I arrived soon after 7.30am and had the place to myself.
Inviting paths.
This tree top caught my attention. It was bent under the weight of...of what exactly? They look like tiny brussel sprouts. Are they the flowers? (So many questions run through my brain.)
How this branch of berries stands up I don't know - it must be pretty heavy!
Looking closer.
And further along - some that are darker.
Bark paths among the prairie planting.
Some more difficult to get through.
Tall plants in a semi-circle at the edge nearest the little hut.
More of these jewel like buds opening.
Thallictrum buds.
A shaft of sunlight lit up some big daisies in a shaded area.
Red hot pokers. (Funny - they're yellow!)
No wonder the bees are attracted to the centre of the plant when they have such luminous centres.
Quaking grass - looking like raindrops.
Cosmos flowers lit up by the sunlight.
Little tree with big leaves - surrounded by fast growing tall plants.
Honesty seed pods.
Hydrangea.
A fox ambled across, stared at me and then disapeared into the bushes.
Lovely sunlit greens and a splash of red.
I don't even remember taking this photo - glad I did - gorgeous ferns.
White foxglove.
Fluffy whiteness.
Illuminated seeds
Don't bees have long legs!
Another one coming in to land.
Bumble bee with big pollen sacs.
Another bumble bee approaching from a similar direction - even bigger pollen sacs.
Delicate umbelliferous plant.
A fabulous progression of colours in the front of the border - deep purple to magenta to soft purple and back into deep purple again
There are some really lovely colour combinations where various plants are growing into each other.
Some more poppies in the sun - a lot of bee activity here.
A little group of pink poppies with lilac stamens.
As the outer casing of the red poppy buds open the darker purple part of the petals shows first. I like the way this glimpse of purple reflects the colour of the cat mint behind it.
Alliums.
Tiny flowers.
Looking closer at one of them. Curly structures inside the flower. Love the markings on these flowers.
I could hear the water sprinklers in the distance.
Smoke bush in the sunlight.
Spindleberries developing. (Not the ones that look like popcorn)
Closer to the smoke bush.
Patterns on the ground - like the whorls on an elephant's skin.
Thrush (? I'm not very good at bird identification) with a very full beak.
Sunlit leaves.
The water sprinkler - rainbows in the spray.
One sprinkler on a stand while the gardener used a hand held sprinkler.
I stood for a while watching the rainbows in the spray and enjoying getting splashed a bit.
It looked as if the gardener was spraying a passer-by but he was actually watering a flowerbed while talking to the lady who lives in the flat above the cafe.
One last rainbow.
And a couple more water splash photos.
Sunlit dripping flowers.
Drippy euphorbia.
Rose among aquilegia seed pods.
Roses
Walk number 2.
Afternoon walk with my neighbour.
Korean pine cones.
Various stages of buds opening. Different stages of the middles too (see the different sized bands of things opening on the centres).
I can't remember what these are.
Love these colours.
Strange thing in an alliums seed head. At first we thought it was a snail but on closer inspection it is vegetable rather than animal.
A little butterfly.
Nigella (love-in-a-mist) - love that purple in the middle.
Looking closer at a blue one - all sorts of interesting things happening in the middle.
Outrageous orange!
Pinky red with peachy orange underskirts.
This bed has only recently been planted but everything is shooting up and looks as if it's always been there.
Thank you very much for joining me.
you were out and about early! fabulous pics as always - love the shadows on the big daisies, and of course all the poppies.
ReplyDeleteThank you Helen.
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