Kew - the blossom edition

 The morning started out brilliantly sunny, though the forecast was light showers from around opening time! .  We were incredibly lucky.

Sit back and enjoy the blossom that is everywhere now at Kew...

it was cold though...

the daffodils were dancing in the breeze in front of the Palm House

Due to the forecast, Kim and I decided we'd "do" blossom first so we got blue skies and sunshine, so headed round the rose garden to the Yoshino cherry trees first 

from now until 14 April there is a collaboration between Kew and the Royal College of Music and they are running a blossom "festival" with music playing at the blossom hotspots, composed especially.

it's had mixed reviews on the Kew FB page and I am not convinced... but the blossom was beautiful

behind the holly hedge that runs round the rose garden are some more beautiful trees

and we headed towards the next display

trying to be arty! 

at the end of the path, this beauty has really come out loads since last week (like many of the cherry trees)  

but has also lost a lot of petals, big blooms covering the grass like confetti.  shame - it's the wind and rain.

there are pink and white varieties

we cut across the grass towards the magnolia glade (which is already starting to fade, it was early this  year)

pausing - actually not really pausing, shooting on the hoof...

for some more blossom 

there were some clouds in the sky, but still lots of sun, shining through the magnolia petals...

this is a tree at the side of the path before you get to the main glade

the yellow variety is one of the later flowering ones so is just coming out 

more blossom on the way

blogger is muddling these up, but the cherry and the magnolias are close together, heading towards the azalea garden which will be out later 

the red azalea here were a pretty backdrop to the blossoms in front, but two women had met and were standing chatting... I tried waiting till they moved but they weren't budging, so had to shoot over their heads, rather than get the azalea framed by the blossom as I wanted

but isn't it pretty

this is  in the azalea garden.. so yes, blogger out of order again 

back to the magnolias at the start of the azalea garden

towards the path that leads to the lake we met the fox

lots of patches of daffodils planted in drifts with mown grass between

at the lake

the pink on these has faded now, they'll open soon

I love the feet - stripy boots!  of the moorhen

in the distance at the head of the lake, a white daisy carpet 

I was distracted by the trunk of this tree, it has obviously split in a storm and been partly felled

I was also drawn toward the white shrub at the top of the picture - at the far end of the gardens just before the river

but first the one just to the right 

I don't know what it is.

by the time I got to the big white shrub, the wind kept blowing and spoiling my attempts!

we headed round on our way to the little pond along cedar vista (although we walked along the parallel grass walk )

where we found some tall snowdrops 

there is a coot - or moorhen, couldn't tell from this distance - starting to nest in the middle 

some kind of seed pods on a tree

pretty blue flowers,  

we made our way to the back of the Temperate House where there are some gorgeous trees starting to flower beautifully.

I think blogger has insisted on reversing the next batch

Kim said I didn't match the blossom with my hat on, so I took it off after this!

this is my favourite spring tree, the colours of the developing buds are so vibrant and they are just getting going

we headed to Cherry Tree South 

Temperate House behind the branches

it's amazing how much more "out" these ones are than the ones in Cherry Tree North (the other side of the TH with the tulips)

then it was into the Temperate House

this looked straighter when I took it... through the doors to the cherry trees outside

a quick walk through (we wanted a cuppa!)

the African hemp is nearly finished, just a few blooms left 

on one of the cills in an octagon,  this daisy

was really pretty

we didn't go into the house with the big one of these today

new ferns unfurling 

there's another flush of the red funghi under the tree ferns behind the waterfall

ivy at the top of the steps at the end of Cherry Tree walk (north, as I now know)

the cherry trees along here are only just starting to flower, so I am not sure they will coincide with the tulips, some of which are starting to flower 

we headed back towards the Victoria gate cafe

we sat outside.  the sausage roll wasn't hot all the way through so a bit disappointing today but the hot chocolate was lovely!

the weeping cherry by the pond is still pretty

the gunnera are sprouting.

they are redeveloping this bit behind the pond so it will be interesting to see what happens to the side of these 

we headed tothe POW conservatory

 

it was extremely hot in there today, so a quick walk through

there was one waterlily opening 

the jade vine sill looking amazing

in the pond 

fern in the corridor 

alpine house now

the "tortoise" is starting to flower 

there are some scilla coming out, love these 

spiral aloe in the rock garden

in the bonsai house, a flowering bonsai crab apple 

beautiful!

Thanks for looking -  

we were really luck with the weather, as we walked through the evolution garden to the exit a brief rain shower (with a few hailstones) but that was it.

Nightmare journey home as when I got to Clapham Junction for my connection to Sutton, the trains were all delayed due to someone being hit by a train.  I had to take a detour that took me another hour to get home... another train and a bus.... hey ho.  

It's the train drivers I feel sorriest for, what a thing to witness.

Anyhow, please come back next week for another trip to Kew!