Thursday Coombe Wood Walk with a friend.

Yesterday I went to Coombe Wood to meet with a friend I haven't seen for quite a while. We had a lot to catch up with so there aren't nearly as many photos this time - we were busy chatting.

It was a beautiful morning (and afternoon!) We had a walk, then lunch and then another walk. It was hot but not the oppressive heat we had last week, and there was a little bit of a breeze.

I love the different shades of purple here and the pops of red. 

Sundial (broken unfortunately) in front of the lawn and plants solling over from the wide herbaceous borders. A lot of purple at the moment - later on big drifts of yellow will appear.

White delicate flower. 

Nigella (Love in a mist) seed pod.

Acer seeds.

We sat on a bench under a shady umbrella of leaves (the Golden Rain Tree)

Looking around while we were chatting, my friend did some drawing and I took more photos, zooming on on the prairie plants (Thallictrum buds)

and looking up at the light and shadow patterns through the leaves above us.

 Across to the red hot pokers. 

and up through the leaves again. Lovely vein patterns.

We carried on walking - verbena and big daisies. 

More shadows and light through leaves. 

The way the light was shining through this one made it look as if liquid light was dripping from the leaf.

Hydrangeas opening up. 

Cornus fading.

I watched a bee as it scooted around the stamens on its side - as if it was afraid to miss a granule of pollen. A shiny beetle sat on a petal, not at all bothered by the bee.

Gorgeous white flowers.

Love the middles and the shadows the stamens make - and that delicate hint of pink in the stamens.

A veil of verbena. We both liked the way you look through taller plants like this to the other things behind it.

The gardener was doing some work in the flower bed - the sunflowers are already nearly as tall as him. Amazing how quick they grow.

Thank you very much for joining me.