I recently visited Kew Gardens with my family after a gap of about 10-15 years and it was such a fun day out. I knew there was a reason I loved Kew and it was all reconfirmed during my latest visit. Kew Gardens is magnificent – I can’t think of any other word to describe the beauty and grandeur of nature that we are so lucky to experience right here at home in London. Of course nothing beats the original experience of seeing plants and animals in their natural habitats, going to the rainforests and national parks, but it definitely opens your eyes to what else is out there.
I love learning new things, especially about different places around the world, and Kew is a perfect example of learning about the planet we live in, and its weird and wonderful inhabitants.
Living in a country where the biggest plants to grow naturally are trees (and we don’t even pay them much attention), looking at plants in the conservatories at Kew really brought home the abundance of nature. I mean, just the leaves themselves of some of these plants alone were as tall as I am. Incredible.
My Kew favourites were the water lilies and huge lily pads found in the Princess of Wales Conservatory and lily house, the seriously cute little water turtle in the Princess of Wales Conservatory, and the top walkway of the Palm house. The Palm house itself had some amazing plants, of which the giant leaves were the most impressive.
The Princess of Wales Conservatory contains ten computer-controlled climatic zones under one roof – the two main climate zones are the ‘dry tropics’, representing the world’s warm, arid areas, and the ‘wet tropics’, housing moisture-loving plants from ecosystems such as rainforests and mangrove swamps.
Chillis from all over the world are growing in the pots above, which can be found in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.
This whopper can also be found in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.
This upside down part of a lily pad was just floating in the pond within the Princess of Wales Conservatory. Just look at the size of those veins!
These hanging flowers, called clock vine, looked absolutely stunning in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. The contrast of the vivid of yellow and reddish-brown flowers with the deep green plants surrounding the hanging stems is striking.
The Tequila plant! Never would have guessed that this is what Tequila comes from.
The Palm House conservatory.
How pretty are these Madagascan periwinkles?!
The Palm House walkway gave a different perspective to the plants and stunning views to the rest of Kew Gardens.
The Palm House also has an underground level, which houses some wierd and wonderful sea creatures. This also includes the usual assortment of fish. A super cute sea turtle also lives here.
The water lilies and lily pads below are found in the Lily House, which is right next to the Palm House conservatory.
There is also an open air tree top walkway but I found it to be quite underwhelming. We also didn’t get to visit the Temperate House, which is the biggest glasshouse at Kew, because it is currently closed for restoration and will reopen in 2018.