Kew after the heat

 Today was muggy and grey after a very hot day yesterday.. no blue skies again

but the beds in front of the Palm House are looking good

there was a merging of greys! 

there are some odd plants in the bed at the end of the Broad Walk!

the long stemmed aliums that overhung the path last week have been cut off, but there are plenty others left 

down the Broad Walk.  

the giant kardoons are flowering.

I had to get a higher view...

from the bench... don't tell! 

there are a few poppies still dotted here and there 

the agapanthas down the Broad Walk are a beautiful deep blue

and these are gorgeous even fading 

round the back of the Broad Walk at the further end

sleepy bees!

this one looks as if it's got verdigris 

monkey puzzle - still following our normal route - the lack of sun stopped us heading for the children's playground as we'd intended for the reflections of the multi-coloured tunnels.   maybe next week....

heading towards the grass garden

the echinacea are in full flower

roses on the pergola in the evolution garden

more bees 

I love these beds in the evolution garden!  

the deep red ones are lovely!

kneeling down on the path

then back up the other side of the evolution garden,

alliums hiding in grasses

we went for an early pitstop of tea and carrot cake (healthy breakfast!) 

the carrot cake is delicious though

then I wanted a play at the Marc Quinn by the Victoria gate  

it was still before 10 so there weren't crowds around 

then we took a walk through the new wild rose garden

it will take a time to develop but has a nice winding path

bean tree to the left of the start 

red hot poker in the expanded Mediterranean garden 

playing with the patterns of the fencing round a sundial 

the off centre one is the opposite side 

as we got to the head of the lake a gaggle of geese headed towards us

and up the slope towards another gaggle of geese in the distance!

as we walked round the lake, we saw that, of course, the swans were on the bank opposite to the one we'd walked along...

they stayed till we got round to them.

the cygnets were gathered round mum, but starting to stretch and flap their developing wings

mum and dad just preened

the cygnets got up and wandered off towards the water then sank down again in a row....

we headed off  -  

there are several events taking place around the gardens -  a staging of Wind in the Willows for kids, and A Midsummer Night's Dream,

and 

Horrible Science- a trail for kids 

this was one of a number of trees playing information about various things

I think this one was about bamboo

then we went to check the hydrangeas 

this one looked like a paint pot had exploded

blogger just started messing the order.

in the Temperate house now

and into the davies exploration house, also out of order 

my previous favourites that may or may not be the silver daisy bush

as we were...

off to the side of holly walk - fluff!  

as we approached the rose garden we noticed this small deer eating a fallen leafy branch

my macro lens is fixed focal length so I couldn't zoom.. have cropped it a bit

and a few steps further along the path we saw it again

before going into the waterlily house

great reflections

there is something growing over the water sending out tendrils, I was having trouble persuading the camera to focus on that not the people behind!

another of those gorgeous deep pink ones, this week on the other side of the pond

then it was off to the POW

as we walked through the arid (cactus) bit we say this peacock butterfly just inside the window

cropped to cut out all the grating!

it turned as I leant over the cactus

there weren't any flowering today but this was lovely!

into the tropical bit, 

the blossoms of this are falling  now - tumbling in front of our eyes with a "plop" onto the leaf

lotus flower

aeonium 

just inside the door near the exit

we walked past the wildflower bank between the POW and alpine house

which we'd left till the end today

there wasn't masses to pause for today

so we headed past the top of the rock garden

and round to the student plots which we had hoped would be open to enjoy the sunflowers close up.... sadly not!

so a quick walk through the vegetable garden

before walking along the grass at the far side of the evolution garden back to the exit

what a beautiful colour!

and headed past the fountain at the Palm House.

Kim and I always say that however straight it looks, (it is dead level obviously) the photos always show it on the wonk!  and it's not us tilting our cameras....

thanks for looking, hope we might see some sun next week!