The Second Half,

of our Sunday at Kew Gardens,

from a distance it looked like a field of crocus,

but then thinking about it, the season was already too far advanced for them,

I did not know what they were, a type of miniature bluebell is my best guess,

a huge tree in the distance making them look even smaller than they were,

we found ourselves in another magnolia planted area,

these were smaller, younger trees,

but still putting on a good show,

such delicate shades of pinks, this one Magnolia 'Galaxy',

there were quite a number of magnolias here,

if they are to your liking,

this article describes 12 of the most common species,

for myself it is just a pity the flowering season is not longer,

having said that, it is so nice to see them flowering, you know summer is then just around the corner!

the area around the magnolias appears to be a good place for a photo shoot,

and here is ours,

group photograph,

a different magnolia again,

the petals opening up rather than being closed like many magnolias,

we chanced upon a grove of daffodils,

so time for a pose,

or two,

or three, well I just had too!

a last look at this area of magnolias,

as we made our way to this colourful section,

although small what they lacked in size,

these acers made for in colour, this one acer palmatum 'beni-maiko' or as it is sometimes known, Japanese maple,

and this another type of Japanese maple,

acer palmatum 'sango-kaku' also known as the coral bark maple,

this looked really nice, 

a weeping Fuji cherry, pruinus 'snow showers'

which made a lovely arch for Diana,

we continued our walk,

there was just so much to see,

and this was really spectacular,

a huge cherry tree, laden with sweet smelling blossom,

a quick pose from Diana,

we all commented that we had never seen a cherry tree with so much blossom,

Steve and myself left the girls at the tree and walked past one of the temples,

to the avenue of pink cherry blossoms,

which had yet to open, still we saved the girls a walk, the good news is that we have tickets pre-booked for next weekend, with any luck the blooms will be out by then, he said hopefully,

back past the temple,

to where the girls were still posing,

by what to what we all agreed was the nicest we had seen so far,

Ah!

and another from Steve and Kai,

we said goodbye to the cherry tree,

we had not really looked at any of the other fabulous trees that were here,

like these pine trees,

the park benches will give some idea of scale,

I forgot to mention for the young at heart and youngsters there is the Beano trail to follow, I remember reading the Beano as a kid, I was rather surprised in these PC times to see it still with us,

by now the shadows were getting longer so we headed back towards the Palm House,

a quick pose,

as we passed,

the last of the cherry blossoms,

these still in full bloom,

much to Diana's delight,

what a prefect day,

the weather,

could not have been nicer,

I hope we are as lucky next week!

we were at the rear of the Palm House,

so we made our way along the side of it,

what a great day,

we passed the front,

and lake,

as the sun was getting lower,

we passed the closed shop, which hopefully in a few weeks time will open again,

towards the exit, we caught the tube back to Victoria where we said our farewells to Phanee, and then to Steve and Kai as we made our way to Beckenham Junction, one thing that I did not know was that Steve has some sort of app on his watch that he can link with something else, anyway from setting out to now we had walked 5 miles, so that is the calories from the ice cream walked off then! arriving home we watched a couple of Columbo's, rounding off the evening with the final of The Irregulars, will there be a second series? who knows, but we would look forward to watching it if they did, and with that we were off to bed.