Kew

 Back to a normal Saturday routine for Kew, rain forecast later so thank goodness for early starts.

Kim was poorly so I was on my own today.

at the entrance though as my membership was scanned, I met an old schoolfriend Penny who works at Kew but I've only ever met here once (during the orchids festival) so had a quick chat before heading off..

they're definitely too big to hide under Mum's wings now!

the fountain was on... looks like my attempt to get it spraying out of the urn was slightly off-centre! 

still looking good in this bed

there was a bit of breeze and the spray was being blown a bit

now down the Broad Walk 

love these lilies

I should have stood on the bench to get higher

alliums going to seed

love the mix of the verbena in amongst the agapanthas

drat, reversing the order!  

not really sunny but still some bees around 

crossing the grass tothe massive tree that was full of bees a couple of weeks ago... walked round it peering into the trunks looking for a label...

no sign.  the flowers are like the Indian sweet chestnut trees though so I think it must be something similar, a very multi-stemmed one!

the flowers are starting to fade a bit now

monkey puzzle tree - I was reading an article on the Kew website about an autumn event that is planned,  they mentioned that the monkey puzzle carries  seed cones

and pollen cones on the same tree

lichen

the bare bed round the young Stone Pine that was planted to replace the massive old one they lost earlier this year, has now been planted - I was only saying to Kim last week I bet they plant it up....

(phone)

underside of a clematis on the pergola in the evolution garden

different clematis

japanese anemone

fennel

echinops

echinacea

my favourite part of the evolution garden, any time of year...

helenium

3 bees on this kardoon on the bed to the left of the path

aster

love this one with the yellow of the solidago in the background

I love this -   

it always reminds me of the drawing by Charlie Mackesy for the mole in his story The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse 

my other favourites, the agapanthas up near the route into the rock garden

heading back to the pond 

tall yellow flowers through the face sculpture 

agapanthas round the pond

through the gunnera 

I headed for the cafe where I bumped into our fellow regulars Patrick and Joyce who treated me to my coffee and doughnut - and I forgot to record the event!  

afterwards I headed back round past the Palm House

where one of the young geese was walking past with it's family - his/her feathers are really growing now.

at the lake

I crossed the lake and climbed the stairs up the walkway... yes, the lift has a technical fault - it doesn't seem any more reliable than the original one....

lots of cloud but it wasn't cold up there

I passed (had to climb over) a family peering through the grill of the walkway down to the ground below... to be fair they did move to let me by then got back down - so I snuck a photo 

luckily these weren't rain clouds - or at least they didn't empty on me

walking back down the stairs is much easier than going up

the dead tree mirrors the shape of the structure.  so pleased they left it in place

taking the path round to the Temperate House which would be opening very soon - all this in 2 hours so far...

the Pagoda against a very grey sky

lemon tree outside the Temeparate House

typically they opened the doors starting at the other end so I got fed up waiting for them and went round to go in by the middle door

before wandering round the palms and tree ferns

and then went up to the viewing platform 

flip!  blogger has reversed them again.... this is in the far section near the door I had been waiting to enter by

the Eneste (the false banana) that was drooping over the path has been removed, the plant has died as happens after flowering and has been taken out so you can see through to the other bed now

right, back to the main "room"

from above

my walk round the platform continued!  

coleus round the window ledges in the west (I think ) octogan

such pretty patterns on the leaves

passion flowers

lovely grey leaves

bamboo ( I think) stem

outside now 

myrtle.  

this is a new area they're planting

heading back towards the Palm House

wrong lens to get the whole tree in one pic!

outside the Palm House

hanging over the path

it was hot in there! 

bloody blogger...

this was on my way out of the palm house

on the grass outside the waterlily house are two huge lily pads they've removed from the pond

the pink edges are really soft

gourds in the outer section are bursting open

revealing seeds and white fluffy stuff!  (I am sure there is a technical term for it!)

there are plenty of lily pads in the pond still though

and loads of passionflowers all round the perimeter

love the crinkly edge of this one

in the corner of the waterlily house 

more passionflowers

now to the Princess of Wales conservatory

last week there were lots of of these about to flower, this week, some were out - timing is everything

my eyes weren't focusing well

but the phone didn't have a problem

qutie a few in flower - this was another clump along the way

by the edge of the path

back to camera,  it's a shame the heating grill under the glass is in the way

I love the frilly petals

into the tropical rainforest bit

this was gorgeous - lovely pink flowers, they kept falling as I watched, (should have done a video)

bit blurry,  but they were falling onto the leaves underneath

it's called,  (deep breath)

barringtonia racemosa 

upper level 

out of order!  

by the pond in the POW 

in the water (no room to display outside the pond here)

upper level (it wasn't me going up and down lol  )  

my mum used to have one of these as a house plant

a few orchids 

the new tree trunk (not that it is a tree as we saw in previous weeks)

orchid on the new tree display (above) - hanging from it -  

great water drops

the girl was still watering the plants in here so I beat a hasty retreat to stay dry

grevillea

tendrils

more passionflowers

dahlia outside

grasses outside the alpine house

bees - top of rock garden outside alpine house

there wasn't masses inside the alpine house 

but the house leeks were good

euphorbia

walked through the rock garden 

back to the pond

big clouds...

and through the legs of the lion - been meaning to re-do this shot for weeks Palm House in the background

Then it was time to head home - it started raining whilst I was on the second bus and is still raining now! (4 hours later)  luckily only light rain .

thanks for looking, see you again next week!