Kew - splendid colour and Capability Brown..

Kew are marking the 300th birthday of the great garden landscape designer, Capability Brown, this weekend.  Not that he had a huge amount to do with Kew, although he spent some time working for King George III redesigning Richmond Gardens, part of which is now incorporated in Kew Gardens.
They promised a horse drawn tree transporter touring the gardens.....

My main reason for visiting of course, was the stunning colour.  A very grey day dawned and even the delights of engineering works on the railway meaning 3 trains, in a different direction to my normal 2, didn't stop me....

 I was there early after all that, and had nearly 30 minutes to wait till 10 and the gates to open... Having told Elizabeth last time they weren't worthy of a photograph,I changed my mind...

whilst peaking through at the colour beyond..









finally it was 10 and opening time!

 I veered left through the entrance to see the colour of this beauty had intensified since last week...

 and so had this huge tree

 there was colour everywhere... and a little dampness in the air... luckily it didn't last long and wasn't proper rain

 I spent a lot of the morning peering through branches and under tree canopies...

 and admiring the vistas

 even the bare trees are gorgeous

 and the underfoot leaves just cried out for scuffling through.... so I did

 got right in amongst the branches for some closeups

 pretty patterns on the grass, they look like they've been laid out... this was just a small section

my favourite tree (the one on the right) from last week. now more or less bare... and a thick carpet for more scuffling!

 walking back from the arboretum, past the now fully laid out Parterre in front of the Palm House.. will be great I am sure when it's settled in and grows

even on a totally dull day, there were great reflections...

 such tall trees, the people are dwarfed (yes, they are a long way away but still!)








it was just gone 10.30 by now (yes, all that lot in half an hour)









I headed down the Broad Walk where most of the colour has gone and they are really readying for next spring planting . but there are patches of colour.
crouching down to get the trees blurring in the background....


I could hear a bell... turned round to see the shire horses and the tree transplanter...

 trying to catch it up, but they move at a fair old pace...  I followed for a bit, but in the end turned away - we'll find it later!

 I was close to where the Henry Moore figure is...

 so went to get some photos of it with the colour exploding behind it...

next, headed off in search of the red in the distance in this photo...

 yup, that was worth it

 and fabulous greens still

 walked across the Rose Garden where the trees give a great backdrop

 more gorgeous twisting trunks

 and back across to the lake and the fountain;

 across past the Princess of Wales glasshouse,

 dinky little flowers

 more peering under branches..

up into the canopies

 and into the Order Beds

 still some bright colour

fluffy asparagus

 and kale

 through another gate into the Rock Garden

 don't think I've ever seen the waterfall turned off!

 through the Alpine House...miniature narcissus

 and pink cyclamen

out the other side, the grasses looked fantastic (I think I've said before I don't really like ornamental grasses, but the colour variations was amazing, and with the splendid trees behind them... I got carried away)

 amazing!

 loved the pattern on the back of this bench - should have stopped and sat for a while!

tall corn...

 love these

 through the gate with another tall beauty behind it

 the Hive

 back onto the Broad Walk now, to finish what I started earlier!

 all of a sudden I could hear the bell again... the horses were coming back

 the man on the left in the white stockings is Capability Brown, looking good for 300... ha ha

they were just ahead of the horses...

 I was nearly at the entrance/exit I normally use, but of course I couldn't use that one today, because I needed to head for the other station (Kew Gardens rather than Kew Bridge) so it was turn around and head for the other exit...

 back past the fountain again

and some more delicate flowers..

past the Victoria Plaza cafe - I popped in to the shop and had a look, (I was hungry!) but nothing I saw took my fancy...

 nice display of little pumpkins and squashes though...


so I decided to head for home....












I don't normally take pictures of the signs but couldn't resist one last glimpse at the colour of the trees!

 Thanks for looking - loads and loads today!