Photos by H: Kew

After a dull start today's trip to Kew was warm and gorgeous. Enjoy!

we were surprised that 2 of the urns along the side of the pond hadn't been replanted....

and this was why - a duck was nesting in each of them!

so they've left the dying spring bedding till the eggs hatch - how sweet!

it was hard to get a decent shot without disturbing the duck, and through the stems!

lots of dark red in the bed at the top of the Broad Walk

a lovely mix of roses, dahlias, cosmos.

down the Broad Walk - still cloudy but no threat of rain luckily

lilies coming into flower in the middle of the euphorbia

there had been rain overnight, but we seemed to have missed the forecast thunderstorms other parts had

there seem to be loads of poppies all over the gardens this year, more than normal

even though I love the alliums, this is probably my favourite time of year for the Broad Walk

things are growing fast and coming into flower day by day

every week you see something new

I wasn't aiming for the ladybird!!

the far end is lots of purple as I mentioned last week

there are a few alliums still in colour

just past the Orangery restaurant

we found a bed full of purple and dark pink poppies.

just stunning

to the left we could see giant sweet chestnut trees along the path from the Elizabeth Gate, covered in bloom

monkey puzzle

alpine house from the grass garden

alpine house with the POW behind, taken from the lower level by the waterlily pond

my favourite wildflower bed outside the bonsai house

it's short lasting so making the most of it each week

there were so many bees on the poppies, you may see some if you enlarge it

path through the Evolution Garden through the rose pergola

clematis tumbling through roses

other side of the path, the alstromeria are out this week

the poppies in the evolution garden are starting to fade,

but there were more of the pink and purple ones - far into the bed

so I went round the back of the bed, and was able to get a bit closer to some

further through the evolution garden

the bees had such full pollen sacks

my favourite beds in the evolution garden, are starting to flower now

such sunny colours

these weren't flowering last week either

more roses overhead

then back through the other half of the evolution garden

more favourites

alstromerias, close up

view across the EG

purple poppies in the veg garden

salad leaves growing in a cold frame by their new greenhouse

apparently I bombed Kim's shot - not sure what I am doing, she thinks I look like I'm dancing (I don't remember dancing round!)

marigolds

we headed off for breakfast

round the back of the palm house pond

it is very nice carrot cake!

we then headed towards the lake as we were too early for the glasshouses still

pausing at the Of The Oak installation

you can't quite see as my bag was in the way on the floor, but I am jumping

we sat by the lake and Kim fed the geese...

before long the Egyptian geese and their 8 no longer babies swum into view

they seem to have a sixth sense when there is food about!

the young are nearly fully grown, they have all their adult feathers now and move fast so photography is tricky, especially when pigeons and Canada geese try to get in the way and the latter were pulling out feathers.

mum (or dad)

as we walked on alongside the lake we saw a family of young mallards - I think we counted 7 young. Mum was on guard just out of shot

woodland walk

wild cherry tree - never noticed this before not in fruit anyway - it was absolutely smothered

little lilies

as we walked through where the bird feeders uses to be, we heard masses of birds, chattering away round the corner.

it was jackdaws, hundreds of them, spread out over a huge area behind Queen Charlotte's cottage, making so much noise ~We sat and watched and listened to them for a few minutes.

Kim took a video but I didn't think to...