The Second Part Of Our Visit To Kew,

outside it was still cold, damp and drizzling,

I had brought both my normal and infrared cameras, but with the light drizzle they would get too wet, so I just used my normal camera, between shots putting in under my coat to keep it dry,

looking back to where we had just been, we were on a mission, to find the bamboo section,

and here they were, a small selection of them, the main stands we will not see until later,

with the drizzle making their leaves heavy with water, they looked so graceful,

bamboos are both a favorite of Steve and myself,

I particularly like the ones with black, like the one above or yellow stems,

I went into the Secluded Garden,

I mentioned the bamboos being heavy with water, well they seemed only too pleased to give the water up as I brushed underneath them!

on our walk there is a pine section,

now that is what I call a Christmas tree, and as it happens Christmas is only 296 days away!

a favorite tree of mine,

a monkey puzzle tree, (Araucaria araucana),

we were both a tad hungry, so into the café it was then,

in a few months there will not be an empty table, but today the choice is yours!

no prizes for guessing that Diana, if she were here would be looking at these!

decision made, chips for Steve, egg mayonnaise sandwich for myself, 2 coffees and we were on our way,

past this magnificent building, we had seen something in the distance,

a splash of bright pink,

some of the gardens magnolias were in flower,

and giving a nice bit of colour,

on an otherwise grey day,

I could have done with a telephoto lens,

but this tree, 

had a few flowers closer to the ground,

and this one,

had not pink but white flowers, in a couple of weeks time this area will be a mass of blooms,

in the far distance,

one of the gardens guests,

we were now entering the main bamboo area,

there are over 1,600 recognized specie of bamboo, 

belonging to the grass family, (Poaceae),

some of the bamboos have a habit of spreading, so they are grown in rings of material they can not penetrate to keep them under control,

one of the yellow stem species I like so much,

a grove of several species,

down in the dip,

the Minka House, I will have a look in it later,

some bamboos do stay small, like this one,

dwarf whitestripe bamboo, (Pleioblastus fortunei),

this legend, 

might be useful if you plan on growing a bamboo for your garden,

into the Minka House,

all made of just wood, mud and thatch,

in other words in the country,

all you needed to make a home was usually available from the land,

we carried on looking at the bamboos,

these with green stems,

looking really nice,

in the distance one of the lakes,

looking to the left,

and right the ground super saturated with water after the last few days rain,

on to the bridge,

it must have been mating season for the geese, a couple of pairs were both claiming one part of the island,

no problem for this chap, he was the only one of his kind here,

looking through the slats that make the sides of the bridge,

we made our way past the Temperate House,

that we will be visiting later,

but first into,

the Davies Exploration House,

which houses a collection of plants,

from all areas of Australia,

divided into West, East, South and North,

we decided against going to the Pagoda today, maybe next time,

I could not help but look at this tree in full bloom, summer will soon be here!

we made our way to the Temperate House,

behind us the cherry tree walk that leads to it,

up the steps,

and inside,

what a delight,

as we made our way from room to room,

it would be easy to spend a day just here,

in each section there were pods,

with so much information on them,

from discovers who added to the collection, to the plants themselves,

as we left one room,

I spotted this plant, easy to miss, 

it is a fuchsia, (Fuchsia triphylla 'Thalia'), which somehow looked so much nicer than the normal fuchsias that I have seen,

one thing I do not like is heights,

and it looks like I will be going up there,

the good news is that the view should be good,

looking down I saw this, a cinchona plant, a plant that keeps cropping up in a number of travel books I have read, it is the tonic in a gin & tonic that keeps malaria at bay, if you want a good read try this, titled Just The Tonic, it is by Kim Walker & Mark Nesbitt, 

before going upstairs we had a walk around the house at floor level,

looking at the water feature, 

that looks so natural,

in each corner there is a sculpture, I am going to stop here, as it is now time for us to go upstirs, and later in the next post we will be seeing huge black ferns, and a Golden Lotus Banana, that I have never seen or heard of before, if you would like to continue with us click on 'Older Posts' in the bottom right corner of the page.