About Kew Gardens

The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, popularly known as the Kew Gardens is home to over 30,000 kinds of plant life making it the largest collection of living plants in the world. In addition to the plants Kew also has about 7 million dried and preserved botanical specimens. Kew Gardens offers visitors both an aesthetic feast as well as an incredible learning experience.

In addition to its unique and vast collection of plants, Kew has several interesting features.  Among these you will find the Davies Alpine house,  The Marianne North Gallery, the Temperate House, The Treetop Walkway and the Water Lilly House.

 The Davies Alpine House opened in March 2006. It houses a large collection of alpines and bulbs. What makes the Davies Alpine House special is its automatically operated blinds that prevent overheating when it gets too hot along with a cool stream of air that blows through it.

The Marianne North Gallery houses the paintings of Marianne North who traveled to  South Africa, North and South America and parts of Asia to paint plants at a time when not many women would do so.

Accommodating trees and plants from temperate regions around the world, the Temperate House is also the largest surviving Victorian glass construction.

The Treetop Walkway takes visitors into the canopy of a woodland glade. It stands 59ft high and is 660ft long. The floor of the walkway is designed in such a way that it bends when you walk across it and the whole structure sways in the wind. The tree top walkway offers visitors a unique perspective of the gardens.

Experience the heat and the humidity of the Waterlily house and have a look at its varieties of waterlilies. The building itself is a classic built in 1852

Kew gardens has the honor of owning the largest compost heap in the world. The compost is usually used in the garden itself, but occasionally it is auctioned off to raise funds. A viewing platform has been raised to allow visitors to have a look at the constantly growing compost heap.

Sitting amidst a reconstruction of a traditional Japanese garden you will find the Chokushi-mon (Gateway of the Imperial Messenger), a scaled down replica of the gateway of the Nishi Hongan-ji temple in Kyoto. It is one of the best examples of Japanese architecture in Europe. One of its elaborately carved panels depicts a Chinese legend regarding a pupil's devotion to his master.

The most interesting plant collections at Kew include the Aquatic Garden, the Carnivorous Plant Collection, the Orchid Collection, the Bonsai Collection, the Rose Collection and the Rock Garden among many, many others.

On an educational level Kew aims to raise awareness among people as to the value of plant life and the importance of conservation.

Location

Train:

Kew Bridge station is 25 minutes from Waterloo in central London.

Tube:

Kew Gardens station is on the District line from central London. The London Overground from north London also stops at Kew Gardens station.