Saturday, October 30, 2021

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.  

4 comments:

LesleyE said...

Wow, where do I start! So many favourites this week! Needless to say I love the beautiful colours of the different trees particularly the acers and maples and your favourite. The chrysanthemums are beautiful too and I loved the contrasting colours of the nerines. The cactus flower is pretty amazing too. Like you I was very surprised at the camellia being in bloom. I thought they usually opened in January or at least my mum's used to, if it didn't get ruined by bad weather and frosts.

The exhibition is fabulous but I think I prefer the coloured side. My absolute favourite pieces though were the two on your way out....Sunny Moon and Sunrise.

After all that though my favourite photo of the day is #143. The sparkly sunlight filtering through the leaves is just gorgeous.

I have to say I admire your patience with Blogger and it's shennanigans but thanks for persevering.

Lesley Xx

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Gorgeous oranges and reds to show that autumn is truly arriving at Kew.

Those pumpkins must be covered or they would be moldy by now. They delight me.

That borage is amazing. Simply beautiful close ups.

The acers really are beautiful. I had no idea the cherry trees turned colors like that. The ones we had when I was a child didn't get these lovely colors. And I admit that Kew's mums look so much healthier than mine.

Blogger may be a pain, but that chalk garden is still stunning.

I love the beautiful flowers in perplex, but really like sunny moon and sunrise.

I see the urns near the fountain have now lost their flowers.

I look forward to seeing the next titan arum in full bloom. I hope you are able to catch this one before it starts to collapse.

Thanks for taking me with you to Kew today. I didn't even have to carry an umbrella, either!

Celtic house said...

What a fabulous visit to Kew and what a difference the sunshine makes, definitely full autumn colours now, I love the autumnal wild flower elements, I'd seen some borage in a garden recently and couldn't remember its name, so thanks for the reminder, I also smiled at the idea of the kids crawling after the pigeons, my Mum stopped the other day to watch some kids play with some musical toys in B&M they were having a whale of a time and definitely made her smile

The photo inside the glasshouse when your camera had stopped misting up is gorgeous.

I hope you have a great week ahead.

Hugs

Diana Taylor said...

Gorgeous photos again this week Helen, the autumn colours are absolutely heavenly. I think the two discs with the trees on them - photos 99 and 100 - are stunning - I would so love to own one! The physalis are also a favourite and I am still determined to have some in my garden for next autumn!
Thanks for sharing your visit - I loved it!
Diana xx