Continuing through Kew Gardens, after revisiting the hallowed Magnolias and calling into the Davies Alpine House… the daffodils will be making great swathes across the grassland soon enough and there is a great variety too. The crocus have gone from around the Victoria Gate entrance now, just tufts of grassy leaves, though I think I spied another run over by the cafe to the east of Kew Palace.
The trees are still pretty much bare of leaf – this acer was just emerging
This last specimen, a wide hedge backing the meadow by the beehives, I confess not to having noticed before. It is certainly early to flower and might sustain the bees after a long winter.
Indian-Plum or Osoberry (Oemieria cerasiformis)
Moving along, I had a look at the Kitchen Garden created for the BBC TV series Kew on a Plate – one part of the Family Beds Garden (where different members of the same plant genus are collected together). I confess it is not as large an area as I had supposed, but then I have neither watched the series nor read the book! But Gosh! are they neat and tidy!
The student’s vegetable beds are adjacent, collected behind a low wall and while they are required to grow specific varieties, these are often very different from each other in presentation and imagination.
The remainder of the Family Beds run either side of the long rose pergola, heading towards the woodland and Temple of Aeolus.
I’m heading in that direction, into the woodland, in my next blog… I might be watching a little on the iplayer first!
LINKS
Indian-Plum or Osoberry (Oemieria cerasiformis)
http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/explore/attractions/kew-palace-and-royal-kitchens
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05n91p4
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05n92jg/kew-on-a-plate-1-spring
The Teddington Gardener 
It would be nice if they lined up the edges of the Family Beds. There is a beautiful long view to be had, but the edges are distracting. Later in the season the edges are probably hidden by plants?
I’ve never noticed this before but yes, it is a ragged collection of lines, even though individually, they are edged sharp as knives. Matching the long curve of the pergola will make it a little more awkward and in summer, the planting is exuberant, to say the least. But ‘Must Try Harder’ I think!