a slightly damp Kew

 Forecast was thunderstorms and showers, luckily we had one shower whilst I was there...

it was warm and humid, didn't need a coat (although I had my waterproof jacket in my rucksack along with an umbrella)  

crouching down at the pond changing lens.   some ominous clouds!

dahlias in amongst the yellow in the Palm House beds  (planned in case you're wondering)

bed at the end next to the pond

bed at the top of the Broad Walk 

moving down the Broad Walk

love that the plants are mingling in one another,  phlox with the euphorbia

gorgeous colour of this allium

love these in all their stages 

against the cloudy sky

blast  blogger is reversing some.

went round the grass side of the Broad Walk 

lots of butterflies but they wouldn't show their pretty wings!

a large drift of heleniums at the back of the border

echinacea, one of my favourite flowers 

drift of alliums going to seed. 

the metal structures in the background are the other side of the Broad Walk, the stage being set up for "Kew the Music"  the summer concerts that start next week

crocosmia 

the outdoor waterlily pond

rose pergola through the Evolution Garden

I had my hair cut and colour done after work yesterday!  

we walked a different route through the EG today 

california poppies, love the dark outsides to some of them

insects

and bees loving these 

such a pretty rose

looking over the tops of my favourite part of the EG beds

more insects on the echinacea

phone shot.

I told Kim she was photo-bombing my heleniums!

but who can blame her, I love them

ladybird

the fennel (another favourite)  is growing madly, way over head height

no blue sky yet!

eryngium time!

echinops

trying to show the height but no reference point!

we both loved these - they look like they've been splattered with paint 

anemopsis californica

phone 

spider and nest 

back under the pergola 

nice cloud!  

looking over the round bed down the Broad Walk

we noticed people going into the waterlily house, although it wasn't 10 yet.

the gourd from last week had split open 

some lovely passionflowers 

a new waterlily being kept out of the water 

Kim got a great close up but I didn't have a long enough lens! 

this red passionflower was gorgeous too, again not a long enough lens

from the other side of the pond

nice tendril!

close up

whilst we were inside, it had started to rain....

it was too hot for my coat so just brolly time!

we headed tothe lake where Peter (another regular) was feeding and photographing the swans and their cygnets.

boy, they've grown!

rain on the lake, and some reflections 

the water near the edge is quite clear, 

and there are some huge fish in the lake!

it had slowed to a slight drizzle as we crossed the lake

reflection of trees on the crossing, looking very wet

log by the edge of the island in the lake, great reflection

we walked up the other side of the lake, Peter still sitting on the bench feeding the swans

we headed slowly back towards the Orangery cafe for some food

 couldn't get closer to these as they were behind some ropes (part of the Kew the Music works going on 

we came up to the back of the Broad Walk 

great view of the colours 

and the raindrops on the day lily

we went into the refurbishedladies loos first,  this is the tiling in the cubicles

it was just 10 so they'd just opened up

and some very posh basins

luckily there were some seats outside under umbrellas so the seats had stayed dry

I got cake and a coffee,   (carrot and walnut, which I'd had before and really liked)

Kim had to wait for a toasted sandwich to be cooked.

after we'd finished we headed to the alpine house

they've sunk the pot this is in, into the surface of the alpine house

(they keep all their plants in pots in here so it's easy to re-arrange)

outside,

they've nearly finished the work to the planking 

we walked through half of the rock garden

and then into the Princess of Wales 

agave

new flowers on the cacti

they'll be long gone by next weekend

into the rainforest bit

love the pattern on the lily leaf

the pattern the leaves made greatly pleased me!

we went upstairs in search of passionflowers

these are small and were still hiding in among the leaves

then down to check on "stinky"

it's getting quite tall but it's not a flower spike so they're not measuring it 

in the orchid room

behind glass 

by the exit

gorgeous pattern on coleus leaf outside

we headed back towards the Temperate house and took a seat on a bench for a rest,  dry now, but no sun, and very humid

lovely tree trunk 

huge tub outside the doors to the TH

containing this

just inside the door

the flower on this lily was huge

walking through  

she got me in action again! 

I love the curls!  

the stem of this plant was fabulous,

I couldn't tell which label referred to it so-   can't help! 

these were it's flowers high above my head  - bit blurry, sorry

a few strelitzia left

and the flower on the Eneste is still hanging on, but drooping more now

so much that you see it from the middle path rather than the original side path

close up of the bottom "frill"

and up into the middle - the flash triggered, it was too dark to see what it looked like!

by the door agapanthas starting to flower 

it looked as if it was going to rain again soon, 

and it was nearly mid-day so we decided to head back to the exit

pot at the "front" door

as we got close to the exit it started raining.

we headed into the shop as they had extra members discount on until tomorrow (20% instead of the normal 10%)  

I bought this plant and the pot for my bathroom  (I've been toying with buying the plant for weeks)

as I got off the bus back at home I had to put my bags down and put my coat on as it was raining hard again 

the paper bag Kew use promptly fell apart (I thought I had put it on a dry spot of pavement) and everything fell out through the bottom as I picked it up, luckily nothing got damaged  so I had a bit of a juggle carrying it home. 

Thanks for looking,  see you next week!