Saturday, January 25, 2020

Kew - what a difference a week makes!

After the frost and sunshine last week, today was much duller and cloudy with a hint of dampness in the air as I left.
 and you can see the difference in my opening shot - not a hint of blue today!
 the fountain was off again but still plenty of reflections in the pond
I headed off down the Broad Walk - the pink hellebores at the top nearest the Palm House are gorgeous


 the euphorbia are starting to bud up


(funnily enough whilst I was there, my cousin posted some pics on FB of the euphorbia at Coome Wood)



 I went to check out how the Orchid display is coming along..

they are doing timed ticket slots this year and all the weekend ones seem to have been booked, although there will be some available on the day



this was just inside the door... Some kind of bird I think

Lens kept misting up .....
 the main centrepiece in the pond




 the feathery top (with slightly misty lens!)



they are obviously still working on it - a couple of weeks till it opens



 still blooming misted up


the arch, upstairs


 view of the pond from upstairs
 lots of animals around.. I think these are going to be orangutans by the looks of things



 some kind of cat .... probably


 one of the pillars


 back in the main bit



 that plant stem again, they do look like eyes don't they (someone commented last week)
 the leaf from the stem


 the centrepiece - finally un-misted!





well, I go out past it, would be rude not to..


 they had moved the scillia up onto one of the rocks in the Alpine House, I nearly missed it --

looking gorgeous though






small euphorbia, in the Rock Garden


Glycyrrjizza yunnanensis... what a mouthful


in the Evolution garden





 the trees were making striking pictures against the sky


 early daffodils starting to flower






heading back round the pond for food!


 I love the war memorial bench from all kinds of angles




 a very expensive spray of seedheads in the shop...

today's cake was blackberry and lime... yummy

and hot chocolate, as is my norm these days



then  went and checked the hellebores




 lots of different varieties



as they mostly hang their heads down making photographing them hard, I was lucky to find one flower fallen off, in the edge of the flowerbed


what a gorgeous colour!


 raspberry ripple! 


 looked for the label again, still can't find one

the (large) shrub is covered in them though
 with the Temperate House in the distance
 they kept the original signs at the doors
 jasmine,  smells delicious
 orchids in pots






 the silver daisy bush I love, starting to flourish again

 from the stairs up to the viewing platform




 back down on the ground - above my head






 quite a lot of yellow in the Temperate House at the moment



 back out into the solidly grey sky!



 huge clumps of snowdrops in the arboretum
heading for the lake....

the ones in the rock garden are fading now






 wibbly-wobbly reflections

 looking towards the Palm House
 mossy tree trunk

 I was actually trying to take snowdrops, without using the viewfinder (ground too muddy to get low enough)  but I quite like trees I did get!



 camelia


the rhododendrons that were flowering so nicely last week were badly damaged by the frost and had gone brown.  good job there are loads more to come.


 more gorgeous deep purple hellebores



tangle of branches in the sky...

 coral bark maple... beautiful colour!



 there were lots of geese resting in the grass









more pretty stems, this one's an acer

 mossy-lichen covered branches of an ash tree






 I walked through the Palm House, and for the first time in I don't know how long, climbed up to walk round the top..


had a real problem with the lens misting,
these are the best I could get - despite wiping with my lens cloth!





 there's a lot of rust about!




I could hear birds singing but couldn't spot any - they do have a robin and wrens inside here - I've seen the robin once or twice



 back outside, the gulls were flying around

 I went back to the hellebores at the top of the Broad Walk again

 before cutting across to the Princess of Wales glasshouse past another mossy tree trunk




 went a different way round this time inside



 in the background, some wicker baskets for part of the orchid display




 I love these every year




 orchids covering a pillar
 that arch from before, not misted up this time!


 had to take this over people's heads!





I think he's going to be a favourite!

It's great to see the work in progress, no doubt next week a lot more will have been done!



thanks for looking!




5 comments:

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

The flowers in your opening shot are lovely, but I see the pots are still flowerless. Wonder if they will be filled in time for the orchid festival. Somehow I doubt it because it's probably too early.

Loved seeing what they were doing with the orchid festival, but sad to read about the timed slots this year. That could put a crimp in your style, even if you COULD get a slot, which it sounds like you won't.

The an animals will be fun to see once they are fleshed out. Seems there will be more this year than last.

Love the rock garden and that rushing waterfall. The water looks so cold, though. Even in the long shot.

Blackberry and lime. I thought it was a sandwich until I read the cake description. DUH. I liked seeing the inside of the cafe, too.

I'm confused. Wasn't the Palm House the one they just renovated? Isn't it the one that's only been open again for about a year? How could there be so much rust already? Does humidity really do all that?

Thanks for so many great shots today. I'm looking forward to next week and the progress of the Orchid Festival.

Crafting With Jack said...

Beautiful flowers, I would love to see those orchids. Your unknown plant reminds me of a species of Ivy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_pastuchovii,

Shaz in Oz.CalligraphyCards said...

Monsterio delicio is the plant with the eye 👁 stem “the leaf from the stem” they grow in garden here and produce fruit. If remember will try source the other for you too screen shot. I’ve a google image search button on my phone... its very good... usually.
Loved it ta! Don’t know how you do it all.

Virginia said...

I'm always amazed at the how beautiful all these photos are, even in winter you manage to capture the best in Mother nature, I hope you've had a grand week.

pearshapedcrafting said...

Beautiful photos Helen! Love all the animals appearing! Chrisx