The Temperate House, Kew Gardens. A four generation relationship with botanical biodiversity.

June in the U.K.has been glorious and for most of the time a bit warmer than the Sierra Aracena.It has been a busy time but we managed another trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. Often the gardens are just referred to as Kew Gardens or nowadays just Kew. However, the botanical part is the most important and Kew is famous for its historical plant  collections from all over the world and for its scientific, herbarium and conservation work.It is also a focus for many courses such as horticulture, botanical studies and art. There are incredible orchid displays in February in the Princess of Wales glasshouse and many other seasonal displays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And also many famous vintage trees like this Stone Pine.

I grew up near Kew and began visiting with my parents and for a while did a Saturday job there. A job that helped pay for my trip to India, in my younger years, so much to be thankful for! So it was with great delight that I visited with my daughter and we brought my grandaughter Olivia for the first time to see this amazing place.
There are often a lot of activities for youngsters these days and at present there is the Blue Peter Dragon Trail.

It’s often best to have a focus at Kew, as in previous posts, for frequent visits, membership and courses. Although my younger daughter put the cost of entry into perspective; it’s what people will pay for just one round of drinks! So it’s worth it as Kew has to provide so much more towards its research projects nowadays and to upkeep the famous Victorian glasshouses and the pagoda, which will reopen in July.

All life on Earth has depended and will continue to depend on plants. Kew has developed cutting edge knowledge of plants through past knowledge and current research. There’s more value in that than a round of drinks, surely? But it still seems difficult to get young people to visit or become members.

We headed towards the newly opened and renovated Temperate house. It has taken 5 years to complete and is home to over 10,000 plants, and 1.500 different species, many that are very rare and endangered. David Attenborough, the famous naturalist and broadcaster, opened The Temperate House in May this year. His words reflect on the importance of plants and Kew

“ Kew does all sorts of thing that nowhere else does….It’s the most important botanical institute in the world and occupies a very special place in the science of botany….. …..We depend for every breath of air we take, every mouthful of food we eat, upon plants. And plants all over the world are in trouble.” David Attenborough

Kew and The Temperate House create safe places to conserve species and have far reaching global projects to help protect plant diversity. Kew students and scientists study medicinal values that different plants have, plant diseases that affect crops we depend on or like such as coffee and cocoa plants.

The Temperate House has had to be replanted with the very rare plants that had to be removed while restoration took place. 200 rare species were grown from seeds collected by the Millenium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place.( link to previous post) All plantings are now in situ and ready to grow into the dizzy heights of this glasshouse. I remember it being like a tall forest and climbing up the wrought iron staircase to the gallery to be close to the tops of the Temperate plants and trees. It may take a few more years for that but the plants are still stunning and with lots of new information panels and digital links.

 

 

 

 

 

The history of the Temperate House is shown in different ways on information panels and the history of common garden plants like the fuchsia. There has also been a lot of important conservation work on islands such as Madagascar and as shown here St Helena.

Olivia had a lot of fun and the vast interior of the Temperate House gives a lovely backdrop.

Many of the newly renovated wooden windows were open as the temperature was pretty temperate hot outside. It seems 15,000 panes of glass were replaced, 5,280 litres of paint and 180 km of scaffolding was required. The floor is 4,880 metres squared and 69,000 individual elements were removed to be cleaned, restored or replaced. The Temperate House at Kew is the largest remaining Victorian glasshouse in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided not to go into the Tropical glasshouse, The Palm House as it was far too hot outside!  That is best saved for a rainy or wintry visit!  The small Lily house is worth a visit though and only open during the summer. At other times there is a lovely collection of water plants in the Princess of Wales glasshouse.

There are also exhibitions celebrating the 10 th anniversary of the Shirley Sherwood Art Gallery for Botanical Art. I did a short course on botanical illustration ( botanical art) which gave me a lot of insight into observing and appreciating different plants but fear I lack the drawing skills needed! So I then turned to writing my novel on biodiversity and there is a visit to Kew for the bumblebee! I hope my words can create pictures.

 

We weaved our weary way back past the tulip beds from my Spring post. Now all resting. Past the almost familiar chestnut trees, but here tall and unpollarded, and cistus ( cistus albidus) so familiar from our Mediterranean climate, abundant on the finca in May and heads the top of my blog!

For one new visitor sleepy but not wanting to sleep it was certainly a  weavy  path and full of songs. She loves Brahms Lullaby, it usually does the trick. But we passed a really knobbly mulberry tree so had to add that one in. Here we go round the MULBERRY bush or tree as it is here, on a glorious day in June.

 

With best wishes to all and as ever I hope to get back to more blogging. This, though, is still going to be a busy year as a house move in the U.K. is also imminent. Will do my best to keep following the faithful!

* All facts are from the Kew Magazine, Special Issue to celebrate the restoration of The Temperate House. And as always Kew is dependent on public support for all this ongoing work and conservation projects. http://www.kew.org
www.kew.org

A scorpion and a red moon. Flies in Paradise and the Lovely Lotti!

Green Cities: Life under the flight path to London Heathrow. People need green cities and wildlife too.

For all of my life and bringing up my children I have lived under the main Heathrow flight path as for all those who live in West London near the River Thames and the Great West Road. On my brief return to West London for the course at Kew Gardens I walked around many of the green spaces and streets I have known well. Spring was out with a blossoming vengeance. I took some photos on and early evening walk around Heston.

The first is from Sutton Park which can be seen as a green sausage from planes flying into Heathrow when quite low, only a few minutes to landing. Here this vast green is surrounded by houses and seems to be loved by the Heston Starling community. I saw quite a few in the trees and Starlings like grassy spaces but could adjust to city life if they scavenge more.

The street trees were full of Cherry blossom and the particular street shown was where we first lived. One of the first notices to come through the door was a tree preservation order. visited a friend and cut a small twig to draw on my course! The magnolias were also out and though short lived there are still many in gardens. It made me think how beautiful Heston could be in the Spring but also how stunning it must have been when everyone cared for their gardens and there were no drives. Heston was developed from orchards in the 1920s into a  garden suburb for those who could afford to move out of the crowded terrace streets of inner London! Now every bit of open space is under pressure for new housing.

Two places and people close to my heart are of course my daughters and many memories of Barnes Common and walking through with my daughters and dogs. This is a borrowed one!Barnes Common is a historic green space kept as common land for all us commoners but now it is not sheep but dogs, people and varied wildlife that need this open space

 

And the photo below is  the cherry tree in the Brentford and Isleworth Quaker Meeting House garden, a sacred space from the 1700s.  And my daughters under the tree on Mother’s day.  I am now back at Navasola in Spain and miss some aspects of my London life, but not work! ( Also not sure why I had to copy the images instead of adding them and photos not so sharp) And the last photo, now working again and not having to copy is of  a Seville roof garden, from the amazing wooden sculpture of Mushroom design above  the Plaza Encarnacion. A place for great views of Seville.

Kew Gardens, Botany, Illustrations and a visit to the Herbarium

 

The Tropical Palm House, Kew Gardens, March 2014

Willow sculptures at end of day,Kew Gardens March 2014

It has been an intense two weeks at Kew on the botanical illustration course and although it was daunting to work along side trained artists there were also some beginners similar to myself. The aim was to learn some of the skills needed so that I can try and draw some of the wild flowers at Navasola ; to keep a record and to learn to identify plants more. My memories of Kew do go back a long way as we lived nearby and as a family would visit often when it was about a penny or an old threepenny coin? I also did a weekend job waitressing in the restaurant near the Temperate House and saved my pennies and tips for my trip to India! Its now quite expensive to visit Kew Gardens so it is worth being a member and the work that Kew does is so much more than just having a really amazing collection of plants and trees and the cost of just the upkeep of that. Conservation and saving endangered plants, horticulture, Plant studies, DNA, diseases and more….

A member of the Zamia family I had an attempt at drawing and a robin came and watched me with a critical eye!

Our teacher, Lucy Smith is a professional botanical illustrator and specialises in palms. I visited the palm house at lunch time as it was warm and a break was needed ! The  first photo of the Palm House and daffodils was taken at the end of a hardworking day drawing leaves in Museum No 1 near the famous Palm Glasshouse. The shapes of the palms looked grand and ghostly against the stormy evening sunset. I also found a lot of information about Paeonies in the horticulture gardens and a lot of examples of plants we find in Southern Spain.

Poster in Herbarium about the range of activities supported.

A lot of work behind the scenes goes on at the Herbarium and we were given a fascinating tour by a long serving Mexican botanist whose specialism was in the vast leguminosae or pea family. The Herbarium is a library of plant specimens and it is vast. Kew also promotes a lot of art work and installations.

Plant studies in the Plant Library; The Herbarium at Kew Gardens.

Last year I joined again because of the David Nash wood sculptures and this year there are some fascinating willow sculptures. Kew always has such variety and this year I found all the different varieties of flowering cherry trees. Kew works hard to conserve wild plants and the seed bank has been set up and attempts are made to propagate endangered species like the Madagascan palm that Lucy Smith had illustrated.

One of Kew’s famous historic trees, the Stone Pine( Pinus pinea) or Umbrella Pine of which there are so many  in parts of Southern Spain and Portugal. This one grew its different shape as it was kept potted for so long in the 1800s!

Photo from Cabanas and seen in Kew with its name! Retama  sahaerocarpa,  Family Leguminosae  papilionoideae.

 

 

have just about survived the course and will add some more details of that later and the beauty of suburban London in the Spring. Maybe a Spring poem is needed along the following lines and in memory of Robert Browning’s famous Oh to be in England, now that April’s here……..

Oh to be in London when the daffodils are out

And the streets with cherry blossoms…….

Hide the gardens turned to drives!

 

White on white, deadly and dangerous, white cottoncandy floss on trees, butterflies and moths, caterpillars and dogs,

I am trying to post every week but a little delay with finishing this one as I flew to London for my course at Kew Gardens. Much more on that at the end of two weeks here with Spring really in full blossom.

The sun has been out more in the Sierra and there are more flowers beginning to emerge. These daisies were on the old threshing part of Navasola central with a few small white butterflies enjoying the nectar. Other butterflies seen  have been clouded yellows,  large tortoiseshells,  and red admirals. There are a few more flowers but mainly in the warmer and sunnier parts at present. The temperature did shoot up on Thursday but there is at times quite cold breezes.  In Portugal we saw the caterpillar in the picture below. Quite striking and can be dangerous as its long hairs cause itching, irritation and there can be strong allergic reactions. I read a sad story in the Portugal News about a  small dog that had been sniffing around in some pine woods and collapsed with toxic shock. Even with medical support the dog died. N.B. Really important to get the dog to a vet if  there has been contact with the processionary pine moth caterpillar. As yet this creature has not reached British shores but we saw its cotton like bags high in the trees along the road from Aracena to Fuenteheridos. It is quite common in Southern Europe but the beautiful bird, the Hoopoe eats it below the pines. We do usually see Hoopoes on the ground below the pines in the area by the fort at Cabanas.

Pine processionary moth’s caterpillar, hatched and ready to eat pine needles.

Although there is still yet no fruit tree blossom on our side, the north side of the Sierra, the climate on the south side has certainly helped the trees and many more plants to flower. This is a view from a beautiful finca along the south road to Aracena from Alajar.

And in London I am overwhelmed by the daffodils and the blossoms on the street trees, magnolia and camelias in suburban gardens. And the warm sunshine after all the floods. At the finca I had decided to move some celandine from where there might be some building disruption. I carefully put some around the pond area and up by the house. On returning to London there was plenty of celandine to greet me. A weed or wild, certainly self seeded along the path and around the trees in the back garden! Loads of it! More on Kew Gardens and my course to follow when I’ve recovered from a five hour working day learning to draw plants! Today was spent on the exact and precise drawing of a leaf. Tomorrow we branch out with some branches…….

Daffodils and celandine on the path of the front garden in London.