Kew Part One, It Was A Cold, Frosty,

and misty morning,

as we set out for our trip to Kew Gardens,

a quick pose on our way to the station,

we were catching the train at Beckenham Junction, 

with Steve and Kai joining us at the next station, all went swimmingly well, we walked straight on to the tube and arrived at Kew in no time, I should say as I took so many photographs I have split this post into 3 parts, so this is part one,

as we were all members of Kew Gardens and had pre-booked out time slot, we were straight in with no queuing,

we made our way to the main shop and restaurant at the entrance to the gardens,

I had to have a pose on the way in,

inside orchids a plenty,

so many to choose from,

like this one,

and bromeliads,

seem to be popular,

if this selection is anything to go by,

from strong stunning colours,

to just tints of colour in this one,

time for a coffee and a snack,

we were a tad early for our time slot to see the orchids,

as I was not hungry I went outside,

stopping to take a few photographs,

of plants for sale on the way out, 

as well as some garden ornaments,

it looks like a mad March hare,

and of course some bees, the yellow hive is in fact a tealight candle holder,

outside it was still misty,

the palm house only a ghost in the mist,

looking back at the water tower by the shop and café,

the gardens memorial, it is known as the Temple of Arethusa,

it is for the Kew Guild Members And Royal Botanic Staff,

in both of the World Wars,

I was soon joined by Steve, Kai and Diana,

time for a pose,

the palm house still shrouded in mist,

but by zooming in,

I could just make out the fountain,

we walked around the end of the lake, 

another pose,

or two,

walking towards the house that the orchids were in, we noticed a few snowdrops,

and this is what we had booked to see,

orchids from Cameroon, the exhibition being held in the Princess of Wales Conservatory,

we did not have to join the queue, 

we were straight in,

and admiring the first orchids of the display,

these not wild but cultivated from wild strains,

we also looked at some of the cactus that were on permanent display here,

we made our way past orchids,

in pots,

I stopped to take a close up of one,

I could not help looking at the barrel cactus,

they are members of two genera Echinocactus and Ferocactus, endemic to the deserts of Southwestern North America southward to north central Mexico,

back to the orchids, this magnificent specimen,

with cascades of flowers on its spikes,

Diana was admiring these blooms,

from a hanging basket,

some of the cactus here are big!

back to the orchids of the Cameroons, the legend says it all,

so many orchids,

in this cascade,

there were of course other plants here,

like this Heliconia,

we continued towards the main pool,

that had orchids in raised pots in it,

as well as some animals,

the lion a tad easier to spot now,

with his mane of orchids,

eye-eye, a hippopotamus,

in the distance a wading bird,

and a second hippo,

a quick pose,

and one from the lion,

a close up of the first hippo,

and the bird,

open wide,

I just noticed a second bird on the hippos back,

a nice touch,

a water lily in flower,

and a bird flying in,

over to the right some more orchids,

rising up to the first level walkway,

looking back at the lion,

I nearly missed the crocodile!

two pyramids of orchids,

almost lost in them,

these white bromeliads,

these looked interesting they are costus,

and are related to the ginger that also produces stunning, strange flowers,

I photographed this sign,

to introduce these two plants,

this is the one that I like, 

the parrot plant,

we walked under a arch, and came face to face with a,

gorilla, cue one of my favourite folk singers, Jake Thackray, 

singing Brother Gorilla, I will stop here as if I post too many photographs on one post it takes a time for them to all load, if you would like to see the rest of our day please hit the 'Older Posts' button on the bottom right.