Kew - a day of contrasts

 the forecast today was for heavy rain passing in the afternoon... well the weather must have already changed it's clock!

It did start wet for sure, with some heavy rain on the journey to Kew, but reduced to a drizzle by 9

the leaves have taken on more colour since last week and the gardens were looking gorgeous

I walked round by the fountain first,

the jets will be turned off soon as they are beginning to install the equipment for Christmas at Kew and they will need the surface of the pond still and flat for the light shows

just look at the leaves!

the salvias are still in full colour

you can probably see the path is very wet to the side and I was having trouble juggling my umbrella and the camera equipment!

however as I turned into the Evolution Garden, the rain stopped enough to close the brolly (which still causes trouble as it gets in the way)

my beautiful beds of rudbeckia and daisies are gone over now - I dare say they'll be cut back very soon to renew for next year

of course the rain had produced some lovely drops!

there were no skeletonised physalis today, just bright orange! 

and the pumpkin display is still fabulous!

I'm sure you remember my love of the wildflower bed at the end of the evolution garden in spring,

well the autumn version has pockets of yellow

and soft blue of the borage

I managed to get in close with the phone - I love the hairs on the stems!!

the grass garden is looking good too

then I headed for the other side of the gardens and found myself on part of the Gruffalo trail - the last weekend of this children's half term event.

I was more interested in the trees though

blogger is adding photos out of order again!!  

this is one of the Gruffalo's friends - I am not up to date enough with all the characters in this much loved children's book, not having young children around these days -  but who doesn't love an owl

I nearly walked past these, at first I thought it was a load of leaf litter, then I realised the tree was surrounded by mushrooms,

some have started to disintegrate

a little further along, the acers were looking fabulous,  

despite the slightly gloomy weather (it was on/off drizzling)   the light shone through the leaves

and they looked amazing

a large tulip tree was also fabulous

the cherry trees round the path round the rose garden have taken on amazing colour since last week

that's the Palm House in the background

then I went along Cherry Walk 

on my way to the Temperate House as it was approaching 10

these are the cherry trees approaching the Temperate House 

I was keen to check the witch hazel again -  

blooming blogger is adding them back to front again.

I can'[t be bothered to delete them and start again (I do them in small batches for this reason 

ok, where were we!

did not want to miss the chrysanthemums today

I love to take close ups of them

there is also a gingko tree 

a final look at the One Thousand Springs

from different viewpoints around the room

the busker had left his instruments ready for his performance but I was too early to listen  and wanted to carry on my way

I ducked under the branch of a fern and admired the small stems erupting from it

then through into the Chalk garden - where blogger is still adding them in it's own order

the colours are fab against the chalk 

back outside and walking round the Temperate House to head for the gallery

some puddle pictures

then in to see the Zadok Ben-David exhibition again 

stopping at one of the perspex boxes just outside the main room

I can't resist more close ups

it was a bit harder today as it was later so there were more people enjoying them- but everyone seems to love them

whilst preferring the black side, the colours are fabulous

on my way out I stopped to look at the cases on the wall outside

I wish I could work out how to stack 2 pics side by side!

the huge maple outside looses its leaves very quickly but you do get to see the stems popping against the colour of the leaves that are left

they were too wet to scuffle through today

but as I walked back towards the cafe I noticed patches of blue sky peeking through the clouds

I was however amazed when I came to a large camellia down Camellia Walk,  covered in flowers.

and a pink one, too

this was mostly green still last week with just red at the very top

it's a Chitttamwood (cotinus)  and one of my favourites

the other side has a way to go yet

as for my absolute favourite at the top of the slope behind the cotinus

I managed to eat outside - dried off a seat with a napkin -  sausage roll and hot chocolate again 

whilst I was enjoying my snack, I was amused by two couples nearby who had tiny toddlers crawling around on the wet pavement after pigeons, they were so cute!

and all of a sudden, the sky was bright blue and the sun out!

I wasn't expecting this weather until afternoon, but glad the forecast was wrong.

how different they look with teh sun shining through the leaves

the pond at the Palm House bathed in sunshine

a look at the trees behind the rose garden 

before heading into the Palm House

so much light streaming through the windows - they have been cutting some of the plants back for winter to give the rest more light during winter

I noticed a group taking pictures inside a fern's fronds and after they'd gone went to investigate

It was lovely to see light streaming through the windows 

and this is the bed in the middle of the palm house,  quite bare, but the light was amazing

(and my camera had stopped misting up)

outside by the waterlily houe

the cherry trees round the rose garden in the sun now!

there's still some pelican flowers in the entrance lobby of the waterlily house

I was trying to take a photo of the reflection in the pond but something dripped into it causing the ripples

the pink reflection was of this cactus flower in the hanging basket in the corner

which I had real trouble focussing on

but finally managed it.

it's huge!  

took another on the way out for the sun coming through the window

I'm getting really fed up with blogger loading these in the wrong order.

headed back round the pond for the sun through the trees!

just fab!  what a change in 2 and a bit hours

dogwood 

this and the next one, are 2 different trees, honest!

off to the Princess of Wales conservatory now

the leaves on the red maple outside the POW are a) falling fast and b) more orange than red now

but still lovely

and lots are yellow too

I started at the other - desert - end but effing blogger won't co-operate and I am too tired to re-load this batch

orchids

the next titan arum is starting to open out of the stem

and here was where I started!  

then next door to the alpine house -  some more ominous clouds behind it

these beautiful nerines had caught my eye walking past in the rain earlier 

grass garden in the sun

another gorgeous tree in the Duke's garden, not a lot else of colour there today

on my way back to the exit,  I realised I hadn't gone to the lake, or the Japanese garden and did think about it, but looking at the clouds and the fact that there was a train due very soon, meant I gave it a miss. 

as it happened, the sun came back out, but never mind, there is always next week!

thanks for looking.