

some were flowering

asI headed back towards the gate, I noticed lots of foxgloves by the woodland path

and sat on a bench for a few minutes before heading for the bus home.

which took a long time coming!

(comparatively long time, that is -   I know in London we're lucky with our bus timetables  but I had to wait 15 minutes - then 3  came at once!)

that's all for this week.  Next week may be a more fleeting visit as I am going to a wedding reception in the evening and will need time to get ready

Thanks for looking as always.