A frosty sunny walk at Kew

 It was really cold today, down to minus 2 overnight and not intended to get above 6 (celsius) all day.. but sunny.  Kew therefore, would be glorious...

you should be able to see frost on the grass and the bedding at this end, further along where the sun was already above the trees, it had already melted the frost.

I was well wrapped up though, and keeping the phone as wrapped up as possible too, just in case the battery failed in the cold (like the old one had a tendancy to do;  but it was fine)

I gave up with the sunnies soon though, as they were distorting the colours and I couldn't see well enough as my cold breath kept fogging them up.

it was beautiful, and I didn't really notice the cold; apart from the tips of my fingers when I swapped to my fingerless gloves to make operating the camera (and phone) easier...

this end, the grass has lost it's frost

so I headed down the Broad Walk first to see what was left in the way of frosty embellishments to the plants...

behind me the sun was illuminating the trees 

I was still in the sunnies here, and seem to have managed to blur some of them

it was mostly the grey plants that were frosted

and the patterns on the backs of the leaves were so pretty

tall seed heads in the sun 

the birds on the lights trail, sparkling 

close up of the discs making up the birds

I headed round towards the Hive on my way to the POW

even without sunglasses the colours of the leaves are beautiful

into the POW

I had to dodge the Kew gardener watering the ferns so went through the orchid room first

this one was ok, it is in the orchid room

the light on the big palms was gorgeous

as I came through to the steamy area, I nearly got soaked from the hose... managed to dry off my camera which wasn't so lucky, with my soft scarf...

I was trying to catch the steam rising from the heating grating, but the camera wouldn't take the photo.. this is the best I got

damn, blogger reversing the next few...

 by the exit...

the lithops, "living stones" are flowering.  they are behind glass so I don't normally try photographing them, but for the flowers I made an exception

outside looking towards the Palm House (top right)

the light coming through the leaves at the woodland garden was stunning

salvias at the top of the salvia border, but I first went though the evolution garden

the big leaves of the artichoke 

there were about 3 helenium flowers left... shame I didn't see it wasn't focussed properly.   

at this point the sunglasses came off!

I like the sun on the yellow petals though so I;m leaving it in! 

there were some frosty leaves but not a lot of colour left 

in the next "room" some purple though 

and then the physalis... loads and loads  

the back of the clump was sitting in bright sunlight.

hydrangea 

saxifrage

the porcelain berry bush was in another huge patch of sun

palms in the sun

grass garden

I keep expecting to find the grasses cut back

alpine house,  scilla in the doorway

and at the other doorway too, where the sun was pouring through

gorgeous! 

nerines in the rock garden

more grey soft leaves

headed along the salvia border.... so glad I did....

look!!  

headed back round to the Broad Walk and crossed it 

hitting a bit more of the lights trail 

the sun was bright, but you couldn't say it was warm!  I think by now it was about 4 degrees.

heading towards the lake

the lake gets a bit silted up this end 

there were two ladies sitting on the bench where Peter often feeds the birds from,  as I walked nearer, loads of  pigeons flew into the tree above them, but I missed them in flight

as I approached the lake crossing I could see several people standing looking at this tree -   and the heron on the lower branch

reflections 

heron keeping a keen eye out for fish

reflections using the phone, too lazy to swap lens on the camera

I walked though the bauble arches again, blogger is reversing the order. pesky...

so different in sunshine and no rain!

trees around the treetop walkway

running out of superlatives about the light!  

in the Davies exploration house,  a new flush of straw flowers.... stunning  

I popped into the Pavilion cafe but there was a queue so abandoned that 

walked down Camellia walk 

the light trail comes down here, it's called Cascade, and these things hang from most of the trees along the path.   they look nothing in daylight,  hope at night they are better.  

one white camellia was in full flower 

and a bit further along some pink ones were out

as I got to the Victoria gate entrance,  the big arch was worthy of photographing 

left side

top of arch

I went a got a piece of cake and hot chocolate from the cafe and as the main seating area  outside is removed for the food stalls, (not open during the day)  I went and sat on the war memorial bench

it was chilly as I was just out of the sun

but the hot chocolate was nice - they're still using the re-usable cups but appear to have run out of lids so it had to be drunk fast to enjoy it hot!

there's a new range of food - was tempted for a sausage roll but the inside seats were full and so that'll be for another day.

the cake is spiced apple.  Nice.  not a lot of spice though.  

thanks for looking. see you next week.