Hello, welcome back to Kew for 2026... it was mighty cold but no snow like in Sutton and less frost than I thought there'd be... but the sun was shining and the sky blue. Enjoy....
long shadows on the way to my opening shot
well wrapped up as you see
the Christmas trail ends tomorrow so no doubt by next weekend this will all be removed.. so a final walk over the now completely frozen, pond
fabulous patterns in the icy on the edge of the bridge
gorgeous reflections
the sun was low but bright. It was very cold walking across the pond, in the open air
we decided to go to the Princess of Wales first to warm up a bit
2 Egyptian geese standing on the wall along the water outside the POW
we went up the steps at the back of the arid/cacti room to the upper level of the POW
normally we overheat in here but today it was just nice!
and through the ferns room yes I know most of these are palms!
down through the orchid room
I hadn't gone to macro lens yet and I didn't want to change it in this steamy atmosphere
the arch in the orchid room was covered in sun through the windows
we exited through the other side of the arid room - blogger has decided to swap the orders
back outside again
leaf sprite was looking good in the sun, and they've cleared most of the planting behind her, so it was more open
we walked through the rock garden to the alpine house
these paperwhite narcissus smell so sweet
the sun was also illuminating the pampass grass in the grass garden.
unfortunately round the other side of this bed was a large icy stretch of path that Kim didn't see and ended up on her knees
the ponds round the waterlily pond - in the corners - were frozen solid
the bullrushes were still lovely and fluffy!
more grasses in the sun
bonsai house, but nothing really "wow" to photograph
we walked through the evolution garden, not much of interest but this (not sure what it is, there is another one by the side of the palm house pond) was gorgeous
still some seed heads around
heading back towards the Palm House
and along the side of the rose garden
we took a different path to usual and came across one of the Christmas installations (called submersion ) - the crow was talking to his reflection in the mirrors
the ones I took on the phone were more successful (wrong lens on camera as so often!)
Kim has a new lens and was looking for shadows
the lake was now more or less completely frozen, apart from a few pockets where - it wasn't very thick- the geese had made holes
it was funny watching them sliding about, but their webbed feet give them much more stability than you or I would have!
we joined Peter on the bench
and watched the fun
every now and then the weight of the geese was too much for the ice
and it would bend and they'd fall into the icy water
there were lots of gulls flying around
it was a bit cold to sit for too long so Kim and I headed on.
there were lots of bits of branch and leaves caught in the water as it had frozen
inside to eat today - even so the hot chocolate got cold quite quickly, and the carrot cake was over baked or slightly stale, it was falling to pieces.
once we'd finished we headed off towards the Pagoda
the dragons around the pagoda were glowing in the sun
Japanese gateway garden
I didn't have the macro on so couldn't get closer
cotoneaster in the gravel garden at the japanese gateway
frost on a leaf
we headed into the trees
we made our way to the bird feeder area (not that the feeders are there any more)
where we found Peter again
there were several parakeets in the trees
from there we walked through the woodland
we got to the far end of the lake
we came across Bowie sleeping on one leg - how do they do that!!
the gulls were still flying around
we made our way back to the exit and home
thanks for looking again, hope you stayed warm -although by this time the temperature had risen to a balmy 3 degrees and it was really quite nice!
see you next week - current forecast is drizzle so it may not be so colourful!
