Saturday, October 28, 2023

Kew, the final 9am opening

 Members have been able to get in at 9 on October weekends, next week is back to the 10 o'clock for all...

Luckily today it was dry waiting. 

even a little blue sky! 
great reflections, too 




winter bedding is, bedding in! 




heading down the Broad Walk,  some of the shrubs have been cleared for the end of the summer,

lots of overnight rain,  so plenty of raindrops


I headed round by the hive rather than going to the end of the Broad Walk today
I went to have  a look at the water feature hidden in the secluded garden 
the water was turned off,
but the leaves made a great backdrop
outside the princess of wales conservatory

looking down the rock garden
the alpine house was open,

I saw these a couple of weeks ago,
but this time there was a sign up about them
really odd!

flower on a house leek
outside, in the rock garden

the acer at the entrance to the evolution garden
stunning colours!


on the right hand side as you go through to the EG   a large drift of nerines

pumpkins on display in the veg garden


the mushroom bed has been replenished, hopefully they'll keep the badgers out this time

these are shittake 

I couldn't see any others on the other stumps that have been laid out, I'll keep an eye on them
vines along the border of the veg garden ( under the sunflowers, which are finished now)

the side path through to the rock garden and the acer from earlier

then off to the physalis patch

the leaves are looking a bit bedraggled from all the rain, 

but there were plenty of fruits/flowers left 




not much left in my favourite beds, 
but some interesting seed heads






beautiful leaves everywhere











berberis







headed round past the entrance again and towards the tree colour....

I'd taken this on the phone standing waiting to get in,  through the gates... ever keen to get in






view from the entrance gate (inside)



the beautiful colours  - stronger than last week 

blogger has swapped order, but perhaps it doesn't matter this time, as it gives you a view of the big tree at the end of the path




back to the tree by the temple

I'd used the bench in front of the temple to put my bag on to change lenses




before heading off along the path



and again, it's reversing the order...











no scuffling today, the leaves were too wet under the trees








I went into the Temperate House


it's the last weekend of the Queer Nature event


had the wider zoom lens on for some overall angles
lots of messages have been pinned all round the lower level 


from the doorway back into the octogon
the platform was available today, (it's been closed for maintenance)

I knew the hanging in the centre would be amazing from up high
I walked all the way round taking lots of pictures to get all the sides




it was nice and bright too from outside



mostly I kept the zoom on 







although I did pause and swap at one stage  

from the platform and closer up the colours are so vibrant




going down the stairs again


and a last look from the ground level 




the next octogon
colour outside! 

back to the door from cherry walk






I turned along the path to the Pavilion restaurant
sun was lovely and bright and making the leaves glow

trees to the left 

vines

I walked round the outside first checking the berries out












before ordering a hot chocolate
which I sat outside in the sun and enjoyed
(had to take my coat off!)

no cake today, you notice!
the headed toward the Japanese garden,





as there are lots of beautiful trees on the way





fatsia japonica in the sun

liquidamber tree turning red
it was so bright I wished I'd brought my sunglasses

Japanese garden

I decided to head for the lake, rather than back towards the gallery (which I didn't get back to in the end)


the Pagoda through trees
rowan berries


down cedar vista towards the lake

bit muddy underfoot


what the heck! bit late in the year for rhododendrons

round the side of the little pond halfway to the lake 


this is always a cracker, just starting to turn colour

maidenhair tree in the sun
the pond


at the far end of the lake
towards the crossing.


large groups of young people taking part in the half term "we're going on a bear hunt"   not put off by heavy rain this week

I didn't check what they were doing



lots of gulls on the lake - someone was feeding them!
tried to get them in mid flight but it's a bit over exposed 


cut across towards the Palm House, 


pausing for these beauties
oh-oh clouds...

lots of wet leaves underfoot





























walking round the rose garden,
these are the Yoshino cherry trees that look so spectacular in spring 

the top of this holly bush - it's really tall - was covered in berries.

some of them have hardly any.
at this point, it suddenly started to pour with rain...

I made a dash for the waterlily house (about 20 metres away)

lots of others had had the same idea..


the waterlily house will be closing for winter in a week,


they've already emptied the flower beds outside since last week
misting up problem!
back outside past the beauty on the corner of the Broad Walk again

then round to the Princess of Wales glasshouse





just one little cactus flower trying!

pink bananas (out of order, can't be bothered to fix it)

upper level,  was pleased to see this flowering again


there were a few orchids in the cool orchid room, and the artist was back painting in front of the display cabinet again
in the doorway exit
outside  again, alpine house now surrounded by grey sky

heading round past the monkey puzzle tree on my way to the loo and then home 


for once, the journey home  was quick, trains on time so I caught the connection and including the walk to the station from Kew, it took an hour and ten minutes (often takes twice that)

Thanks for looking, see you again next Saturday - we all get a lie in, can't get in till 10 and I can't guarantee I'll be first in line!!  

2 comments:

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Beautiful opening shot and great reflections. AH! The urns still have plants in them.

Autumn has arrived in all its glory at Kew. I seem to have missed the hidden water feature while I was MIA. Totally awesome pumpkins. Such amazing beauty in the trees.

The Queer Nature Event is gorgeous. First time I've seen it. Loved "there are no rules."

That was a fancy hot chocolate. Very unique way to display it.

Always love the Alpine House. It is my favorite. Sorry I didn't write more. At least I made it.

Celtic house said...

Oh look at those blue skies they seem to be in short supply at the moment. Autumn at Kew is looking amazing as always, those colours getting paler as the season progresses. The hot chocolate looks lovely too, hope it was tasty. The hanging artwork is amazing, the colours utterly beautiful and looks fantastic against the beautiful natural backdrop.

Hope you had good weekend.

Hugs