The first visit of the year: Part 1

The year hasn't properly started until the first trip to Kew.  While some part of the grounds may not be at their best, the bulbs are not out yet and lots of work is going on the main glass houses.  The aloes are in flower make the succulent section almost at it's best.  However before I was allowed into the candy store, I had to earn it by walking around some of the other areas.  At least the sun was out:

The glass house on the left is the alpine house, and the large one is the princess of Wales house. It is still a little early for the alpines, but there were a few out:

Finally I was allowed inside and they have had a big clean up after the agave flowers last summer left huge gaps in the bed.

This is now the only large agave, looks a bit sad all on it's own:

There are a few new agaves in the bed, including this very nice agave titonata (I told you I liked them).

The agave ovatifolia is coming on as well:

The bracteosas are looking good as well:

I particularly like the view form above:

I'll cover the aloes in the next post and then get to the behind the scenes tour!