After the snow - Kew

 During the week we had a small snowfall,  and today was the first chance of a visit to Kew - still really cold but not as cold as last week I don't think -  some of the snow was still there

the beds still have a light covering of snow on them

the Palm House pond was not only frozen but had snow sitting on the surface too

it was fascinating to see the shapes that had frozen on the pond,  the area close to the fountain was still free of ice, as the fountain is on a low setting to enable the light display to function

there was a low wintery sun trying to shine 

the tee near the fountain, still silvery and icy...

beautiful!

seen through the dogwood

the dogwoods round the pond were vibrant

(blogger has reversed the previous few)

then along the Broad Walk.. 

the frost was different from last week...

and there was frozen snow on part of the ground under our feet..

think this was verbena 

an icy forest of euphorbia

the Broad Walk looking like a Christmas card

the sun trying to break through

mistletoe hanging from a arch over a seat on part of the lights trail

there were large patches of snow on the open grass areas

poor magnolia, bit cold to be in bud!

we followed part of the lights trail,  I'd not seen these on previous visits this year 

obviously it all looks very different at night (the year I came, I found it really hard to get my bearings for whereabouts I was in the Gardens)

but lots of it is very impressive by day too

crossing the grass on the snow - seems to be a mix of snow and frost - beautiful patterns in crystals, but they possibly don't show up too well as I couldn't get low enough (certainly not lying down today!) 

snowy tree trunk

the mirrors demanded closer inspection

I was about to change lens when Kim called me to look at the ice patterns...

I think this is my favourite... I was trying to work out what the red was, but it must be the pattern in my gloves 

heading towards the lake

there isn't enough snow for it to be Narnia, but still very pretty! 

blogger won't load them in the right order...

frozen oak leaves underfoot...

the lake is frozen

bullrushes

a lakeside bush

there weren't any geese around for feeding today, must be hiding somewhere

slightly nearer the lake crossing, there were a group of gulls on the ice

Kim threw some food down...

they came skidding in to land - wish I had video'd them sliding about 

dappled sun catching the icy surface

we turned away from the lake and headed through the bamboo garden to catch another bit of the route

last time I saw these they were dripping in colourful berries, not snow

then a willow representation of the 12 Days of Christmas,  not worth many photos...

but the French hen was quite pretty

and I loved the 10 Lords-a-leaping 

this tree had several willow baubles in (think they called them something else though but they looked like baubles to me)

the Christmas Cathedral was there again, whilst I was on the bus to Kew I was listening to a feature on the Radio 4 news programme about Christmas light events and they spoke to the lady who organises Kew amongst other, and she said this is their signature feature that appears at all their designs

we got back to the Children's garden, which was deserted but snuck a look through the hedges which were bare of leaves so we had a better view than normal.

back to where we'd started on this part of the trail

looking over to the Hive behind the Broad Walk 

the pale sun was just catching the glass

Kim wanted to look at Kew Palace so we headed there next

blogger of course is changing the order of the photos...

the Palace walls were frosty

the formal gardens were looking pretty

tree trunk in the sunken garden, this is the laburnum arch

snowy grass on the way over to the Palace.  (can't be bothered to re-load them all..)

crouched down for the low box hedging...

statue with  icy cobwebs

as I was saying, the Palace walls were frosty!

couple from the phone 

another frozen pond, some more frosty bullrushes

we noticed that these trees were full of green parakeets... I was longing for a load noise to make them all take off from the branches...

more snowy crystals

icy mahonia leaves 

just enough sun for some shadows...

heading round towards the Evolution Garden via the Elizabeth gate entrance path..

snowy frosty stems

and ferns

I dashed over to check the slate water feature that was so full of icicles last week.

there weren't as many as last week, but they had grown - they were looking much chunkier!  

just took a few on my phone, and headed back to catch Kim up

snowy Rock Garden

Kim was in the grass garden and called me over...

they'd had enough snow earlier in the week for this...

cute!  

as I tried to show Kim the icicles.  my phone battery was dead - the cold had drained it...

damn!

so, just the camera then...

snowy ice crystals on the wall of the waterlily pond 

alpine house

ferns in the sun

rock garden from the end by the Princess of Wales conservatory

snow collecting in the leaves of the outdoor agave

couldn't get the right angle to show them properly

as the frozen rill round the POW is in the way

we headed back to the pond by the Palm House

for a closer look at the beautiful tree

I put on the long zoom 

the statue has icicles hanging from his hand

through the leaves in front..

the temperatures are due to warm up after today so next time there won't be this view.

from the viewing platform for the light show,

a better look at his icicles!  

and you can see icicles on the branches too

the dogwood from this angle were stunning in the sun

a little bit of blue sky!

a couple of geese 

flew across my shot...

don't the dogwood look gorgeous!

love the seagull sitting on the snowy head of the lion!

sun shining through leaves

we headed in to the cafe and were lucky to find a seat as a group were leaving - and with a socket to charge my phone a little

(I don't usually carry a charger but after last week I had put it in my bag...)

I had hot chocolate and a sausage roll, Kim went for the cheese and mushroom croissant!

There'll be no visit next Saturday as it's Christmas Eve and Kew is closed for that and Christmas Day, but I am not working in between Christmas and New Year and hope to pop in an extra visit before the following weekend!

Thanks for looking,  see you soon!