First Stop For Me,

to see the doctor,

 so past the first church,

 and the second one nearby,

 which I think is being turned into flats,

 lots of work going on, my results from all of my blood work were fine I am happy to say, so a quick call to Diana and we meet up at the station,

 and made our way to Kew Gardens, train to Victoria then the tube the gardens, arriving we stopped for a coffee in the cafe,

 where a duck, 

 was copying the pigeons,

 and begging for food, and was quite happy to eat out of your hand, 

 she made her way under the table,

 then came back,

 'What no more food?',

 and then she was off, 

 and with coffee in hand so were we, 

 we passed the Palm House, 

 the flower beds in front of it looking a bit bedraggled,

 the mansion house and restaurant across the lake,

 looking back to the entrance,

 the beds in front of the house were in fact being dug up and replanted,

and this was new for our visit,

 one of the many glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly,

 several of which are being exhibited in the UK for the first time,

 it all looks so intricate,

 and makes a interesting centerpiece,

 with the mansion in the distance, 

 and a great prop,

 to pose by, 

 just past the artwork, the gardeners had been busy,

 the beds now replanted with in this case some banana plants,

 and ornamental figs,

 some fuschias similar to the ones we saw yesterday at Coolings Garden Center, 

 looking back to the entrance, 

 we soon found another piece of glass art,

I was thinking it might represent some type of flower,

 or flame,

 wrong on both counts, it was called Paintbrushes, 

 the sky was looking a bit ominous,

 we continued walking,

 and it was nice to see school children on a day out sans mobile telephones and having a picnic

 a last look at the Paintbrushes, 

 and we were off,

 to where when we last visited here, there was an orchid display,

 to one side of the glass house,

 some Alpine poppies were putting on a good show,

 and in front of them,

   a pool with some water lilies,

that were starting to bloom,

 I think they had just come into flower,

 so they should look nice for our next visit,

 before went inside,

a couple of poses,

 the first section was hot and dry,

  with lots of prickly pear cactus,

 in flower,

 and in a few weeks time these buds should be out,

 this one is definitely in flower it is a Yucca, I think whipplei,

 the flower stem should be upright,

 but it has fallen to one side, at the tip of the stem seeds are forming, 

 next a few more prickly pears,

 this flowering coachwhip, (Fouquieria splendens), caught my eye, no not literally! 

 we moved into the next section,

 lithops or living stones as they are sometimes called,

 were being grown,

 some in flower,

 in a nicely laid out dessert setting

 Diana as happy as ever,

 as we made our way to the next catuts section,

 and there they were,

 barrel cactus as they are known,

 to give them their latin name, echinocactus grusonii,

 and nice they look too,

 their spine growing from the center outwards,

 another prickly pear,

 type of cactus in flower,

 and beneath it a smaller one, 

 putting on a good show,

 into the tropics,

 in the first pool Victoria amazonica,

 it is a huge water lily, from, you guessed it, the Amazon,

 in the same pool,

 a lotus,

 by the side of the main glass house, 

 there are smaller ones,

 this one,

 housing these Triffed like looking plants, 

 all of them here are insectivorous, all of these from the Sarracenia family, 

 or trumpet pitchers,

 as they are sometimes called,

 Diana looking for the perfect shot,

 the display on this visit was first class, June must be their best month,

 they all looked so nice,

 at the end of the display a small pool, along side it some, 

 sundews, Drosera, 

 and some of these that I am not familiar with,

 another group of school kids, their teacher explaining the three ways that insectivorous plants catch their prey, 

 out into the main section,

 and another water lily pool,

 the plant with its huge pads,

 the smaller one in the center of the picture is slowly growing, uncurling its sharp spined underside to deter plant eating fish, this specie Victoria cruziana,

 this plant looked interesting,

 with it's spotted leaves, I do not have a clue what it is,

 looking at the Victoria cruziana through the roots of a red magrove, (Rhizophora mangle) 

 a magnificent plant,

 in appearance and name, 

 it is the rose grape, (Medinilla magnifica),

 the small flowers at the end of each 'grape',

Diana saw her favorite treat,

a cacao seed pod,

growing from the trunk of the tree,

the sign says it all,

 upstairs we went,

 looking along the glass house,

 we were now in the world of Bromeliads,

 there were bromeliads everywhere,

 above,

 and below us,

 that were easy to walk by,

 some of the flower spikes like this one,

 were nearly 24 inches long,

this one putting out an impressive flower, 

I just wish I knew it's Latin name,

  and as we were on the first floor could look down on to the pools below,

 and nice they were too,

 there were still so many Bromeliads to look at,

 this one,

 spectacular,

 to say the least,

 we were back in the dry house,

 Diana looking at a Agave in flower,

 I am saying in flower,

 I think I should be saying in bud,

 outside,

 for a walk through some of the woodland,

 with iris growing here and there,

 we found ourselves,

 in the alpine section,

 which was colorful,

 and full of life,

 a few months ago,

 the only thing to be seen here were rocks, 

 what a difference a few months can make,

 another patch,

 of iris,

 that looked really nice,

 upwards through the alpines,

 to the Alpine house,

 beside it,

 I was surprised to see these,

 trumpet pitchers,

I would not have though they were hardy enough,

 to over winter outside,

 but here they are,

 at the top, some Alpine poppies, 

 so Diana had to have a pose, 

 at one side of the Alpine house, 

 the grasses took over,

 and a surprising number there were,

 so many colours,

 and sizes,

 it sounds strange to talk about grass this way,

 but seeing so them of them together,

 it was quite an eye opener,

 time for a late lunch,

 we had brought our own,

 with a bottle of bubbly, 

 Diana had prepared finger sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and the most quintessential of English sandwiches, cucumber, along with egg mayonnaise, ham, cheese and tomato, plus mini pork pies and Scotch eggs, for dessert fresh strawberries and sliced peaches,

 but first a glass of bubbly, 

 time to tuck in,

 strawberries and bubbly,

 what a neat idea,

 'Cheers!',

 we sat there for quite some time, then the first few drops of rain, we were going to walk to the Pagoda, but as that was at the other end of the gardens we decided to make a move for home, the rain had come to stay,

 but first I had to take a close look at this,

 Japanese blood grass, (Imperata cylindrica Rubra), what a color it truly is,

 so past the big Christmas tree,

 one of the Abies group, 

 we made our way back by a different route, 

 and found this,

 new to us The Hive,

 the sign says it all,

 on of the more elderly trees here,

 the Japanese Pagoda tree,

 although it was still drizzling, Diana was jumping for joy,

 and still stopping to look at some of the flowers, 

 well so was I,

 we might be getting wet,

 but there was still time for just one more pose,

 and one more photograph,

 of an Iris,

 storm clouds really on the way now,

 so past the lake,

 where these Canadian geese with their goslings,

 were having a spat with these,

 a few ruffled feathers later and all was well,

 the rain rippling the surface of the lake,

 thankfully it let off as we neared the ice cream van,

 so one,

 then two to go, what a great day out, just a pity that it ended a bit early with the rain, arriving home it was feet up for the evening's entertainment, we watched a few antiques quiz shows, one from the Poirot box, rounding the evening off with a couple from Game of Thrones, I will only be making one post today as it took an age, and with that we were off to bed.