Buy this book, Garden, an English Love Affair: One Thousand Years of Gardening, showing how the distinctive fashions in gardening over the centuries reflected political, social and cultural life.

The Tropical House, Kew Garden
Buy From Art.com

Formally called the Royal Botanic Gardens, the basic facts of Kew Gardens are:

• The gardens cover 300 acres
• It is a scientific and research centre as well as a public garden
• Situated on the site of 17th and 18th century gardens, parts of the area were once owned and managed by royalty.
• The western part of the gardens, once attached to Richmond Lodge (long since disappeared), were laid out and designed by the famous Capability Brown
• In 1840 the gardens were given to the nation

Of course, such historic and scientifically interesting gardens have a great deal to see. Here are some of the outstanding features:

• The Palm House - probably the most famous of Kew's buildings, this tropical glasshouse was built in the mid 19th century. Currently amongst the species growing there are bananas, pawpaws, breadfruit and mangoes.
• Princess of Wales Conservatory - this glasshouse honours two Princesses of Wales, Augusta, who founded the gardens in the 17th century and Diana who opened the conservatory in 1987. Amazingly, it houses ten climatic zones from damp tropical to arid includes a mangrove swamp, a giant Amazonian waterlily, aloe vera, sisal and carniverous (meat eating) plants.
• Temperate House - built in the early 1860s, this is the largest glasshouse in Kew Gardens and is home to world’s biggest indoor plant, the Chilean wine-palm. It houses plants from Australia, the Pacific Islands, South Africa, parts of Asia and the Mediterranean. Here you can see a number of endangered plants as well as tea and citrus fruits.
• Waterlily House - closed in the winter, this glasshouse was built in the mid 19th century and is the hottest and most humid of Kew's glasshouses. As well as giant waterlilies, you can lemon grass, taro and rice growing there.
• Alpine House - this is the smallest of Kew's glasshouses and was opened in 1981. The plants are changed twice weekly.
• Evolution House - learn and see the evolution of plants over the last 3500 years.
  

Kew's other attractions include:

• Museum No. 1 - Housed in a beautiful Grade 1 listed building, its Plants and People Exhibition illustrates the relationships between plants and man and the ways they have been used.
• Marianne North Gallery - paintings by the Victorian traveller and artist, Marianne North. Born in 1830, she travelled to the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Java, Sri Lanka and India amongst other places.
• Royal Palaces - Queen Charlotte’s Cottage and Kew Palace, both are looked after by Historic Royal Palaces.
• Pagoda - Completed in 1762, the 10-storey Pagoda is another one of Kew's most famous features.
• Japanese Gateway and Landscapes - the Gateway is a replica of a famous Gateway in Kyoto. It is surrounded by about 5000 square metres of Japanese style gardens.

There is much else to see in Kew Gardens including a conservation area, woodland, bamboos and rhododendron dell.

Return to Home Page

For more about gardening visit All Info About Gardening