Kew - another heatwave

 Today's trip was intended to be a bit shorter but...

it was already hot when the gates opened at 8 (it hadn't got below 20 degrees overnight) 

Forecast said it would be 30 by 11 am -   I checked, it was spot on!  and 32 when I left... due to rise higher still 

this week Kim accompanied me on my normal route round (for the most part) which was lovely.

I've left out the photo I took of you....

so after admiring the Palm House beds 

it was time to walk down the Broad Walk - cue the water drops!

love this shot of the sun through the water 

Kew are being really careful about what they water and what they don't, hence most of the grass being like straw but the beds still looking good

last week blogger played nicely and didn't reverse any.....

the sun highlighted the webs on the cardoon

we then followed the path round by the back of the POW and alpine houses

my fave tree

love the grasses in front of the alpine house, and the reflections in the windows

Kim loves the waterlily pond to the left of the alpine house in front of one of the science buildings

round the pond by the ends of the various seats, are tubs of lotus flowers

I love the seedheads after the petals have dropped

gorgeous dark red lily in the pond

looking across the pond to the alpine house

lotus flower

love how these seedheads poke out of the pond

we then walked round to the student veg beds but sadly the gates hadn't been unlocked so we had to peer over them at the sunflowers inside

opposite,  cosmos

the sunflowers along the end of  vegetable garden

the birds have been busy

the pretty reddy-white ones from last week

really like these pale yellow ones

I took a walk along the rows of tomatoes -  some massive beef tomatoes 

and some very unusually coloured ones

loved the tendrils on the squashes 

some very knobbly looking squashes (or maybe gourds)

there were bees and wasps and flying things everywhere 

the camera tried to refuse to photograph this one inside the squash flower

and the close up mode kept objecting for a while but eventually I got it kicked into order

the squashes are being grown on frames at the end of most of the beds 

I crossed the path to the Eucomis in the bed alongside the evolution garden

and the agapanthas 

these next 2 are out of order thanks blogger

yes the sunflower border at the veg garden!

as we walked along the path under the rose pergola through the evolution garden, i noticed these (couldn't get a pic of the label)  that I normally see in the Temperate House in early spring and get obsessed with,  growing outside

the bee backed out of the flower as the shutter wet!

we then made a beeline for the beds that are my favourite - and Kim's too -

the bees were making a beeline for them too, 

everything was humming with wildlife!

the sun was making it very hard to see what kind of shots I was getting...

a better one on the phone however

the eryngium have lost all their stunning blue colour now

swapping between camera and phone and i still got the bee in both ! 

the cardoon here are falling over - I imagine from the weight of the stems as the beds are being watered 

we then walked round the far end of the rock garden

Kim noticed this wopper of a bee (hornet?)  anyway I steered clear after taking this

walking through the rock garden to the cooling sound of water,  more red hot poker, high above us 

looking over the rock garden from the pond outside the alpine house

the waterfall is on minimal "fall" for watersaving purposes

then walked back along the side of the rock garden alongside the salvias

I veered off to the loo whilst Kim headed for the lake to feed the ducks and geese...

gunnera behind the Palm house pond

trees changing colour already!  

I caught Kim up - surrounded!  

 

once they'd eaten all her food, we decided it was time for US to have food too!

we crossed the lake 

as we came to the Temperate House we discovered it was already open (despite being not quite 10)

so we walked through out of the intense sunshine (though it was still hot inside)

this rather unusual plant was with the carnivorous plants so presumably it is one too

had to stop for the silver daisy bush

whilst the barrier at the "up" staircase had been moved, when we got round to the "down" it wasn't, so as well we'd stayed on ground level.

do love the stairs though

patterns and light through leaves

Aeonium in the doorway illuminated by sun

big banana leaves

we sat under the shade of the vine outside the Pavilion restaurant

we "had" to have cake as that's all they serve between 10 and 11...

we were both getting very hot by the time we'd finished 

yellow achillea along the Broad Walk

underside of the achillea

I wanted to check in the Princess of Wales conservatory in case of water dragons 

yellow cactus flower

in hindsight (especially as no water dragons to be seen)  this was a mistake as we were sweltering by the time we came out again!

quick walk through the cool orchid room (yay!)  

and then  time to make our separate ways home

Sorry you missed a bus Kim,  hope the next one came along soon (I did see one a few minutes later whilst I was on mine going in the other direction...)    it was great to walk round with you today.  

Thanks for looking.  

Tomorrow I am going back to the Tower for Superbloom, although the heat has done for a lot of the flowers but I will use my timeslot and see how they're doing - so watch this space   I definitely won't be staying long as it's due to be well over 30 again and it gets very hot down in the moat!