A rainy trip to Kew

 Well it's Saturday so it's time for Kew - the rain won't put me off.

it was raining lightly when I got in and I had m y big umbrella to juggle with again , I hadn't dared leave it at home given the forecast

and despite the wet day, the dogwood round the pond was still bright.

down the Broad Walk, the pink hellebores at the top end nearest the pond are out

and of course I can't resist raindrops

so the euphorbia were fabulous for that

I walked round towards the Princess of Wales conservatory and noticed this tree with fabulous peeling bark trunk

inside out of the rain!  

the next few are out of order again 

in the orchid room

(the annual event is going ahead this year, I've booked my first few week's timeslots) 

I had to dodge the man with a hose watering..... I was getting wet enough outside!

I imagine some of these tubs of orchids are going to be used in the display somewhere 

out of order again,   the snowdrops were a bit wet today

in the rock garden a flat low growing euphorbia - I love this one, the way it grows like columns

in the alpine house, not much colour today, and certainly no sun to make them shine!

I took a shot along the wall to show the formations some of the plants grow out of

it was really raining as I walked through the evolution garden

the seedheads on the agapanthas

were looking good though

and the teasels are above my head high

something called edgeworthia

back at the pond the dogwood  close up 

I thought I'd taken a close up of the raindrops on the stems but  seem not to have !

on my way for the loo and to see how busy the cafe was 

surprisingly quiet was the answer (I thought it would have been full but it was still quite early, about 11 

I went back to hummingbird cake with my hot chocolate today

on the pathway up to the Temperate House I was hoping for puddle reflections - but all I got was raindrops - not enough light for much of a reflection

I didn't go into the Zadok Ben-David exhibition today, with the umbrella as well as my camera bag, I was too scared of knocking against the flowers.

these beauties in the Temperate House were even better today

my walk is loading out of order again... can't be bothered to re-do them

the silver daisy bush flowers are developing...

above my head in the main room of the Temperate House - they're hard to photograph as the flowers are white against the roof, and the light distorts the exposure

(by now I should know how to do the exposure settings manually!)

a wider angle shot of the Tamarillo  tomato tree 

walking round to the lake past the Treetop Walkway

pausing for some raindrops on a tree 

I got a bit of a puddle reflection on the lake crossing of the dome of lights

I headed back towards the exit through the Cathedral - part of the lights show

it's made up of hundreds of little glass flowers which were dripping wet!

I decided that was enough for today as my boots were very wet and I'd seen most of what I usually look for - although when I got on the bus home I realised I'd not gone to check the witch hazels - but they should be fabulous next week still.  

Thanks for looking - and here's hoping for better weather next week!