Rainbows and water droplets (Coombe Wood)

A big spray of water spray bounced up and down behind the hedge as I parked the car.

I found a set of car keys on the ground by the gate and took them into the cafe. I heard later that they had been reunited with their owner.

Returning to look at the pond I was distracted when I noticed a rainbow appearing intermittently in the spray from the sprinkler. (Many photographs were taken!)

Eryngiums - what amazing patterns in the middles. The leaves around the edge are just beginning to skeletonise. A single seed, caught on a spiders web thread, twirled in the gentle breeze.

 Around the corner I am delighted to find more rainbows.

In spite of the occasional breeze it was incredibly hot. My ankles and feet are very swollen and I have a cut under the ball of my foot so my progress was extremely slow this morning. It was a real treat to linger near the water spray - I didn't mind at all when the breeze sent some of it in my direction.

I spent quite a bit of time watching the way the water falls on plants and makes them bob and bounce, then they steady briefly before the next rotation of the sprinkler hits them again.

Everything looks so fresh and well cared for. 

Golden Rain Tree pods

 A mesh of grasses covered in water droplets

Dark berries 

Acer leaves

The cornus has shed almost all of its red "fruits" - just a few remain on the tree.

Having a closer look at one that was on the ground.

Colour along the wide borders - masses of purple

orange and yellow

So many different kinds of yellow flowers - drifts of flowers with yellow tufty middles and broad petals and others with slender deeper yellow petals and dark bulbous middles . . .

The exuberant growth makes many of the drifts of flowers intermingle with their neighbours. Here one of the flowers with broad yellow petals has snuggled next to a cluster of smaller yellow flowers with short wedge shaped petals and huge domed middles

Delicate rose pink sedums

The hover fly hovered for a while before landing - its wings glistened. I'm fascinated by all the different patterns that black or brown and yellow stripy insects have. The stripes on this one are soft edged and vary in width.

The sun was shining through these, illuminating them

Here I am again gazing into the centres of the cosmos flowers again - drinking in the beauty of the centre of these flowers

and another! It's not just all the starry shapes in the centres that I love but the way that the deep pink ring radiates from the base of the petals - and that dark red right next to the yellow stars. Wow!

More yellows 

 Water droplets on the tiny lilac coloured flowers

Thistle seeds exploding out 

The gardener was mowing today as well as watering the gardens

Various happy sunflowers gaze down from quite a height

Little cage-like containers standing like sculptures above the euphorbias. I think most of these are usually trimmed off before they get to this stage - but I'm glad a few have been left.

I love the white and purple mix in this flower bed - and the light shining through those big leaves in the background.

Evidence of recent watering

Thank you very much for joining me