London’s Kew Gardens is a big place at 300 acres, with a variety of gardens, glasshouses, a magnificent arboretum, and other attractions. During my mid-June visit on a family vacation, I saw as much as I could during a 4- or 5-hour visit. Here’s the last installment of my 4-part series about Kew, starting with the sunlit Mediterranean Garden, where cistus was in sparkling white bloom.

After the verdancy of other parts of the garden, this garden reminded me a bit of home. While Central Texas doesn’t enjoy a Mediterranean climate, our gardens do share similar features: dusty or silvery foliage; water-conserving small leaves; and crushed-gravel paths with a distinctly orange hue.

Spiny plants too

Cistus flower. Can’t grow these at home though.

The focal point of the garden is the classical King William’s Temple, built in 1837 for Queen Victoria in memory of her uncle, whom she succeeded to the throne in that year. An open, circular lawn is surrounded by sub-shrubs, Italian cypress, and palms.

Set aglow by the setting sun, the temple beckoned us up the stairs.

At the top you’re treated to an elevated view of the surrounding garden.

Sun and shadow and a nice place to bask in the late-afternoon rays.

Exploring the rest of the scrubby garden, I admired these mullein flower spikes and pink-flowered Jerusalem sage.

Silver-green, light-catching olives grow in meadowy patches amid a larger lawn.

Actually, are these olives? Or lookalikes?

While exploring, we came across a pair of peacocks. The male was strutting with an eye on a nearby peahen, trying to get her attention.

We admired his beautiful coloring.

To our delight, he fanned out his train of feathers. Finding myself with a rear view, I tried circling around to get a frontal view. He casually spun away from me…

…giving me the sepia-toned rear view instead. Seated on a bench, with the object of desire — the peahen — behind her, my daughter scored a better photo of the dazzling display.

Ta-da! And there I am in the background, fruitlessly shooting his backside.

My husband was eager to climb up the Treetop Walkway, a circular steel-mesh walkway 59 feet high in the tree canopy, but we didn’t find it until it had officially closed (45 minutes before Kew closes for the day). A sign indicated the closing time, but seeing as no one was there to enforce it and there were no barriers, we climbed up for a quick look.

The see-through walkway sways a little in the wind, making it even more fun — or vertigo-inducing, depending on your constitution. You get a nice view of surrounding trees, although those obscure any grand views of the gardens.

Halfway through and still smiling

We spotted a surprising flash of green in a treetop near the stairs: a ring-necked parakeet, an exotic bird that’s naturalized in London’s parks.

The arboretum was one of my favorite parts of Kew. I also admired the long view corridors that run through the garden, like this one toward the Chinese pagoda.

The pagoda was being refurbished during our visit, so we couldn’t go inside, but it makes a lovely focal point from various places in the garden.

Nearby is a small Japanese garden — a rock garden for viewing, not for strolling in.

I enjoyed the rippled “water” of the gravel, the stony islands, and a rock “waterfall” below the traditional-style gatehouse.

Japanese fountain and stone lantern

Another long hallway of trees and lawn

We crossed a naturalistic 5-acre pond…

…on a sinuous bridge called the Sackler Crossing. Vertical flat bronze posts make a contemporary, pervious railing.

Which looks almost like a solid wooden wall from certain angles.

Another sinuous creation, this one made of flat slabs of slate, is the Seven Slate Towers fountain. I read that the artist disapproved of the railing, which was added later for safety.

The twisting, charcoal towers evoke tornadoes, or perhaps pottery clay that’s being shaped into vases. The fountains are set off nicely by a leafy green backdrop in the hedged, circular room.

At 5 minutes to closing, I dashed through Kew’s nursery and gift shop (so much to see and not enough time!), where employees began shooing out the last reluctant visitors, including us.

I wish I’d had more time at Kew. But then again a garden is never really checked off the list, is it? You can visit every day for a year and still see something new. That’s part of the appeal, and why garden visiting never grows old.

This ends my 4-part series about my visit to Kew Gardens. For a look back at Kew’s Alpine House and rock garden, click here. Coming up next: Sightseeing in Oxford.

I welcome your comments; please scroll to the end of this post to leave one. If you’re reading this in a subscription email, click here to visit Digging and find the comment box at the end of each post.
_______________________

Digging Deeper: News and Upcoming Events

Give a listen to Hothouse, “a new podcast about design, ecology, and the way we garden now,” hosted by Austin landscape designer Leah Churner. Tune in for her in-depth and insightful interviews with regional gardening experts like Central Texas Gardener‘s Linda Lehmusvirta, author Jenny Peterson, and designer Colleen Dieter. As with my own Garden Spark speaker series, Hothouse is cultivating gardening conversations for thinking gardeners (as I like to call us) in the Austin area.

Texas Hill Country friends and travelers, read The Texas Wildflower, a terrific new digital magazine featuring the people, businesses, culture, and scenery of our region. Published by San Antonio-based Pamela Price, whom I’ve followed online for years because of our shared interest in gardening (in fact, my book is included in her “Favorite Hill Country Garden Things”), the magazine will inspire you to get out and explore our unique and beautiful region. Subscribe to The Texas Wildflower today.

Join the mailing list for Garden Spark Talks! Inspired by the idea of house concerts, I’m hosting a series of garden talks by inspiring designers and authors out of my home. Talks are limited-attendance events and generally sell out within just a few days, so join the Garden Spark email list for early notifications. Simply click this link and ask to be added.

All material © 2006-2018 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.