Kew - still no blue sky

 There were light showers early today (not that the forecast mentioned them) 

luckily I was wearing a sweatshirt-jacket thing with a hood

the goose creche was on the grass next to the pond, you can't tell babies from adults now at a distance

the sculpture was getting wet too

some of the tall alliums in the bed at the top of the Broad Walk which have fallen over, have snapped.  Not sure if from weather/weight or passersby at Kew the Music....

headed down the Broad Walk 

we saw quite a few slumbering bees

lots of colour along the Broad Walk

there were still a few spits and spots of rain but it wasn't too heavy

another sleeping bee, clinging on by one leg, the other one kept twitching! 

along the back of the grass garden

little pond by the outdoor waterlily pond - which has been very lacking in waterlilies this year

cornflower in the wildflower patch, the other bed has largely gone over 

in the evolution garden.

this reminded me of the titan arum in the POW -  it's a Cycad

around it we noticed some funghi - and in the bed behind it.

the rain is to blame no doubt!

the sweet peas were still looking good

and some of the roses on the pergola 

very wedding-y! 

back into the evolution garden beds now

I just love how blue the stems are on the eryngium

love the helenium

and the echinacea

teasels too

there were a couple of sunflowers as we walked up the other half of the evolution garden -  the student plots were locked this morning still and we made a mental note to remember to come this way later next week so we can enjoy the many sunflowers in there!

love the buds of the new flowers to come

alstromeria are going over but the leftover seed pds were nice

in the veg garden, companion planting 

through the rock garden 

on our way to the alpine house 

I tried to get aside on view of it, 

there another variety of it too,  we found

the walked through the rock garden

agapanthas outside the back of the palm house

love how they start to open from the top!

quick stop at the Marc Quinn for some play time

then off to the lake - in search of the swans and cygnets

needless to say they turned out to be on the bank on the opposite side to where we'd started walking

so we crossed the lake

pausing for some fabulous reflections - would have been perfectt if the sky was blue

as we reached the other side I noticed that the swans - who had been sleeping on the bank - were on their feet!

we hurried round to catch them before they got into the lake

as we reached the bench where we often meet Peter feeding them,  they came towards us.. 

Kim stood by the bench and they surrounded her looking for food!

they were friendly enough but the adults tried to eat the benches....

Kim apologising to them for having no food...

so they got in the lake and off they went, after pulling at some greenery!

we got to the Pavilion cafe just as they opened at 10

before we went into the Temperate house we paused at one of the sculptures

I paused to change lens as we went into the TH 

you can see the steps outside the TH in the reflection

part of the large urn inside the front door

tree fern

love the pink edge on the aeonium

still fluffy! 

we waked round the outside to the davies exploration house

stopped for the flowers on the indian bean tree 

shame there wasn't much sun on this 

then strawflower time!

I stood on the wall to get some high level shots

and into the back of the bed where there is lots of colour

I got carried away!

we headed back to the lake to head to rhododendron dell in search for baby foxes 

and we found them snoozing -  as we quietly approached they stood 

we didn't know exactly where their den was but Dave who writes the Merlin the Magic Squirrel FB page has had some lovely shots of them (along with a golden pheasant which we didn't find) and we thought they were round here somewhere

one of them crossed the path in front of us and and under the shrubs on the other side

then we headed back towards the Princess of Wales to find "stinky" or what was left of it...

passing the stage for Kew the Music which has been on this week

crossing the Broad Walk again

into the POW

in the cool orchid room the lady I've seen painting (though not for a while) was just finishing - Kim got a great shot of what she'd been doing

the titan arum opened on Wednesday I think.

so once again we missed it 

there was quite a crowd round it 

when I downloaded these, I noticed that the flower spike (spadix) has collapsed in on itself (as they do) 

we were lucky to see as much as this -  maybe next time it will open on a weeekend!!  

blogger is messing with my order now!

POW waterlily

into the cacti bit 

(Angela, if you see this - this is the cacti you used the stem of to help you get back up from a low level shot when we went (the one with the invisible prickles on)  

I've not seen it flowering before

then into the waterlily house 

love the colour of this one! 

lotus flower in the outer part of the building 

I'd put my long lens away by now! 

low level view 

that's it for today - thanks for looking, 

hoping for blue skies and sun next week!