LONDON: Inside Kew Garden's Greenhouses

I've always been fascinated by plants, mainly because we have a garden beside my house. It's where my dad grows a variety of vegetables, such as okra, malunggay, sweet potato, and more.  I'm no botanist or plant expert, but I really did enjoy seeing so many different kinds when I visited Kew's greenhouses. It made me appreciate their great design and purpose.

My first encounter with a greenhouse was back in our trip in Taipei when we visited the Taipei Botanical Garden. I was delighted when my sister told me that we would be seeing more of them in Kew. It was an opportune time, considering that it was summer, and so plants and flowers alike are all very much alive.

Yet another blog entry filled with photos, mostly greens this time.

Palm House

The Palm House can't be missed when you enter through Victoria gate. It's a Victorian glasshouse constructed back in 1844 which houses various tropical plants from tropical regions around the world, and some of which are already extinct. The temperature inside is that of a tropical climate, so it was considerably warm inside. It felt a little bit like home, back in sunny and tropical Philippines. 

Entrance from the side

Fairy Godmother. Lol no, just my sis. Her special skill is to walk super fast!

Lots of palms, all in great shapes and sizes. Walking around here felt like I was in a rainforest. 

Those spots of white and red feels like a child could have gone inside and painted it all over in random order.

Waterlily House

The Waterlily House is a much smaller greenhouse, in which it houses a pond with different kinds of waterlilies. The giant Amazon waterlily is kept here during the summer, although on our visit it wasn't there. Maybe in another greenhouse? 

It was hotter here compared to the Palm House, and I understood that the other plants here also thrive in the heat. 

It's cool to note that they dyed the water black so that algae won't grow and possibly stunt the growth of these lilies. 

Princess of Wales Conservatory

This one was my favorite, I think mostly because inside you'll find both dry tropics and wet tropics plants, which are maintained by ten computer-controlled climatic zones. The arrangement here is that the cooler zones are found on the outer layers and as you get in to the deeper parts of the greenhouse, it gets hotter. 

Here's some favorites:

Lilies large enough to possibly stand or sit on. These are the Amazon lilies I mentioned earlier!

I wonder how I can make mine grow like these ones.

I believe these are the carnivorous plants. So tiny yet dangerous.

This one caught my eye because of its spiral form.

I like the hues of red blending with green. Such a beautiful design.

The Hive

This is not a greenhouse, but it's one of the must see attractions here at Kew Gardens. I'm not fond of bees, so I was happy to stand outside this structure. I sincerely thought that there were real bees here, but in reality, there's none. It's merely an immersive hearing experience, as if you can sense that there are real bees nearby. Very impressive!

Even when I was seeing it from afar, I couldn't help but be curious about it and have a good look of it. The sounds that come out from it mimics a real beehive within Kew that they use for observing the secret lives of these buzzing creatures.

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It's amazing how God created plants, because each one seems to have a unique function. There are some that are edible for human consumption, some that can be used for medicine, some that can be used for building things, and really, the list goes on.

I realized as well how challenging it is to grow these many kinds of plants, as they all have their own requirements or habitats. They're basically pulled out from where they originally grew and are placed inside these houses made of glass. And yet there is every effort to understand these plants, so that we can know better how to use them and how they impact our everyday lives.


What are your memorable experiences with greenhouses? :-)

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