Today, Tuesday, we woke up to sunshine and blue skies, a perfect day to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens, known as Kew Gardens. You’ve probably figured out from some of our other posts that Christine and I are garden nuts. We very much enjoy nature in all its glory and often ensure that our travels include various types of gardens. So off to Kew for the day.
We got to experience more mass transit opportunities getting to Kew. From the St. John’s Wood station we took the Jubilee line (that’sthe tube or underground) several stops northbound to West Hampstead. Then the new experience was taking the overground, as opposed to the underground, out to Kew Gardens station. The overground is the same type of train as the underground, but, you guessed it, it stays above ground. I liked that because we could see more as we passed through smaller towns. One of the things I love about the UK is all the different town and village names, places like Kensal Rise, Swiss Cottage, Shepherd’s Bush and Harrow-on-the-Hill. So quaint. At any rate, we got off the overground at Kew Gardens station and walked a short distance to Kew Gardens, the Victoria Gate.
We opted for an introductory hour-long walking tour with a guide. I’m glad we did that because Chris, our guide, gave us a good overview of the history of the gardens. It was fascinating to learn how it all started in the 18th century. Two royal estates, the Richmond estate of King George II, and the Kew estate of his son, the Prince of Wales, Frederick, were merged. Frederick never became king due to premature death. His wife, the Dowager Princess Augusta, started the garden at Kew in 1759. Her son, King George III then inherited the estate and continued his mother’s desire for a huge garden. King George III was often referred to as Farmer George, because of his love of gardening and what he did to develop Kew. After George III, the gardens declined because George IV spent all the money on a lavish lifestyle. After this, in 1840, the crown gave the gardens to the people and the Royal Botanical Garden started its purpose, that being scientific and the collection of plants from all over the world. Today, Kew has the largest collection of plants in the world. They also have over seven million species catalogued in their herbarium (a library of pressed plants). They are experts in plant taxonomy and people come from all over the world to study. And they are now undertaking the Millennium Seed Project whereby they are amassing a collection of seeds from around the world. I was very impressed by all this. Kew is a fantastic resource, and awesomely beautiful.
One of the iconic Kew buildings in the Palm House. When constructed, it was an engineering masterpiece. It is full of tropical plants and in the basement there is even a marine exhibit with some really interesting fish and marine ecosystems showcasing the importance of plants. Like did you know that half of the world’s oxygen comes from algae?
Kew is over 300 acres in size and has many different sections showcasing various trees, shrubs and plants.
If I had been a good horticulturalist, I would have written down all the names of the plants that were our favorites. But, I didn’t, so here are just some lovely plants.
We were really struck by all the fabulous trees. Some of them, which Kew refers to as the “old lions,” have been there for hundreds of years. We saw one pine that Princess Augusta had in a pot that got planted after her death and now is a huge tree. There was an ancient Japanese Pagoda tree that was really unique. I fell in love with a maple called the Paper Bark maple because its bark was a beautiful orange color. In 1987 there was a hurricane in the UK and over 1,000 trees were damaged or killed, a sad story. However, one good thing that came out of it was that a huge old oak trees got lifted up out of the ground and it came down a little crooked. Before the storm, the tree had been really sick and wasn’t doing well. After the storm, it started to flourish and the botanists learned that the injection of oxygen in the soil during the storm lifting the tree up is what gave it new life. Now, injecting air into soil around sick trees is a common practice by arborists. So now, I’m fascinated by all things trees.
One of the buildings in the garden is Kew Palace, which is where King George III lived in the summer. It’s a beautiful house along the Thames, but there was noting palatial about it. It was just very stately.
We had lunch in a lovely café that used to be the Orangery, yes, where the royals grew orange trees. However, they had to stop that practice because the moisture and humidity needed by the orange trees kept rotting the structure. But now it is a lovely café.
There was just too much to see at Kew for one day’s visit. We ended the time there by taking a little trolley ride around the park so we could at least see an overview. I could go on about our visit, but since I’m tardy getting this posted (no internet this morning), I’ll end for now and just say, the Royal Botanical Garden is not to be missed.
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The Royal Botanical Gardens looks very lovely. I think the paper bark maple would be my favorite tree as well. Do you keep notes during the day to be able to include so much interesting history and information? I like being an armchair traveler!
Hi Michele: Yes, I do sometimes take notes. I certainly did during our introductory tour with Chris, because the history of the gardens was so interesting. Other than that, though, I often forget to document details. I also try to pick up brochures and other literature so I can fill in the details. Many folks probably aren’t interested in all the stuff I write, but I appreciate the fact that you are – your comments keep me writing!