Kew in the rain

 The forecast for this weekend was not encouraging, but it's only water, so of I went for my booked time slot at Kew. 

They're back to 10am opening now for the winter so I could have a lie in!  It also means I enter by a different gate, nearer the station, so a different opening shot!

the heavy rain overnight and on the way, had stopped (temporarily) by the time the gates opened

although the sky as you see, as I walked up the Broad Walk, was very grey!

It rained on and off for most of the morning and my big Kew umbrella was up and down!

so, as I often do in autumn and winter, entering the gardens from the Elizabeth gate, my first views are from the Broad Walk

you may be able to see the lights flickering at the Hive, indicating bee activity in the real hive.. however I didn't head that way today

much of the verbena is finished, but there is fluffy grasses in amongst the arching grasses 

and the euphorbia was covered in water drops (yay!) 

so too the achemilla mollis, with it's mercury- like appearance of the drops

the huge tree at the end of the Broad Walk turning more autumnal gold

I turned left and headed for the Evolution Garden - but then decided to go into the Princess of Wales glasshouse first 

where I was rewarded with a huge flower on one of the sprawling cactus

these two must be a day old, as they were already fading, they don't last long at all

I leant over towards the single flower, to get a close up in the middle,  gorgeous!

there wasn't a huge amount of interest today, no water dragons again sadly

so I soon fond myself by the exit and my favourite, which was covered in blooms 

outside again and on to the Evolution garden, via the alpine house

I love this huge tree that towers above it

by contrast inside, the cyclamen are tiny

in the veg beds the bright red of the ruby chard (I think, I was the wrong side to see the labels)  caught my eye 

I was blessed with raindrops a lot today

Japanese anemone

they may start to skeletonise soon!

physalis 

there are 4 of these plants at each corner of a little section in the Evolution Garden,  and these were dripping, literally, with water

more euphorbia

most of the yellow from the rudbeckia, has gone over now

back on the path - that's the POW in the distance

looking down the woodland path

I went down the path past the face sculpture, always like to get different angles of it.  couldn't quite get the raindrips on the points though 

headed back past the Broad Walk to the Waterlily house

this tree is really red this week, everything is changing so fast

stunning!

stem or trunk of a tree fern just outside 

the cactus flower from last week, fading but still vibrant

I really had trouble with my lens misting, with the contrast in temperature inside and out

another cactus flower coming

outside,I headed towards the Temperate House, past more turning trees

the acers and maples are just gorgeous

you can see from the muddy grass, just how wet it's been - there were lots of small children in wellies, jumping in puddles on the paths 

Autumn is my favourite time of year even in the rain!

there was a new exhibition opening today inthe gallery, so I headed left first to that, hoping not to find it too busy

I noticed a large clump of funghi in the earth round a small tree 

I see them each year -  today there were lots of them 

I love them

in the gloomy light, the leaves look gorgeous against the dark tree trunk

I changed lenses  so I would hopefully be able to take some inside the exhibition

it's by an artist called Jan Hendrix and was delayed from April due to lockdown but is now on until March... I will find out more about it as the weeks go on, but I know I will be a frequent visitor!

It's called Paradise Lost and I have linked to the Kew website pages.  It explores humanity's impact on the natural world.

there are a series of artworks on the way into this main room, but the light was too low, and no flash allowed, so will have to see what I can do next time about that!

for now, enjoy this!!

the art round the walls was amazing (I bought a scarf with some of Jan's images of trees on.. )

you can walk in and through this, which I will do next time properly

you can see reflections of yourself in the metal 

and like everything done at Kew, the lighting is magnificent, with the pattens on the floor 

someone else joined me in the room and entered the sculpture

part of the wall art 

there is an overlay on the window.. bet when the sun shines this will look fabulous

I headed for the Temperate House

keeping to the path - I knew from previous very wet visits that this path puddles and you get gorgeous reflections of the pine trees

as I approached, the goose lifted it's head  - it had been dozing with his head tucked into his feathers.. sorry goose!

inside the temperate house

the bird of paradise I saw last week,  it's really low down this one, so had to bend right down

we were taken down a different path today before we got to the central section

this was tucked round to the left of the path we could use

the passionflowers are developing on the frames they've been allowed to grow up

there is a different variety in each tub, all slightly different colours

(loading out of order again dammit!)

in the main room, we now wind to the right, past the staircase that comes down from the platform

I was amused to see the climbing plant taking over the bottom of the steps - the tape to stop you trying to go up (even though this is the down stairs)

this is the one I took on my phone,  I love it!! 

these were the tall yellow flowers I wanted to see a few weeks ago.. not many left now

it was nice to explore different paths today

tree smothered in berries

crossing the lake

loads of acorns on a huge oak tree

heading back to the Palm House

this tree is absolutely laden 

I struggled to focus on the water drops though

the rose hips in the rose garden were easier

went into the Palm House 

Florida Silver Palm

another huge palm 

pretty markings on this (dipsyis onilahensis)  

the twirlies are still twirling

finally made it to the Palm House bed lol 

still no planting - I imagine it will be left till spring now 

couldn't not go and check the development on this tree 

I had meant to play with the globe lens and raindrops, but forgot

I was getting tired and there were no seats that were dry enough to sit on for a rest (my coat wasn't long enough to keep mu  bum dry on a bench!)  so I decided to head for home.

I hadn't stopped for a drink either for the same reason (all the outside seats by the cafe had been taken away)  

ivy along the top of the entrance

I walked round the back of the pond

and back down the Broad Walk

time for a last few hits of colour

I almost forgot this

had to take a selfie of my new hair -done yesterday - I can't be faffed to go back and insert it in the right place on my walk!!    ignore the bags under my eyes!  

so that's another 300 pics taken... have left lots out, somehow! 

the sun even came out on my way home!  hopefully next week will be better weather and I won't need the umbrella, it's too unwieldy and gets in the way.

thanks for looking