Coombe Wood (More thefts)

Four squirrels were playing around the base of two trees in the overflow car park over the road.

In the distance I could hear the drone of a machine. The gardener was wearing ear protectors and had an orange container strapped to his back - I used the zoom and just caught a photo as he vanished behind a hedge

Around the corner I made another attempt at a closer look at the tiny white and pink flowers

This isn't very well focused but it shows the patterns. The top petals have long veined magenta stripes and short smudgy ones on the lower petals

Subtle soft pink near the middle of this flower

Prairie beds really filling out - some of the pathways are blocked with plants spilling over them

I reached out and touched a magnolia leaf expecting it to be quite smooth but it felt like suede

Mass of tiny tangles of white flowers up in a tree - very easy to miss - I don't remember noticing these before

Colourful antirrhinums low down among the prairie plants

Blue spiky bobbles 

Stripy creature - I've just been checking online and it might be a transverse flower fly

Looking down on a bud which has collected water - like a shallow dish

Spiky bud with tooth like edges

The semi-circular bed has filled with self-seeded honesty plants

Another different way of a bud opening - like tentacles

Long tufty flowers - the bit that isn't open yet reminds me of a tightly closed pine cone

Quaking grass - I can imagine these made out of glass

I was photographing the flower when I noticed a little green grasshopper

Getting in closer it was much more interesting than just being a little green grasshopper - it has wonderful stripes and extra stripes on its knees and feet

Arrow shaped multi-coloured leaves - I'm sure I've never seen these before

Star shaped seed pod

 Here we are at the acer again

A few flowers remain on the tree with very big leaves. The tube-like flower is soft and velvety

Hydrangea opening around the edge - like little cups with water in

Cornus middle

The grass has been cut recently - I like the distinct edges between "lawn" and "meadow"

The yellow rattle is dwarfed among the long grasses now

I must try and remember to get a closer look at these next time

A bumble bee on lavender

Some other purple flowers further along

I must get a closer look at these too - I don't understand the structure of these at all

Geum's have wild crazy middles. I didn't notice the creature crawling underneath till the photo was large on the computer screen

First sunflower (small variety) 

Again, I'm really surprised how fast everything is growing

These flowers peep out among their leaves

while these float on long stems above their leaves

The remainder of the allium spheres seem to be sinking into their surroundings as the flowers around them spring up

The gardener was weeding and tidying the top bed. I stopped for a chat and was very sorry to hear that more plants had been stolen.

This is extremely disheartening to the gardener who is passionate about what he does and works incredibly hard to make the gardens so beautiful. Here is one of the empty patches

To the left of that empty patch there's a clump of really tiny delicate white flowers that I haven't noticed before, with pink anthers and little pale stripes

Abutilon - I love the unusual shape of the flowers and their protruding veins which remind me of butterflies wings

 Another patch of missing flowers. I can't believe I didn't notice it on the way in - I walked straight past it earlier on - but I suppose I was looking the other way, at the pond then

There were several of the larger plants but only one left now as the others have been stolen

The pink roses look lovely against the purple clematis (which you can only just see in this photo)

Crocosmia

The hops have grown almost right round the arch now

I like the way the long grasses waft across the colourful flowers

One of my top favourite flowers

. . . and another bare patch right at the entrance. It's absolutely disgraceful that anyone can get away with doing this. I hope the council will increase the security and put a stop to the thefts

The waterfall was working today and there were three distinctly different surfaces on the pond. Closest to where I was standing a layer of thick green had collected at the edge. Further away there was a band with a thin green film on it. It was good to see clear water at the far end

Abstract: reflection of pale green hedge

Thank you very much for joining me