Kew Gardens 17th Smile – Japanese Festival

As the seasons change – Kew Garden does too. We went to the Japanese Festival in Kew.

Japanese Gateway

God's beauty never ends.
We just need to take time to open our eyes to see it,
to feel it and to experience all it can be. 

Laura D Field

In the Temperate house we saw Art work

‘A thousand Springs’ from Chiharu Shiota.

5000 Haikus – in Japanese – referencing nature – suspended on red threads

while listening to beautiful music by a Japanese composer.

5000 Haiku suspended in a web of red threads

The Chalk Garden was a mixture of chalky English limestone and beautiful Japanese planting.

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We saw colours with Bonsai Trees

I’ll leave you with a Japanese proverb

One who smiles 
rather than rages 
is always stronger.

Wishing everyone a great weekend !

Kew Gardens 16th Smile – shapes

Another trip to Kew Gardens – this time I found lovely different shapes in the plants. We walked through the rainforest, grasses and admired another beautiful open waterlily.

Never lose an opportunity
of seeing something beautiful,
for beauty is God's handwriting.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

God was very creative making wonderful shapes for us to admire.

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  Aloe – spiral

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  soft long thin grass in the wind

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  long – titan arum

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  just amazing….

We saw a fruit in different stages

God gave us eyes
to see the beauty of nature
and hearts 
to see the beauty in each other.

Kew Gardens 15th Smile

This time in Kew Gardens I admired the flowers and learnt some Photography tips from my Photographer friend I went with.

I learnt to focus on the flower with a blurry background. This was even possible with my Mobile phone camera and I was so happy that this worked well.

Please click on the individual picture to enlarge it. I’m proud how the pictures came out.

This little fellow fell on my trousers while we had lunch under an Oak tree.

He was not even 1 cm long.

We passed a fascinating tree, a Maritime Pine which did not grow straight. The bark was smoother on one side and really rugged on the other.

Maritime Pine not growing straight, and view up

We stayed so long we nearly needed a lantern home….

A sweet friendship refreshes the soul. Proverbs 27:9

Every leaf is unique

Looking closer at an Agave at Kew Gardens, you can see clearly that every leaf has a unique pattern of the way it has grown from the inside.

The leaves have similar patterns but evey one is unique to its’ unfolding.

We are unique creatures, every one of us.

Be YOU.
Don't be someone else.
YOU are a unique individual.
Be proud... rock it loud.

Apolo Ohno

Kew Gardens 14th Smile

A new day – a new visit to my favourite Kew Gardens

A walk with a friend through Kew, drinking in the many beautiful colours of plants, I don’t remember the names of.

Here a collage of the beautiful mix.

There are some Eucalytus trees, it fascinated me that there are blooms, fruits and unripe fruits on the same tree at the same time.

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  blooms

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  fruits

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  unripe fruits

Kew surprises me every time.

Sometimes …. just spending some quality time with good friends is the only therapy you need.

Kew Gardens 13th Smile

The Waterlily house is open again, hurray, of course with limited amount of people going in at a time.

Some close ups:

The Rose Garden was amazing, all roses blooming and giving their wonderful scent to us.

I found some beautiful coloured flowers, which I thought need a bit of ironing…only joking 🙂 The crumbly look made them even more special, they were rather delicate in both colours.

A special playful large scale bench waited for us to simply sit, relax and smell the planted circle of rock roses in the middle and enjoy nature.

New growth coming form every tree, and plant. I always love to see growth.

Every time I visit I find different plants, flowers and enjoy nature more than ever. It pushes happiness button every time and makes me grateful to live in such a wonderful world.

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our head.

Never give up – like Nature

I was walking through a forest with trees fallen down.

Yet still more growth comes through the trunk which lies on the forest ground.

It reminded me that

Nature never gives up.

new beginnings

Every day is a new beginning.

Take a deep breath, smile

and start again.

If you don't give up on something
you truly believe in,
you will find a way.
Roy T. Bennett

You should never give up.
No matter how hard the situation is,
always believe that
something beautiful is going
to happen.

If you are in a situation like that at the moment,

please know that you are not alone and you are precious and loved.

My best wishes for you

and may the rise for you soon again.

♥♥♥ Sending hugs and comfort to you ♥♥♥

It is getting warmer

After a cold May with rain, hail, storms and the odd ray of sunshine

the weather realises that is is nearly June and needs to be warmer.

For the last 2 days it has been warmer and

flowers, bushes all really start to bloom.

I love it.

Lilac is in full bloom and smelling amazing.

These are my amazing finds during a walk in a park.

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Can you smell that amazing Lilac?

The earth laughs in flowers

to quote Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kew Gardens 12th Smile

It has been a long time since visiting Kew Gardens.

Yesterday I visited it again during the day with glorious sunshine,

as it is open for the grounds only.

Everything is starting to bud and grow.

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  Enzian

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  Pagoda

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  Japanese Garden

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  Monkey Puzzle tree

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  Monkey Puzzle tree

The Monkey Puzzle tree is among the top ten species in need of conservation.

It is such a beautiful tree.

Kew Gardens never disappoints, a true oasis.

We had such a wonderful time walking the grounds.

Enjoy nature and smile with your whole being.

Sea of Yellow

I received a bunch of Daffodils last week.

One after the other opened

and gave me a complete sea of yellow in my front room.

It gave a beautiful Spring feeling.

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♥ Enjoy Spring ! ♥