Kew on a sunny Bank Holiday Saturday

 It may only be a couple of days since I was here.. but the sky was blue and the sun out!

shadows a-plenty

the geese like to sit on the newly planted bedding... they moved as we approached 

these were pretty

couldn't resist the sculpture in the sun

at the end of the path along the palm house was a gosling creche - 36 of them!

round bed at the top of Broad Walk

looking down the Broad Walk

astrantia

there's lots of purple at the top end of the Broad Walk at this time of year,  love it!

the sun was lovely through the alliums (from phone)

with the acid green/yellow euphorbia behind 

on the left side (as we walked down) this yellow whatever it is, was covered in flies - quite pretty ones mind you

I loved the shapes of the stalks 

a short stemmed huge pompom of an allium

roses, on the wigwam,  no raindrops today

the white alliums 

more purples

it seems to have been a popular colour at this year's Chelsea Flower Show, too. 

irises near the Orangery

in the Duke's garden

a few poppies coming out in the wildflower bed alongside the student plots

it'll be fab in a week or two

the rose pergola through the evolution garden already is fab!

and the smell was delicious

we went to check the poppies 

the bees were busy

translucent heaven - the sun was so bright I had no idea if the shots would be any good 

peonies.  big fluffy ones!

there were some very large bees around

shapes and shadows

into the rock garden to check the daisies

down low for a blue backdrop

view across the rock garden near the alpine house

california poppies outside the alpine house

which had been opened early so we went in

the flowers on the "tortoise" 

outside again, geum

we took the path at the furthest side of the rock garden (nearest the POW) 

the pasque flowers are now just seeded fluffy loveliness

we headed for the lake as we'd heard that the swans had had 5 cygnets.

first we came across some very new goslings

as we got towards the far end of the lake we saw the swan - I didn't have the right lens with me 

but Kim had her zoom and could see all 5, one of them was on the back of the adult under his/her wing

walking round the lake back along the other side,  we saw the heron ; a lady we'd seen at the gate at 8  said it had been sitting there for ages. 

lots of yellow irises in the shallow water at the lake edge

towards the crossing we came across another couple of new babies

nice shadows

looking up at the treetop walkway

cutting through the davies exploration house

we cut across to the pavilion restaurant for refreshments 

the service is quite slow there.. but we sat and enjoyed a pastry in the sun

before heading in to the temperate house

the strelitzia was still magnificent

the bronze bonsai Marc Quinn sculpture

there are several pots of these around the TH but this one was growing in the bed in the main atrium

I noticed this trunk in a bed was sprouting.. not sure what !

we didn't go past the outside sculptures at the TH today but this is the inside one

a lot of planting by the waterfall has been cut back so you can see it better 

the bronze bonsai in the second octagon. 

looking at leaf shapes

huge dandelion "clock" in the grass outside 

gorgeous colour combination

another large bee

rose garden

the sculpture in between rose beds

despite the roped off area you can get fairly close

loved the reflection in the upper "petal" of the main body of the sculpture

swirly cloud reflections

roses have erupted madly really quickly!  glorious to look at and smell!

looking across the rose garden to the sculpture in the middle 

into the waterlily house although I think this is a lotus flower!

in the outer section 

there were lots of waterlilies in the main pond

lily pad shapes 

reflections

hanging planting round the edges of the pond

more leaf shapes

border fern planting

the outside beds have been planted with aeoniums this summer 

the fountain was on glinting in the sun

into the Princess of Wales now,  there were several about to flower cacti..

and this was flowering - these were the ones I saw Wednesday that have now come out

also this one next to the white beauties

they are a bit too far away for easy capture!

I could zoom on the phone though

this long fluffy looking (but bet it's spiky) one was also starting to flower

lily pads in the POW pond 

carnivorous room

jade vine flowering again

had to check on "stinky" - they haven't put a growth chart out this time, so not sure how much it's grown since Weds, but it seemed bigger.

couldn't be bothered to change lens so this is on phone 

orchids

passionflowers

we walked along the other edge of the rock garden

on our way back past the pond

and home.

thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed a sunny Kew today -  see you next week!