Join the Kew!

On a recent jaunt to London, we visited the world famous The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, known more simply as Kew Gardens, on a bright, sunny but fearfully cold day. www.kew.org/. As the website states, "Kew is a global resource for plant and fungal knowledge." Its landscape gardens, plants, trees, lakes and specialist houses are also very popular tourist attractions and venues for school parties.  On a winter's day in February, most of the trees in the extensive parklands are bare of leaves, but, nevertheless, provide stunning examples of their species. My first image is an HDR composite of a selection of trees and bushes near one of the main entrances. Being formed from three bracketed exposures taken over a couple of seconds, you might spot the ghostly forms of some people on the move! The second shot highlights the magnificent branching of the boughs, a natural fractal-like display of self-similar replication.







Many species of tree retain forms of foliage during winter, conifers in particular, as seen in the next shot. The trees and bushes here are part of the Japanese Gardens at Kew, and the fourth image shows the famous Japanese Garden itself with the centrepiece Japanese Gateway,  Chokushi-Mon.






One of the delights of Kew is coming across hidden splendours like this little pond, a shady oasis in summer but a reflective delight in winter.



As you wander about the parklands, you will likely encounter one or more of some other residents - peacocks. This male eyed me up and down for a a couple of minutes before deciding that I was not a peahen and so did not warrant a full display of his tail feathers - pity!



In the Palm House, there was a huge luxuriant display of exotic species from the tropical areas of the Americas, Asia, and Africa, and I've chosen but one illustration. I would be grateful for an identification! 



Not surprisingly, in the Kew's Orchid House there were some magnificent blooms on show, but there were so many people trying to work their way around that I gave up on photography after a couple of shots; here's one. I have been here before and taken a few shots that I posted back in 2011 ==> Kew Orchid House 6, and Kew Orchid House 2.




More surprisingly, outside in the cold we found some camellias in bloom, and for the last image here is a diptych of two of the colourful flowers.




That's all for now folks - join the Kew if you can!

Cheers

David aka Okavanga