Kew Gardens

Central London, London, England Greater London

Recommendation added: 21/03/2006 16:32
By: jsimons128 (YSUK rating +100)

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"London Zoo may be the showcase of the animal kingdom, but when it comes to plants there is no where to beat the royal botanic gardens at Kew. Here, firmly established on 300 acres of Thames-side london, are exotics from all over the world-the mice and the mammoths of botany. The gardens facilities for research are unrivalled, but it is not as a purely scientific establishment that Kew is known. The great beauty and strangeness of its charges are part of london legend, and its earthen labatory beds have been laid out to be pleasing to the eye. The first nine acres of gardens were laid out by george the thrids mother, princess Augusta, some 200 years ago, and they really began to flourish during the reign of her son. Their present day success is largely due to the eminent 19th century botanist Sir Joseph Banks, a close freind of the king, who worked with head gardener William Aiton to lay the basis for the superb collection that know exists.
The largest living collection in the gardens is the Arboretum, where many species of trees and shrubs grow harmoniously. The tropical and palm houses are interesting too, while magnificent flower borders of the Herbaceous section are a constant delight. Great cushions of alpines grow amongst sandstone outcrops and beside the stream of the rock garden, and the wwoodland garden around the mound exudes a green collness that is at once relaxing and a tonic. A great day ou!Worth a visit, or even two!"