Kew

 It was a wet start to Kew but as the gates opened, the rain stopped.... 

it was very grey and there were some big puddles, as we'll see.  

Once again I had time to get a coffee in the cafe up the road before the gates opened, and the wet weather meant I was still first in line!

you know that I love puddle pictures... and it wasn't cold, so the puddles were liquid, not frozen 

I headed round to the Princess of Wales first,  more puddle pictures!

there wasn't a huge amount of colour and the contrast between damp outside and heat in, played havoc with the lens misting up

near the exit a tub of orchids caught my eye

I headed next door to the alpine  house

I was trying to get an arial view.

tiny iris

outside into the evolution garden   seed heads

the gypsophila was gone over but had trapped loads of leaves from the nearby tree 

I was trying to reach over the soggy plants at the front of the border to get to the water drops without soaking my jeans  ...

there were even water drops on the skeleton shells of the physalis 

there are still so many on the plant

I liked the reflections of the seed heads in the round bed at the end of the peony beds.

the mahonia is gorgeous

so is the robin, bright splashes of colour 

I followed a bit of the light trail 

who doesn't love a bauble or several 

there's still some colour in the trees dotted about

the dark trunk shows these remaining leaves off well

heading towards the lake,  gorgeous tree trunk

wasn't going to walk along this muddy track to the palm house...

it was spitting with rain again but not enough to put the brolly up, it was making a good walking stick

back through the bauble arches again 

once more covered in water drops

there were a few other hardy souls around, but it was very quiet I hadn't seen many people at all 

I checked on the strawflowers

before heading into the Temperate House, where the platform was accessible

but going round to the left and the front of the TH (which features in the Christmas lights trail)  you could see why it's been closed off - the wiring for the lights all along the windows narrowed the walkway

but it was good to be able to get a view of these flowers which I love, from the top of the steps

(I don't know what they are, one of the students did tell me once but I forgot)

from the ground

the tempranillo tree tomatoes are ripening

from the middle path towards the windows 

I walked round the outside towards the steps at the main entrance - these are illuminated at night and they look as if they are flame lit too

on the top of the steps

the path that takes you to the gallery was full of puddles as it often is after heavy rain... I couldn't resist (though I had to tip-toe to avoid getting wet feet)

the reflections made great puddle pictures!

this is another of the trail light installations

a couple passed me going the other way

as I got to the corner towards the gallery, the gallery itself made a good reflection, complete with falling rain

the Temperate House in the background

I went round to the fairly new Winter Garden

as I could see bright reds and oranges ahead of me

beautiful!  

euphorbias covered in rain

this looked gorgeous

at the top of the path that winds through the garden are some young mahonias

there are lots of hellebores in this garden and there was one flowering away

then I wandered down Camellia walk

this is the start of the light trail.

then it was into the cafe, a quick look round the shop (I need to start Christmas shopping...) 

I had a sausage roll today to warm me up before going home 

they've re-organised the cafe recently it has a bigger seating area now

I was really lucky with the trains home, each time I got to a platform my train arrived and I was home in super quick time.

Thanks for looking - hopefully next week won't be so wet,but it is the day after our office Christmas party...

see you then!