On the 8th July this year I finally got to go somewhere I hadn't been since I was a young boy with my mum and sister. I just remember not really caring at the time, but it being a nice family day out. I am pretty sure I spent most of my time actively trying to avoid stepping in duck poo. This day was different though. This time I really wanted to go, and was borderline excited to visit. The time had come... This is my day out at Kew Gardens.
One of the main things that really triggered me wanting to go to Kew this year was the opening of the new Temperate House in May. The Temperate House is the largest Victorian glasshouse in the world and it was closed for 5 years due to it being in desperate need of modernisation. It opened in 1863 so you can understand that it may have needed some love. So many people in the gardening community on Twitter were posting their pics and experiences of the grand opening, I just knew I had to go. I've wanted to go for a couple years now, but this time I had a real excuse to make it happen. I just had to convince my girlfriend that this was the right way to spend a scorching hot Sunday afternoon, and not on the beach somewhere instead.
We began our journey in the gardens with a quick visit to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery. To be honest the main reason why we did this was to get out of the baking sun, and they had the most wonderfully cool air conditioning... so how could we not? Despite the initial ill intentions it was actually a really impressive collection of botanical art. As an artist I could appreciate the technique and skill required, but as gardener I just really wanted to go out and see the real thing in the Temperate House.
That's exactly where we headed to next. As the the lovely lady at the ticket kiosk had recommended there was a show coming up in the Temperate House, we wanted to make sure we got there in good time to get a good view. It was a 20 minute aerial performance called 'Harmonic' by Cirque Bijou. Essentially we watched a graceful, skilled trapeze artist moving to music by cellist Rob Lewis. This was a nice introduction to the giant glass house, but it was time to go and view some cool plants.
The 'Tradescantia Pallida', a purple spiderwort trailing plant, caught my eye immediately, as that is a colour that I am currently incorporating into my garden. Followed by a series of extraordinarily exotic plants that I couldn't even fathom in my wildest dreams. Plants from Africa, Asia,the Pacific Islands and all over our incredible planet that you really need to see to believe. Words don't really do it justice. However, it was an exceptionally hot day and we were essentially in a massive greenhouse, so needless to say it was a tad warm inside there.
We moved on to go and see 'The Great Pagoda', a Chinese architecture inspired ten-storey octagon tower. Unfortunately it wasn't finished being restored on our visit so we could only view it from the outside. Nevertheless, we carried on walking and came across two glorious lakes, with one of them being ingeniously named 'The Lake'. Despite the creative name there was a stunning bridge/walkway called 'Sackler Crossing', which is a meandering pathway with a series of individual vertical bronze posts. These posts being the only thing between you and an unwanted swim with the fish (Which might not have been a bad idea on this particular day).
Next on the agenda was a visit to 'The Hive', a visually stimulating installation that mimics the activity of a real beehive. I won't lie, at the time I didn't fully understand it, as there is supposed to be light and sound emanating from the installation. However, it was so bright that none of that really came across. I did appreciate the fact that the whole area had been planted up with wildflowers to attract all the buzzing pollinators to the area, giving the experience another layer of depth and making it a real sensory exploration.
'The Palm House' as well as the 'The Great Pagoda' are quite iconic for me, as my dad, who used to study art much like myself, painted these many years ago in college. The mental image of those paintings stayed with me to this day and seeing these two incredible buildings just brought back good memories of how talented an artist my dad used to be. It would be nice if one day I can do my own paintings a good 40 years on.
Any hoo... The Palm House. One word ...HUMID!! Oh my gosh it was so humid in there that we couldn't stay in that sauna very long. Obviously it is deliberately spritzed and humid for the extravagant palm plants but wow... just wow on a hot day like that. We did run into a little lizard in there too, seeing wildlife roam free is always nice. It was just casually posing on the wall like it was about to release the hardest reptilian mixtape in Kew history. The Palm House is basically what I would want my garden to look like in 10 years, however almost none of these plants would survive the British winter. The plants in here were even more exotic than those in the Temperate House. I know my life as gardener is really only just getting started, but it was truly humbling to see such alien plants compared to our common Daffodil. We went up to the balcony in the palm house and I think I could actually smell myself cooking in the heat, so we swiftly went back downstairs and off to the 'Princess of Wales Conservatory'.
In here we saw the biggest Lily pads I have seen in my life!! They were ridiculous. A wild primal instinct in me really wanted to just jump on them, but as a recent video on the interwebs taught me... I would have sadly fallen straight through.
By now my mouth was just wide open at all times at these incredible plant collections and knew I had a lot to learn.
It needs to be kept in perspective that a lot of the conditions are artificially created by the brilliant buildings at Kew. For example, in here each room had different temperatures and humidity to keep the plants in the conditions they would usually need to thrive in their individual countries. As a gardener you are always bowing to the will of your space or conditions you are given. You may want to plant a banana tree in sunny Scunthorpe, but unless you can guarantee those conditions for the plant, don't hold your breath on getting any bananas anytime soon. It is just the same as when you plant a fern in shade, rather than exposed to the glaring sun. Each plant has different needs - you just need to do your research on the plant and find them an adequate home in your garden.
Visiting Kew Gardens was an education I will be sure not to forget anytime soon and I hope not to leave it as long until my next visit. If you haven't been and you're a budding gardener, or even just really love flowers, it's a must. I hope you've enjoyed this post, or it's informed you a bit more on Kew Gardens, as I really enjoyed writing about it and visiting during one of England's longest heat waves. Remember, I am still not a gardener though...
Please browse through this slideshow of a few of the pictures I took at Kew. There were too many cool pictures to post them all:
