A warm sunny day at Kew

 Thankfully after the rain of last week, came the sun (eventually) today.  A marathon number of photos, will try and keep the post "short"...

it was still quite fresh at 10 when we got in -  grey sky too

I took the ultra wide angle lens today, and remembered to use it... there'll be another one later with blue sky!

love how it makes the Palm House look so much bigger... Kim is in front of the beds

Christmas at Kew is being installed... baubles, anyone?

trees round the pond

Christmas Elves at work 

along the Broad Walk 

some lovely silvery foliage down the Broad Walk

blasted blogger is reversing them already..

the monkey puzzle tree... looking fantastic

just love the patterns it makes

more reversing.. 

grasses in the grass garden

ripples on the waterlily pond

bloody blogger keeps loading them backwards...

couldn't see a label on this

last pumpkins that didn't sell (presumably)

castor oil plant

lots of different coloured chards today... 

lichen covered wall to the waterlily pond

berries everywhere 

spiky eryngium going to seed

walking round the Evolution garden.

looking down the length of the evolution garden

in the rock garden

bullrushes 

teeny narcissus in the alpine house

trees through the alpine house - sky still really grey!

in the Princess of Wales conservatory  

whilst we were in there, the sun seemed to have come out, as it was shining through the glass rooves and leaves 

so many pretty leaf patterns

Kim photographing ferns

I was getting fed up keep changing lenses!!  back to macro for closeups

more fabulous patterns

just realised the last 8 or so are  back to front again!!

all in the POW though still...

love how the waterlily pads decay

Kim spotted this first... gorgeous purple furry leafed plant, it's growing round the stem of the jade vine, but not sure what it is

more little purple flowers

no water drops outside today but found some inside!

something called syzygium paniculatum!  it was pretty though

outside,the sun had indeed come out and the sky was blue

as we got to the tree next to the one with the ladder, we could see what they'd been doing.  

lights - turtle doves - for Christmas

and elves in hi-vis jackets were up the tree 

gorgeous light now

the dogwoods were shining

the fountain will be off now till January because of the lights for the display

dogwoods...

stunning!

waterlily house, now closed and emptied for winter

the yoshino cherry trees in the sun

I think this might be a tulip tree

sun through the liquidamber leaves

lots on the grass too

the sun was casting shadows 

more work for Christmas in the bottom of the pic

it was more like September than November!

holly

then under a tree roped off (to delineate the route for the Christmas event)  we saw these massive mushrooms

these were huge (had the wrong lens on for scale to show)

so Kim took this - huge! 

the tree with the mushrooms was a stone's throw from the Temperate House

just look at the sky!  

this one wasn't quite as large as the others

shadows

lush light 

firmiana simplex... 

for the blue sky backdrop

lights  -

they run along the length of the bank between the Palm House and the Rose garden

from a distance I htought theylooked like agapanthus but from closer they look more like dandelions

either way they'll be great lit up

not that I'll see them as I don't have a ticket!  

the ivy hedge running along the end path at the end of the Palm House

there were still lots of insects - hoverflies and wasp-y type things - buzzing around this

back at the front of the Palm House again,

so the wide angle came back out as promised - such a difference to earlier!!  

perfect

we headed our separate ways towards home

I got delayed a bit 

by the blue sky 

as I walked back along the Broad Walk to my exit

the Orangery restaurant is now closed for a refurbishment till spring, it's partly hidden by the huge fir tree!  

Kew Palace in the background behind the liquidamber trees

well, that was a gorgeous day - it really warmed up and got to about 18 degrees (Celsius)  which is amazing for November

thanks for looking - see you next week!