Life in Death – Rebecca Louise Law at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens

A real treat to see this installation by Rebecca Louise Law. I'd read an article in the Kew subscribers magazine, and someone had mentioned it to me though I confess it had dropped from my immediate consciousness until yesterday and I veered across the lawns to the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. 375,000 flowers,…

A peek at the Grass Borders in Kew – a study in gold ….

Just the pictures this time around - it is for the overall impact of these borders that I took the time to visit, rather than a label-by-label guide to naming of individual plants. I'm quite sure I've done that before and a quick search in these pages may provide some further elucidation. In the meantime,…

The Salvia Border at Kew Gardens – a plant family that just keeps on giving

The Salvia Border at Kew is a wonder now. Hardly worth a look in mid-summer (though you can, then, find the plant labels, a job which is nigh on impossible now the growth is so generous - hence these are images only with no naming of names, this time at least) - but now, my…

Kew in the Country – an early Autumn tour of Wakehurst Place

Quite the contrast from the sunshine and blue skies enjoyed just yesterday. Cool, cloudy, a little drizzle and everybody kitted out as if they were about to take on a winters' trek through the Lake District. Still, October it is and Autumn is beginning to tickle the trees in this vast and varied landscape and…

A view from Kew – a blossomtastic Spring morning in these Royally Botanic Gardens

It certainly pays to make an early start, especially on such a bright and beautiful morning - and even more so when school holidays are upon us and Kew Gardens becomes a beautiful flower-filled playground and a great spot for a family picnic. For someone as bah-humbug as I about having unpopulated pictures - flowers…

Kew Gardens – Desert, Tropics, Mountains and Forest….

Through the gates on a bright, chill afternoon a couple of days ago and herewith a tour of the Princess of Wales Conservatory and Davies Alpine House by way of the Rock Garden and Woodland beneath the Temple of Aeolus. First stop, the Princess of Wales Conservatory and the Arid/Desert environments - There was a…

A Kew Gardens Miscellany – the Roses (some flower, lots of hips), a glide through the Davies Alpine House and of course, some autumn leafery (see the Ginkgos) …

An unexpected bit of free time today and lo! A parking space by the Victoria Gate which meant I had to stop - and (first things first) smell the roses. Gertrude Jekyll, Stanwell Perpetual and Madame Isaac Pereire brought High Summer right back on a mostly overcast mid-November day. Soul food. From the Rose Garden,…

The Hive, mostly, but room here for a few other delights at Kew Gardens …

The Hive at Kew Gardens - and you had to get up quite early to see it as unpopulated - though not all to myself - as this. One photographer already on site (for The Mail? maybe...) was trying to get a 360°panorama by taking several photographs - to be stitched together later - but…

Kew Gardens – Early One Morning/Lazing on a Sunday Morning

Kew Gardens once again opens its gates at 8am for Friends of Kew, right through the Summer. I took advantage of this early opening on Sunday before heading over to Petersham Nurseries and really appreciated the cool calm and quiet - there were other folk about but few and far between (it's a big place)…