Kew

 There are only 2 more weeks till the early 8am members opening starts - Kim and I can't wait!

the sky may have been bright blue at 10 for today's opening, but it was COLD  

the tulips were at least enjoying the sunshine 

bed at top of the Broad Walk

starting down the Broad  Walk

by now I had resorted to my woolly hat and fingerless gloves! 

at least with the sun, the petals of the tulips glowed

and as we walked along the Broad Walk, we came to some alliums.  You all know I adore these so it was lovely to see the purple ones starting to flower (always seem to be earlier than the white ones further along the beds)

and these red tulips are fabulous

love  this one!  

more alliums

interspersed with drifts of euphorbia

at the far end of the Broad Walk another round bed, with alliums

and round the edges, these,  not sure what they are, but very pretty

good mix of pink colours

we took the path towards Kew Palace because 

I'd seen some laburnum flowering locally to me (in a tub, somewhat unusually)   so wanted to check out the Laburnum Arch at Kew Palace,

it was starting to flower, 

through a whole in the wall to the sunken box garden full of tulips.

the pink blossom is a Judas tree.

we carried on walking round the path under the arch

lots still to come out, will have to keep an eye on this for a week or two

there isn't a lot else out yet,

 

but some purple iris 

lilac at the end

the Judas tree from the path 

back round to the opening to the box garden

as we came back to the front of Kew Palace I paused 

and nice shadows on the bricks

we crossed the grass to find the path to our next destination

both admiring this huge tree 

didn't bother swapping lenses to get it all in, this is from the phone 

this is how much fitted in the camera's shot!

we passed this... went to see the label on the trunk  - Manna Ash 

the flowers have a delicate scent

the sky wasn't very blue any more....

still a few magnolia's in flower 

still some cherry plum (possibly) in flower 

of course the sun went in as we got there 

azalea garden

(cow parsley)  maybe.....  pretty umbellifers anyway 

near the main rhododendron dell is a spread of azaleas with a backdrop of dark pink rhododendron

then headed through rhododendron dell 

loads more out since the week before last, of course.

so many different colours

they are so tall the path is sheltered so I could take my hat off....

and at some point played "match the hair to the flowers"

this gives an idea of the height of some of them too! 

behind are more that you can't get close to

these pale creamy yellow ones were beautiful 

love the buds too.

this one was a gorgeous peachy pink colour - the peach doesn't really convert on screen 

the path through the rhododendrons slopes up to the border of Kew and the river......

and we knew that the camassia should be out by now - 2 weeks ago when we came this way last it was tight in bud...

so beautiful...  it stretches for ages along the path that follows the river to the right of where we'd come..

they are so pretty, a bluey-purple colour (show more blue in the sun, than today) 

close up view from the phone 

Kew's bluebells are spreading all over.. under trees near the camassia

more possible cow parsley

camassia drifting in to the distance

the sun was coming and going

that white shrub I can't identify,

the river (Thames)  with joggers running along the towpath, outside the boundary of Kew

as we were at the top of the lake by the woodland garden we decided to check out the bluebells.

hoping for some sunlit shots...

a rare chance of an empty path ahead of us

loads of wild garlic, but the scent was light today,

there seems to be loads more of it than last year 

round a bend in the path and people!  

we took the path through the ferns near the redwoods 

we were hoping for shafts of sunlight to make pretty patterns but no luck 

as we rejoined the main part of the gardens, we walked through the mown paths between drifts of bluebells

before arriving at the "bear" tree trunk

Grrr.... 

Kim noticed these in amongst some bluebells

back in the Temperate house now

aeonium 

bird of paradise

naupilus intermedius.

this comes from the Canary Islands.

it's beautiful 

echium

I've not noticed this before, near the stairs down from the viewing platform,

high above our heads.....

got to love a salvia close up

Kim found a bunch of flowers slightly lower down!

very daisy like, but it's a very tall plant!  

looking for different angles;  

through the structure of the TH 

this was beautiful, multicoloured huge shrub.

there was a member of staff on hand who told us it's known as "yesterday tomorrow today" as the flowers start purple, turn lilac then go white.... it's toxic though, which we assumed is why she was there to stop people touching it

we left the Temperate House to  the tulips in Cherry Walk,

most of the white ones from last week have finished, so the flowers are now mostly the darker ones.

a completely different look to the spread!

managed some close ups that weren't blurred! 

the sun obligingly almost came out to shine through the petals

as I was taking the red tulip above,  Kim leant in - you might be able to see her image on her camera screen!!

I took it again without her!!

I reckon by next week they'll be nearly finished 

especially if we get more wind and rain

this is a (currently) low growing ceanothus in the newly planted part of the Mediterranean garden 

slightly unfocused, sorry

the Judas tree in the Mediterranean garden 

(funnily enough my FB "memory" from today was from 5 years ago with Dale Chihuly purple glass in amongst this very tree 

we didn't go down the steps to see it close up, it was surrounded by people...

as we walked down the slope at the end of the Mediterranean garden I paused to  look up at this palm (nearly falling over in the process)

it was mid-day, so we paused for tea and cake...

before walking round the pond.

the gunnera are doing their thing and growing fast 

lots of grey sky now...

the grey think that looks like a box in the middle of the picture, is the support structure for one of the Marc Quinn sculptures that is coming 

we headed to the Waterlily house which has recently re-opened after it's winter clean out

this tulip in the beds outside was lovely

pink at the base, with white petals 

pale pink tulips in the tub at the top of the steps 

because they replant it from scratch each year, there isn't much in the pond yet 

and the planting round the edge was new too 

this year, as you go into the waterlily house, the beds just inside are ponds, so they are obviously going to have lots of waterlilies this year 

we crossed to the Princess of Wales conservatory for a quick walk through...

there was a cactus starting to flower under the window but I blurred it...

this was behind the perspex screens  

there were some small waterlilies in the pond here 

and I found these in the carnivorous room 

at the edge of the pond ,taken  for the shape!  

to the upper level for my favourite up here, flowering and covered in water drops but as always the light angles aren't right

I thought I had caught it better (and with water drops) with my phone but not sure... 

better luck next week! 

the tub with passionflower near the exit was covered in flowers 

then to the alpine house

the flowers are beautiful on the "tortoise" 

it's covered!  

outside, in the rock garden 

in the evolution garden some camassia

pasqueflower

bee on this "whirligig"  (not sure what it is)

peonies 

view across the evolution garden 

and that is today's walk round Kew.

Thanks for looking, hope you enjoyed it. 

See you next week!