Kew Gardens

Inspired by my run through Kensington Gardens, I decided to take the train out to Kew Gardens.  A UNESCO World Heritage site, the Kew Gardens are considered one of the best gardens in the world.  They cover hundreds of acres, and I could have spent all day there -- as it was, I only had time to just scratch the surface.  Seeing these gardens makes me want to plan a garden-hopping trip to England to see all the best gardens in the palaces and country houses.

The line was way longer than I expected

The gardens have a series of giant glass houses dedicated to different types of plants.
This was the Palm House.

First thing you see in the palm house? A palm that is older than the US and the French Revolution.
The plant was added to the Kew Gardens in 1775.

Throughout the gardens, I tried to soak up the richness and variety of the plantings.
I really love the plantings en masse with such different textures, colors and shapes.

A waterfall in the Rock Garden.

The Water Lily House was the highlight for me.

Hard to get a sense of scale, but if you're in any doubt, those things are HUGE!  Probably a good 3-4 feet diameter.

They're a type of giant water lily from the Brazilian Amazon.  Discovered and first brought back
during Victoria's reign. This one is actually a hybrid bred onsite with another lily from
Peru -- otherwise the pads would be so large they'd overwhelm the pool.

The variegation and star-shaped petals made these super interesting.

This was the plant-family section -- each bed had a bunch of varieties of plants all in the same family.

Peonies!  The plants themselves aren't interesting without the flowers, but look at the framework
of branches -- the plants grow up through the basket-like supports, which give structure to keep the plants
upright once they get tall and are laden with heavy blooms.

Is there anything lovelier than a calla?

Bees!

Fair warning

Carnivorous plants

Cacti in one of the greenhouses

Kew Palace is clearly a side-note here. 

So, the garden map promised a greenhouse full of "climbers and creepers", which I assumed meant vines.
Not so -- it was the playground.  Boo.

The giant trees, and the tall uncut grass, had a lovely, almost wild feeling.

Vast expanses of parkland to offset the formality of the planted gardens.