I’ve never been much into glasshouses. I generally find them jungly, warm, and humid — conditions I don’t enjoy during Austin’s long summers and don’t wish to experience artificially. But an alpine glasshouse, with cool temps, tidy potted plants, and a nice breeze? Bring it on!

While at Kew Gardens in London last month, I happily explored its Alpine House and surrounding rock garden, where chunky boulders make naturalistic raised beds and crevices for dry-garden plants from all over the world.

I’d never seen a stone trough garden as massive as this one, which creates an alpine landscape in miniature with jagged slabs of thin stone placed on edge, like a mountain range, and small plants growing like miniature trees and shrubs at their base. The tall, white flowers throw off the effect a bit, but otherwise it’s wonderful.

More trough planters are arranged in a central plaza of the rock garden.

A rock garden wouldn’t be complete these days without a crevice garden. Again, I like the way the vertical slabs create the impression of a distant mountain range.

The architecture of the Alpine House itself suggests the mountains. However, the design is about function first, as Kew’s website explains: “The Davies Alpine House was designed to create the cool, dry and windy conditions that alpine plants favour, without using energy-intensive air conditioning and wind pumps…The glasshouse is 16m long and 10m high. This creates a stack effect that draws in cool air through openings on the sides and releases warm air through vents in the roof.”

Inside, rocky terraces provide perches for plants that grow naturally above the treeline.

South African Rhodohypoxis baurii. All the plants in the Alpine House are grown in Kew’s alpine nursery and brought here for display only when they start blooming.

Some are displayed even when not blooming, and no wonder. Look at this pettable green cupcake.

And these cute little succulents. They do look like they’re about to bloom though.

A rocky display

Mice were running around inside and out of the Alpine House…

… noshing on seeds. They were pretty cute too. I wonder if they’re a pest to the gardeners?

A table display of flowering plants in terracotta pots looked especially lovely.

White flowers on long stems seem to be shooting out of this Saxifraga hostii.

Another look

Gorgeous

Back outside in the rock garden, something orange caught my eye.

A spiral aloe in bloom!

How I wish I could grow these in Texas.

Wandflower, or angel’s fishing rod (Dierama mossii) — I adore this too.

Agaves are at home here too.

A textural grass garden makes a good exit from the dry gardens of the Alpine House.

Coming up next: Kew’s Mediterranean Garden, Treetop Walkway, and Japanese Garden. For a look back at Kew’s buzzy art installation The Hive, click here.

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