Kew for a final time in 2019

It was great to get out and have some fresh air today after a few days of sitting and eating!  There was quite a queue behind me who obviously also wanted to walk off the excesses.

 there was no sun, however but it wasn't very cold

still some good reflections in the pond

 thrilled to see the fountain is still on even if no sun for the spray to shimmer in

 walking down the Broad Walk some early hellebores are flowering

 I cut off half way down the Broad Walk


and went into the Princess of Wales glasshouse

where I paused at the grevillea inside the door

 not sure what it was today about the close up mode but it kept firing the flash

 pretty little pink (blurry) flowers


the rock by the water had no water dragon sitting on it today

 but through the tunnel I found not a dragon sitting on the grating, but the smaller one sitting in the branch on the tree

 I had real trouble focusing on it though

 but managed a few

 walking through the cool orchid area I found some pink flowers

(flash fired again!)

 better representation of the colour here

as I came down the steps by these beauties (remarkably hard to photograph well)

I saw why the rock was empty - he'd obviously scampered along the top to the edge of the path

 I walked out through the desert section

 and whilst I don't really like the cacti as such, I did like the patterns

 I walked past the sculpture

 and as always was fascinated by the texture

they've put up a board to explain a bit about it

 there was a single rose bud left on a bush in the evolution garden

 I walked round some of the beds looking for texture and patterns

 out into the Rock Garden, the acer with the snowdrops underneath

 the into the alpine house

 Nerine

 scillia developing

more patterns
(the wall that supports the Japanese pagoda tree)

 looking through the seed pods at the corner of the Broad Walk

 the Christmas shop in the cafe

hot chocolate and a Chocolate Orange loaf cake


very sweet!

 I walked down the path towards the Temperate House and remembered I hadn't checked out the witch hazels last time,


they were looking amazing,

yellows

 pale oranges

 more yellow ones

 salmony pink ones

got a better close up on the phone

 then into the Temperate House

 my favourite silver daisy bush

 In what used to be the evolution house but is now an extension of the Temperate House across the path, I found some more grevillea

I hoped for reflections at the lake but it was a bit too dull


plenty of ducks and geese though

 hornbeam tree

 walked through the Palm House

 then back through the woodland bit past the funghi

 into the POW again

 the small water dragon had disappeared from the branch and a large one was lounging at the edge of the water

and the other one was back on his rock!

 I was heading for the exit now


this is the giant wisteria. devoid of leaves and it's gorgeous twisty bark

 is it just me or does it look like stick men with their arms out?


Love it

treeful of cones of some kind



thanks for looking - let's do it all again in 2020!!