A walk through Kew, enjoying a bright chill day that the BBC weatherman assured me would hold nothing but rain upon more rain. Plus there was a parking space by the Victoria Gate entrance, so there was no excuse to call in. My rules! I've recently explored (deep breath..) the woodland area by the Temple…
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
Escape Winter – Orchids at Kew 2014
This is my beautiful, but simple, orchid exhibition at home - just the two phalaenopsis (moth) orchids. I'm prompted to photograph them given the imminent opening, next weekend, of the annual orchid display at Kew Gardens, transporting an already tropical Princess of Wales Conservatory into a technicolour paradise. I urge you to go if you…
Continue reading ➞ Escape Winter – Orchids at Kew 2014
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Sorbus glabrescens & Sorbus alnifolia – White and Red
Sorbus glabrescens with Sorbus alnifolia in the background Sorbus glabrescens, with white fruit (above) and (below) the red fruit of Sorbus alnifolia All change - Sorbus alnifolia with Sorbus glabrescens in the background Sorbus alnifolia by the Chokishi-Mon in the Japanese Landscape at Kew I've come across Sorbus glabrescens in the Arboretum at RHS Wisley…
Continue reading ➞ Sorbus glabrescens & Sorbus alnifolia – White and Red
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Berberis – A Dectective Story
I featured this plant on the 18th January, bemoaning the lack of information on the label and finding out just a little about what the index numbers might refer to. Happily more than a few questions have been answered by a friend who has been able to look up the details from the original plant-hunting…
Continue reading ➞ Berberis – A Dectective Story
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Mellow Yellow from Down Under…
And a larger specimen, less than ten years old and already 4-5m tall, in the garden I look after in Kew. Unworried by recent cold spells, hard frost and snow - even the prolonged minus-zero that was March 2013. Urban heat island effect.... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3346137/Mimosa-How-to-grow.html http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Rosemoor/About-Rosemoor/Plant-of-the-month/January/Acacia-dealbata
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Malus x robusta – an abundant crab apple
Fruitful abundance - Malus x robusta, by the Victoria Gate cafe at Kew A crab apple smothered in glossy red fruits and making quite an impact, with me and my furry friend, by the cafe at Kew Gardens. Red Sentinel is a commonly available named variety of this cross, with an Award of Garden Merit…
Continue reading ➞ Malus x robusta – an abundant crab apple
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Minka House at Kew/Heavenly Bamboo
Read all about it! Nandinas tall and short - I think the variety on the left is Purple Passion. A favourite plant, this, and worthy of the name Heavenly Bamboo - though it is not a bamboo. Nandina are in the Berberidacea family, though they bear little resemblance to a Berberis, and they have no…
Continue reading ➞ Minka House at Kew/Heavenly Bamboo
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Birch – Himalayan and Szechuan
Betula utilis var. jacquemontii - one of the most desirable forms of Birch tree, with clean white bark. Brand new flesh, here.... with a gentle blush Betula szechuanica, above A young trunk which will mature to display chalk-white, textured, peeling bark. There is a grove of Birch trees, of many different varieties, at the top…
Continue reading ➞ Birch – Himalayan and Szechuan
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(More) Bewitched by Hamamelis at Kew…
I couldn't resist revisiting this admirable collection of Hamamelis - Witch Hazels - part of the Mediterranean Landscape at Kew. For details of the 'How to Grow' and 'What are They' variety, please re-visit my earlier post - just enter 'Hamamelis' into the search-query-box-thing.
The Teddington Gardener 