Kew - not quite so hot

 Saturday has rolled round again.. 

It was a much more pleasant temperature today. I even wore jeans!

there was cloud first thing

round behind the rose garden 

the lack of rain is causing some of the trees distress - they don't water the trees at Kew -  and they are showing signs of changing colour

they leave a lot of the dead trees for wildlife habitat

first stop the lake 

there were lots of coots today

and the swans 

they came in to the side of the lake near the crossing.  The bench had been dragged under the trees but we moved it back 

they were having a good old preen

young coot fluffing out his feathers

after a while some Canada geese came to see us

the swan wasn't too impressed!

Mamma mallard with 4 teeny babies... 

by the time we left them, the swans had preened out a lot of feathers!

we headed across the lake to head back for our free cup of tea!

all the seats were in shade at present as the sun hadn't really burnt through the clouds yet

the berry Danish was a little overbaked this week and a bit tough.  but still good!

Henry by the side of the pond 

we often find our photos of the palm house seem to make it look wonky....

dahlia time!

and the strawflowers 

down part of the Broad Walk 

and round to the Carbon Garden

as you can see, they don't water the grass either - it will always recover then it eventually rains again!

crocosmia

helenium

echinacea

lots of bees

as we came out of the carbon garden we bumped into some regulars from the gate and walked with them a way

Kim and I headed into the veg garden

bit of rust action! 

supports for plants

the strawflowers in the veg garden are looking fab 

clematis growing through the roses on the pergola

not many roses left on it now 

walking through the evolution garden 

back at the Henry near the Victoria gate

there was a crowd of people now as it was past 10 so non members were in 

I can't recognise where Kim took this one of me, so it's going in here!

trees near the Pavilion cafe 

Henry at the Pagoda

from behind a tree, on a bench. 

time for lots of low angle shots...

Japanese gateway

woodland - it was warmer now so sat on a bench and enjoyed some peace and quiet - no sign of Goldie, or any birds at all really 

shadows

in the Temperate House now

lotus flowers,  

in various stages of development

this one was huge, and beautiful, also high up so I couldn't see into the middle 

loving the light on it. 

when we came out, Kim headed back to the lake and I headed through the new bit of the Mediterranean garden 

past Henry 

I had to stand and wait for some people to take their pictures -they were doing the same with me!

from different angles

shadows

and as I got back to the exit before I packed away the camera,

the tall one near the Victoria gate in full 

thanks for looking, see you next week!