With the lovely summer weather once again restored, Wendy and I took ourselves off to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. This was my first ever visit (how could that be?) and what a treat it was too. Set over some 326 acres of prime river-side grounds, the Gardens are a beautiful paradise in a bustling, international city and is a magnet for locals as well as gardeners from around the world.
With many marvellous structures carefully placed within the landscaped grounds, Kew has so much to offer and can easily fill a day. Many will associate Kew with the Great Pagoda and the Tropical Palm House – both of which are worth a visit in themselves. But the newly restored Temperate House – the largest Victorian glass house in the world - takes centre stage and is a wonder to behold! Opened only this spring after a £41m refurbishment over four and a half years, the Temperate House is a triumph of Victorian architecture and 21st century planstmanship and contains over 1,500 plant species. A beautiful building.
I of course was most interested in their water usage and with so many plants needing watering twice a day, how they managed the precious resource. Most of the water used is stored rainwater which can be used direct on the plants but they also have to use tap water. This has to be treated before use – via RO and ultra-violet processes – and they apply it via hoses, sprinklers and automatic misting devices. In all some 320m litres of water are used each year at a cost of c. £0.25m. It is a huge logistical exercise and they employee seemingly dozens of workers just to man the hosepipes; this summer must have been particularly difficult for them.
Gardeners amongst you will also know of the benefits of mulching plants and Kew have this down to a tee – all about conserving water as much as using it.
The grounds themselves show all the signs of a hot summer but the specimen trees and most of the established shrubs are standing up well – they have seen this all before. But a good soaking of rain would do no harm at all!
When visiting make sure to check out the Hive and the Treetop Walkway, both recent additions which add yet another dimension. There are plenty of other things to see as well.
Pictures show the Palm House (from our lunch table!), the Temperate House and the Hive.
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