Located west of London, in Richmond, Kew Gardens is 300 acres
of trees and shrubs and historic buildings. Kew has the most diverse collection
of plants in the world including many rare species. Research, science, and
education are important parts of Kew.
Temperate House |
The Temperate House, built in 1860, was reopened in 2018 after
five years of renovations. It contains
plants from the temperate regions of the world and has some species that are extinct
in the wild, one that was grown from a 200-year-old seed, and many other
rare species.
There are ten climate zones in the Princess of Wales Conservatory,
each a separate climate-controlled room: orchid room, fern room, cactus room, carnivorous
plant room are a few.
You open a door and go from hot dry desert…
…to dripping rainforest. See the colourful column in the background?
Bromeliads |
The Palm House, built in the 1840s, was the first large-scale
glass structure using wrought iron. It houses the tropical plants that British
explorers brought back from their expeditions.
The Davies Alpine House was designed to create the cool, dry,
and windy conditions that alpine plants prefer, without using energy-intensive
air conditioning and wind pumps. The plants are tended in a nursery and when they flower they are brought into the Alpine House so there is a constant rotation of the collection.
Waterlily House was built in 1852 to house Victoria amazonica, the largest waterlily. It is a short-lived perennial in the wild but in the Waterlily House it is grown each year from seed. Many other waterlilies, ferns, and papyrus are also found here.
There is too much to see in a day!
kew.org
Thanks for the tour. What beautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteWonderful, thank you.
ReplyDelete