Magical walk in Coombe Wood

The gardener was hard at work killing weeds - and looking a bit like a spaceman

As I came around the corner at the top of the steps I paused and enjoyed the riot of colour that has burst forth since my last visit.

The sun illuminated the purple, red, orange and yellow flowers

A bee landing on a pink poppy 

The prairie bed from a different angle

Some of the grasses are so delicate and silky that the slightest breeze lifts them and causes them to wave and catch the light

Bright orange sunflower against the blue sky

Looking closer at the centre of a sunflower

Smaller orange and yellow flowers - the bees wings glitter in the sunlight

The colour of  these flowers make me think of pineapples, peaches and cream

Waving fronds of silvery grass seeds and arching stems of delicate yellow and orange flowers 

I like the way the creamy bell shaped flowers at the bottom curl out. I think some of these flowers look as if they are on their stems upside down - I can imagine them the other way up

I noticed this from a distance - a single flower stalk coming from plant with long thick stripy leaves - covered in flamboyant creamy blooms

In the woods - blue sky through the trees

and back onto the lawn between the wide flower beds walking towards the sundial - agapanthus

I caught sight of a butterfly and a big bee

The butterfly flew onto a different flower and then slowly turned round and round, enjoying the nectar 

More bright sunflowers - and a bee having a feast

Contrasts - red and green, sunshine and shadows 

Sun rays through water spray

 Poppy petals shining like silk

Tiny red flowers in the centre of a froth of white

A sea of poppies and seed heads

Sunlight through a fern 

Bee coming in to land on love-in-a-mist

More light through leaves - just look at the way the light shines through these

These are really tiny - smaller than daisies

 

and these are even smaller

They're planted in a little trough just near the entrance to the ladies loos

Long legged yellow and black stripey insect on a shaggy purple flower

It's interesting how different weather conditions transform the look of this plant by the pond - all sorts of variables affect how it comes out in a photo. Today the pond looked pale and the buds have a bluey purple tinge, last time the pond looked dark and the buds looked creamy peach.

Why did I call it a magical walk in Coombe Wood? Although it was a slow and careful walk (prolapsed disc extra painful today) my attention was successfully diverted for a while by the sights, sounds, smells and the joyful exuberance of colours, contrasts and textures in the garden and woods

Thank you very much for joining me