What I did on my holidays: The Gardens

It's been a long time since I used this blog for its original intended purpose, which was to talk about what I've been up to. So I'm going to rectify that with a couple of posts on my recent holiday back to the UK.

While I've been to the UK several times since I started my PhD the previous times have either involved hospital visits or as a break between conferences. This was the first time it was just for a holiday.

And what a holiday! There'd been a heatwave for the previous couple of weeks before my arrival and I was concerned that it would end as soon as I touched down at Heathrow. I needn't have worried. Instead, on our approach to Heathrow I began to realise that the complaints about the heat hadn't been exaggerations. My much-missed green and pleasant land had turned distinctly brown.

As soon as we realised that I'd be home for Hampton Court Flower Show, mum and I arranged our traditional weekend away. We normally go on the final Sunday in order to take advantage of the 4pm sell-off and travel up the day before, visiting somewhere on our way. This year we went to Kew Gardens to see the newly refurbished and reopened Temperate House on the friday and, in a break with tradition went to Hampton Court on the saturday (mostly to make sure I didn't buy too much!).

Kew Gardens
Kew hadn't escaped the heat. The grass was very brown,

Brown grass at Kew

The Temperate House was our first stop. It's the largest Victorian glasshouse in the world and it recently underwent a 5 year, £41 million restoration during which time 15,000 panes of glass were replaced and 10,000 plants removed and replanted. If that amount of money seems excessive, I can assure you that it was well spent. The place is incredible!

One of the wings from the upper walkway

Before we headed off mum and I watched a Gardener's World episode where they had a segment on the refurbishment. One of the gardeners interviewed said that plants had grown more in the last 4 months than they had done in their final two years in the glasshouse. More light, replenished soil (they've replaced all the soil) and better ventilation (hinges that had been painted shut have been repaired so that all the windows and vents now open) have all meant better growing conditions. They've replaced the largest plants which had outgrown the glasshouse with smaller versions and this means that there's a rare opportunity to really see the architecture of this marvel of engineering.

The upper walkway

Despite its rapid growth, the planting is still establishing itself and, it has to be said, isn't that impressive. Yet... But give it time.  

The newly planted central section

My favourite part was the staircases. They were so elegant and have been beautifully restored. I'm not great on spiral staircases so held on to the railing going down, and it was incredible how it went from being quite cool to too hot to touch as I spiraled round from the shade into the sun and back again.

One of the staircases

Of course, you don't go to Kew for the architecture, you go for the plants. And the other houses didn't let us down. The Tropical House - which now looks quite shabby in comparison to its Temperate companion; I wouldn't be surprised if it's next in line for renovation - was jam-packed with plants, including the spectacular Zingiber spectabile, or beehive ginger. 

Zingiber spectabile

The plants that surprised me most were from the Waterlily House. I've been to Kew a couple of times in the past but never in July and I've clearly been missing out because this is the time the waterlilies flower, and oh my goodness!

The Waterlily House

 At the front of the house are a few cultivated varieties, including the gorgeous Kew's Kabuki waterlily and Kew's Stowaway Blues waterlilies,

Kew's Kabuki waterlily

Kew's Stowaway Blues waterlily

 There's also this unnamed waterlily,

Unnamed waterlily

And this one that reminded me of passionfruit flowers,

unnamed waterlily

But my favourite was this one,

Water snowflake (Nymphoides indica)

It's hard to tell from the photo, but unlike the other large and showy waterlilies, this one is tiny. It's probably only a centimetre or two across, and it looks so cute and fluffy. It's perfectly named as the water snowflake. 

The Great Broad Walk Borders were suitably impressive,

The Great Broad Walk Borders

A couple of stand-outs were the kniphofias,

Kniphofias

And the lavenders that were full of bees,

Bee-filled lavender

We had a wonderful (if rather warm!) day at Kew and I highly recommend it to everyone. Even if you've been before, the Temperate House needs to be seen fresh and new while it's not obscured by the plants that are quickly going to dominate the place once again.

Hampton Court Flower Show

I love Hampton Court Flower Show. Mum and I have done pretty much all the RHS flower shows over the years but this is the one that I enjoy the most. It's in a wonderful location, the weather has always been great, it never feels over-crowded and everyone seems happy. It's much more relaxed and far less pretentious than Chelsea. And the displays are stunning.

As we were walking in to Hampton for breakfast I came across this little guy,

Mayfly

 I think it's a mayfly. I've never seen one before and it's much larger than I expected.

The show gardens were, as always, wonderful. These are a few of my favourites,

Elements Mystique garden

Brilliance in Bloom garden

Rias De Galicia- A Garden at The End of The Earth

The wall in that Rias De Galicia garden is made of scallop shells which must have taken so much time to make.

The Floral Marquee was up to its usual high standard. I'm not a fan of streptocarpus but even so it's hard to deny how stunning this stand is (it deservedly won a Gold medal).

Streptocarpus stand

This lavender stand was also a stand-out. Even inside it buzzed with bees and butterflies.

Lavenders

There were some excellent dahlias, including these two stunners,

Marble ball dahlia

Striped vulcan dahlia

The RHS decided to get in on this gardening lark and planted a walk of Verbena bonariensis which was lovely,

Verbena walk

We left via the the route that took us past the palace and in one of the waterways we saw this happy family,

Swan and six cygnets

Even though it was the end of a long and hot day, a number of people stopped to watch as they swam past which really made me smile.

It was lovely to be back at Hampton Court after a couple of years' absence and see what flowers and planting styles were now in fashion. I was pleased (and relieved) to see that the more naturalistic planting and cottage garden perennials were still popular as they're the ones I like the most. It was hard not being able to buy anything (I still managed to come away with 2 blackcurrant bushes - a planned purchase, I hasten to add! - which will hopefully get themselves established ready for my return) and I'm really looking forward to being able to go with a garden ready and waiting for its new arrivals.

All in all it was a fantastic weekend.