Saturday, April 22, 2023

Kew

 There are 2 more weeks before the members 8am openings start... including today.

the end beds are now mostly devoid of tulips
but further along some still remain 
the tulips in the urns on the pondside are losing their petals but provide little windows into the centres
beds 
urns

stonework on an urn 

around the tulips in the urns
beds

round bed at the end of the path 

  the tulip tree at the top of the Broad Walk is coming into full leaf.  Called the tulip tree due to the shape of the leaves.


it's a lovely acid green 
down the Broad Walk, beautiful pink and white tulips 


lots of daffodils left too although further along they are dying off  

euphorbia 
this one had a piece of blossom in the middle of one of the cups,  obviously placed there deliberately as it was so carefully poised!  

dew drops







Kim was already getting me in shots!


trees in leaf in front of blossom filled trees



cutting across the grass towards the Princess of Wales conservatory
ginko 


this tree is lovely, but is really old and is being supported to keep it from falling apart 

the wisteria is starting to come out 
bluebells 
grevillea, in the princess of wales conservatory

orchids (camere was mis-behaving again today)





the pompom like flowers are fading 

huge leaves, so pretty 

went back to look at the littel passionflower from last week
trying to get the camera to play nicely,  forcing it to take shots!  quite like this though!



passionflower tendrils

looking from the upper level down 
on one of the pillars 

the plants had been heavily watered before opening time.
sunlight outside lit these beautifully,  not sure it really shows to it's best in this shot 

the jade vine so you can see the overall effect


bottle brush 


in magenta pink


love the knobbly bits!

and red!  

ferns

didn't check the label on this but it looks like lipstick tubes to me!  




in the carnivourous plant room,  additional planting 

they are all protected by chest-height glass so really hard to get your camera over to photograph

little fern unfurling 
fallen to the floor...

looking back at the jade vines from the other direction 
cactus - coming into flower.

these are also behind glass

as are these.  bet they've gone by next weekend



dinky little flowers

spiky stem with the pink flowers (above) on the top 

the label says it's a euphorbia  Corinne des Epines (which i  guess is spines)
by the exit at the arid end of the POW 

I love this big cactus















so photographed the board for you




it's spiky!

















and there's lots of it!
a nearby plant coming into flower... 

then outside to the top path of the rock garden for my favourite bit of this season 



some of them are going to seed - which I love almost as much as the flowers





as they are fading I took loads again 





from every angle!  


outside the alpine house


inside...

one of the beds 






current fave in there 

scilla 



aloe



walking round to the evolution garden via the student beds, passed a pretty tulip
for the first time, the student beds were open

fruit trees being trained along the sides of the space
not much appearing yet but neatly dug over 
loved the painted plant pot on the top of the sticks at the edge of one bed, to stop you poking your eye out as you work on the bed 
not sure what fruit this will be but it's got gorgeous blossom




walking through the evolution garden

we came across another path of pasqueflowerrs

and a huge plant with delicate little blue flowers

I remember it from last year 
bleeding hearts 
translucent daffodils 
the gunnera is growing fast by the pond 


we topped at the cafe for coffee and cake (blueberry muffin)

we sat outside and the sun had come out,  there was a really pretty patch of cloud - I couldn't see the screen properly to know how I'd caught it 












then we headed for the woodland walk, (indirectly!) 




walking along the side of the Mediterranean garden





the path slopes down towards Cherry Walk
they've come on a lot since last week

the tulips under the cherry trees
we couldn't work out if there were less than last year, but as we walked along we saw lots more still to come out (they don't dig them up)




blogger is being a pain this week 

we criss-crossed the path

 for the best blooms


silver daisy bush


and whatever this pretty grey leaves pale purple flower is


another bottle brush





we didn't go into the main Temperate House today, 

these are the prunus trees the other side of the TH to cherry walk 
the sun caught it beautifully

we were both carrying out coats by now!










gravel garden at the Japanese gateway.
can't face re-ordering these 













heading for the woodland walk now finally











we walked round the newish boardwalk rather than straight through

 
blogger deciding my photo order again...

silver birch tree

nice tree trunks


back at the end of the diversion, looking along the main path through 

the daisy lawn - we weren't going to go this way but got drawn to it!



I could sense Kim taking this behind me! 




quick walk along the lake back to the exit
trees obscuring the lake lol   








the sun on the various greens was lovely

we walked through the mirrors 


there were quite a few other people there but didn't like to photograph them although it would have made a great picture 
Kim tried to scurry through...

I was glad I still had my camera out at the exit as the sun on these tubs of tulips was fabulous



although I did have to dash across the road again to catch the bus

luckily there were plenty of seats so I had room to put away the camera once I sat down.


Thanks for looking - sorry about the gaps that I suspect blogger has left !  

3 comments:

Celtic house said...

Oh it's funny to see how quickly the seasons start to change once we hit spring. I love the bottle brush plant, I always think they make an amazing show.

I adore the blossom tree photos, they really are stunning at this time of year, I noticed the bluebells on their way out when we passed by an ancient woodland recently that always looks amazing.

I hadn't realised that it meant laying on the floor to get some of these amazing shots!

Hope the coffee and muffin was a tasty treat on your way around.

Have a great Sunday and week ahead.

Hugs

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Please forgive me that I don't have time to check out everything this week. I will say the first sentence really stumped me. I read Bam, not 8am. I knew I was in trouble after that. I'll be back when I don't have FOUR cats to care for at two different houses. Life has truly gotten in the way this week. I'm glad April is nearly over.

Diana Taylor said...

Wonderful photos and lovely to see Spring really coming into it's own - I just loved the daisy field - and the shot of the little fern unfurling - exquisite.
So much beauty - thanks so much for sharing.
Have a lovely week,
Diana xx