Kew Gardens

The weather has been a bit iffy recently but the forecast looked good on Tuesday so mum and I went to Kew Gardens. We were really lucky with the weather and had a fantastic time. There was more to see than we had time or energy for but what we did see was amazing. It was really nice to see flowers!

We saw the Temperate House first and it was huge! There was a walkway around the main section of the house which was really high and gave a very different perspective on the plants. There is a palm at the centre of the house which is the tallest indoor plant in the world.

We went around the 'rhizotron and xstrata treetop walkway' next. I have no idea what the name is about but it was amazing. It involved climbing up a set of stairs which led to a walk in the treetops and gave a fantastic view of the grounds and a unique view of the trees around which the walkway was built.

The palm house was next. It has palms and flowers from different regions. The palms were huge and the plants were stunning. These are some of my favourites, although I don’t have names.




The waterlily house was our last stop before lunch. It houses giant waterliles (Victoria cruziana) in the pond and different types of capsicums around the edges.

Having been denied spicy foods while on the boats I have developed a bit of an interest in capsicums and they had some beautiful specimens including a lovely purple chilli.

Refreshed after lunch we headed to the Princess of Wales conservatory. The conservatory has plants from ten different ecosystems and was, like everything else, stunning. There was one area with tonnes of epiphytes and another region with loads of different orchids. The best bit was a titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) which unfortunately (or fortunately given the smell) the flower had recently gone over.
We had a really great day. The weather stayed fine for us the entire time and although we didn’t get to see everything what I did see really makes me want to go back again.

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