A quick Kew drop in

A bank holiday with sunny weather is a rare thing in the UK, so it was always going to involve popping into Kew Gardens at some point.  We went in through a different gate to usual and this meant walking past the roundabout that is planted up with succulents in the summer, it looks a bit different at the moment.

Next was the walled and tropical gardens.  These are at their best at the end of the summer, but it is still interesting to see them at this time of year as I love the new growth, plus it is often closed for wedding once the summer gets going.


I am not normally a tulip fan, but these were striking.

From the walled garden it is a short walk across the grasses section to the alpines.  Normally you can not see between the two due to the grasses and the paths are like a miniature maze. They had just cut them all back for spring, so sorry Scott, not as much to show you as there can be.

The winter is having a knock on effect and the alpines section was not as colourful as I would expect for the time of year. The actual alpines house had a few things in flower including this nice arisaema.

Outside there is a large rock area for mixed planting.

This always catches my eye.

While it's mainly alpines there are a couple of yuccas planted throughout.  You never see this one anywhere, but is looked great up until it flowered two years ago.  It now has two heads and looks like it's fully back into growth, so hopefully by the end of the summer it will be back to its best.

From the alpines section you come to the Princess of Wales greenhouse.  The big clean out last year seems to have done it job and the main succulent bed looks great.

There didn't seem to be as many aloes in flower as I expect, but maybe I am later or earlier than usual. Lots of agave & cacti inspiration.

I had to track down this aloe having seen this one, mine is a lot smaller and I keep forgetting the name to write a label.  It is a lovely plant very blue in colour.

Thee are a few plants in the xeric section that always surprise me including these Echiums

It was only a quick walk through the more tropical section of the greenhouse to see the bromilaids. 

Then a gentle walk past the main Palm House, through the Mediterranean garden, which gets better every year. 

I love the feel and look of cork oak bark

Carrying on with good views of the treetop walkway, before the trees obscure it totally.

Finally looking at the preparation work for the restoration of the Temperate House. This really needs work, not just the glass and iron work, but the actual stone is starting to go.

They are digging up most of the plants and it is wierd seeing them all in pots

You don't normally get clear views in here, and so it was strange seeing so few plants and much more of the structure.

Outside there were huge piles of rocks, waiting for the work before they can be put back.

What I wouldn't give to have that lot in my garden!

It seems we weren't the only ones to have the idea of visiting Kew on a sunny day, on our way out we saw this queue, it went all the way around the corner out the left hand side of the photo.

I'm guessing people had a different sort of Kew in mind

Some eye candy for those into the softer plants

I understand not everyone shares my obsession for the spikier plants.  So just for you here are some of the other plants from the Kew trip.

 

 

 

 

A peak behind the scenes.

I don't know about you, but any off-limit green house always has me peering over the fence or barriers. having to walk past the the fences seeing the glimpses of massive green houses at Kew is always a strain. So it was an extra treat on the last visit to get to go behind the scenes and finally get a look in those hidden areas.

Oh course glass houses is something Kew has lots of,  there are the Alpine and Princess of Wales I showed in the first post, Then the Palm house which is the most famous:

The Temperate house, which is currently undergoing a much needed re-vamp.  The poor thing has rotted and rusted away over the century and pretty much needs to be re-built.

Then there are the little ones; the water-lily house and the childrens Jurassic zone. Anyway I was looking forward to seeing what the behind the scenes glass houses looked.  I guess it is no surprise that the main building is a simple industrial sized glass houses, but there were one or two smaller ones.  I quite liked the practicality of these with their roll up and down sides.

 And what I wouldn't give for one of these.  You seem them all across traditional English manor house gardens, often used for fruit and veg, often with some very clever natural heating built into the base. As alpine or succulent houses they are perfect,  I can see all my pots neatly lined up all safe for winter, and then nicely displayed without the glass in the summer.

The fact that all of these were totally open in mind January shows you how warm our winter has been.

You can see the big green house in the background, which may not be very exciting as a building, but what is inside certainly is. When you have rooms like these, what is not to like!

The aloe room was awash with flower spikes, even the overflow area was:

It wasn't just the flowers that were colourful:

Then there were the more unusual ones:

And the ones that went straight onto the wish list:

Not to be outdone the agaves were pretty good as well, these agave mitis albicans were the best blue I have seen:

I got told off for not knowing that there is another hybrid with the same parentage of agave blue glow, you can see similarities but it is definitely different.

They didn't have many yuccas, must are outside, but this one caught my eye.

Needless to say my wish list is a little longer yet again.