Saturday, May 25, 2024

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!  





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