Kew - December already!

Once again my Saturday morning was spent at Kew rather than anything more pressing (although I did get some Christmas shopping done so win-win!)

 the sun was creating nice patterns in the cloudy sky as it rose this morning before I left - we were promised sunny intervals today so this was a good sign!

but it hadn't arrived by the time I go in

I was surprised and delighted to see that "my" fountain was working today - as you'll have seen it hasn't been for many months (no idea why)  so I went round that way first

 before heading back down part of the Broad Walk



where most of the colour has gone, and lots of the perennials have been cut back for the winter


but there were lots of grasses

and seedheads 

 the beautiful shrub round by the Hive has lost most of it's leaves,

 but a few remained

I headed into the Princess of Wales glasshouse

 there is a new flush of flowers on the Grevillea

 the Chinese Water Dragon was still in the water on the rock in his hard to photograph place!

 I looked everywhere else for more dragons but didn't see any


got a good "eye level" view of the surface of the pond though down the steps by the side of it

towards the exit at the dry end of the glasshouse I was fascinated by this

most of it is a jumble of stems but there are the odd bits like the photo above

the sign says it's called 
Candelilla Gallito  and it is some kind of succulent thing by the looks of it
(have googled, it is) 

 outside the big agave seems to have new leaves in the centre,

 spotted a Christmas Rose in the bed opposite (hellebore)

 this squirrel was eating a nut but ran away as I tried to get closer

 in the Evolution Garden again most of the colour has gone, apart from this which I saw last week too

 and again, loads of grasses

the sun was trying o come out so it was a littel brighter now

 I headed back and crossed the Broad Walk

 and along part of the Christmas trail

 they've lit a big beech tree again this year although not the same one as last time I think

 twisty trunked tree

 I headed down the bank towards the lake

 where a drake jumped up onto the crossing by me

and gulls were sitting on the fence (is it a fence if it's metal?) 

bit of colour at the end of the lake

 I walked up to the end of the lake

 fabulous yellow stems on an acer

funghi been kicked over by something

walking down Cedar Vista

 past the fading hydrangeas

 sun still trying to force it's way through the cloud

lots of  the rowan berries are still on the tree

 pretty pink sorbus berries

 into the Temperate House

webs on the agave

 there was plenty of colour inside

 I can't have walked down the path where these were last week, as they must have been flowering then too

 my favourite Silver Daisy bush is starting to flower again, yay! 

 I climbed up to the platform

Australian tree ferns from above

 berries

 angel trumpet vine

 come on sun!

 berberis berries

walking down the path towards the entrance

 which is the main part of the Christmas trail this year

camellias flowering already

 another berberis

 Christmas baubles with sparkly leaves

 

decoration over the main gate

 despite the mis-hap last week I sat outside again to eat

although the sun went again before I finished
(cake update -  toffee praline... nice.  very sweet.  but  nice..)

hot chocolate (still bringing the cups home at present.  trying to think of an idea to use them rather than just recycle them in the rubbish collection) 

ok, let's walk round the pond again
viburnum 

 enough sun to sparkle on the water

 another shot of this again

 wider shot of the Rock Garden

 headed for the Alpine House

the scillia bulbs are growing well

 these are dinky and I struggled focusing

 Nerine

 a different nerine

 the remnants on the Strawberry tree

 fir tree

 it's massive, must be 20 odd foot high

 back into the Princess of Wales glasshouse

no sign of any dragons at all this time round

 wider angle of the desert end

 heading back past the Palm House and the sun was sparkling again

 playing with different settings on the camera

time for play again

 you know I always get carried away with the fountain when it's working, and I had to make the most of it today

 the tree at the main entrance on my way out....
well you know what I mean


I was travelling by bus today (train strikes again)  so I was out the way I came in...

 close up of the decoration over the entrance/exit




thanks for looking!