First day of summer (Coombe Wood)

Wellies and raincoat on . . .

The pump for the waterfall wasn't working again but the heavy rain had cleared most of the green film from the pond surface - a little remained just around the edges

Most of the flowers had their heads bowed under the weight of the raindrops - just a few had their drenched faces turned upwards

Dripping tiny pink flowers

Raindrops bounced and splashed on the pitted surface of the pond

Orchid primroses (?) by the pond

I was so glad I wore wellies

You can actually see streaks of rain (in front of the fish) in this photo and some of the following ones.

Raindrops on roses weighing them down

 These little flowers haven't even bothered opening today

Leaves flicked as water droplets dripped off and lightened their load

More pathways like rivers

One of a few flowers that had turned their faces upwards for a wash

There are small blue flowers cascading down the pulhamite rock like a little waterfall

Grasses in the rain

Dripping foxgloves

More open flowers - unafraid of the rain

Fragile poppy petals weighed down

Little collections of water

Raindrops on quaking grass seeds

Many of the grasses have been flattened by the rain but the wild flowers are still upright

How do these delicate little flowers remain standing throughout such a downpour?

 A swathe of stems have been flattened

Starry seed pods forming

Cascading white straggly flowers bent down 

Orange spherical flowers - I've looked these up and am surprised to discover that they are likely to be a variety of buddleia  called buddleia globosa

A really heavy downpour while I was under an acer tree

Dripping fern

Remains of a yellow azalia 

 Parallel fronds of flowers

 Another burst of bleeding hearts has opened 

The parallel fronds of white flowers start off as pink buds

. . . and lose their pinkness as they open

Many hydrangea flowers poised to open

Looking closer - the lime green pointed buds around the edge will open first and will be the biggest flowers

Spindle berry blossom buds

A few of these red flowers remain in tact. Their sepals have turned green - they were red a few days ago

The cornus from a bit further back - the whole tree is cloaked in cream

These wafting fronds were much more upright the other day - now they are deeply arched, weighed down under the weight of the raindrops

Starry globe of allium - shorter stemmed, bigger flowered and more open than the earlier ones

Eryngiums have sprung up rapidly

Blues and purples

Lavender beginning to open

Soggy centre of a flower (might be an aster?)

I didn't even realise this plant had flowers until I was taking a photo of the burgundy leaves

 Foxgloves

Shiny wet leaves reflecting the pink of the flower

A hydrangea was further ahead than the one shown earlier - pink tinged petals on this one

Masses of fluffy white flowers

Tiny yellow flowered plant scrambling over walls

Abutilon - Chinese bell flower

 Love in a mist and red and white flowers I can't remember the name of

 Yellow petals falling off revealing star shaped holes where seeds will be

Begonia

Red funnel shaped flowers with orange lips

The gardener was working in the rain and someone else had come to help him mend the pump for the waterfall, as it had blocked again

I found out that the slimy green layer that had been on the pond was mostly caused by tree pollen. Hopefully the pump will have been mended again - that will help keep the water clear

Thank you very much for joining me