Gardener and Photographer with a love of Roses and a magpie-eye for all things Horticultural
Such a cold wet blustery day - outside - but inside the Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew this afternoon, life is indeed Beautiful. Especially the orchestra Orchids! The annual orchid festival - Alluring Orchids - started last weekend and goes on until March. It is a riot of colour. Some of these huge displays…
and the Museum reflected in the lake, late afternoon sun Winter Box, Sarcococca, heavily fragrant by the Victoria Gate complex. Meanwhile, in the Davies Alpine House These Hamamelis on sale in the Garden Shop. Vesna (above and below) The sun is shining (well, it is now) and Kew Garden beckons with so much to…
The Princess of Wales Conservatory, never a dull destination within the expanse of Kew Gardens, is preparing for their annual Orchid Festival - it begins on the 7th February and runs through to the 8th March. http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/whats-on/orchids From past experience, it is going to be an intensely colourful and beautiful extravaganza and with temperatures outside…
Ginko biloba - the prehistoric Maidenhair Tree, with a weeping form which is even more of an absolute gold mine, still, with generally larger leaves and longer leaf-stalks than its upright neighbours. Parrotia persica (below) gold with flashes of red and emerald. and finally, a Grandstand Wisteria... Just half an hour today at Kew Gardens…
A grove, as far as I could tell, of Zanthoxylum .. The Botanical Art collection in this uber-stylish building... That's Magnolia stellata arching over the Camellia Walk and finally, Henry Moore, newly installed Reclining Mother with Child (1975-6).
Acer palmatum in typically bright garb.. Acer sieboldianum (below) Acer platanoides (above) with Castanea sativa, the Sweet Chestnut (below) Fagus sylvatica, a copse of very beautiful Common Beech (though there is nothing common about these specimens) - Leading us over to the Xstrata Treetop Walkway, high above the woodland floor with panoramic views, particularly through…
Nerine flexuosa in the Davies Alpine House at Kew. Scilla maderense (below) This clam shell construction lies at the head of the Rock Garden, next to the Princess of Wales' Conservatory and the Grass Borders. Actually there wasn't a great deal to see in the Alpine House this time - a few cyclamen, Paperwhite narcissus…
Continue reading ➞ A Kew Gardens Miscellany – Alpines, Trees and Random Autumn Stuff
Liquidambar stryaciflua - Sweet Gum - with maple-like leaves morphing from rich green through yellows and amber. russet and red and to cherry-black. Just one more reason to visit Kew Gardens any time soon. An equal to the Japanese Maple for Autumn fireworks and best appreciated as specimen trees in larger landscapes - they will…
The Grass Borders at Kew Gardens, another part of these gardens that really is at its peak at this time of year. Catching the late afternoon sun, the stems and seed heads are glowing in every shade of gold imaginable. A perfect place to see a whole catalogue of grasses, how large they grow, their…
Continue reading ➞ Golden brown, texture like sun – the Grass Borders at Kew Gardens
The Teddington Gardener 