Some of the plants and many of the scientists at Kew Gardens spend at least some of their time inside. Most of the pictures I shared in last week’s post were taken in doors. Two of the principal plant-housing buildings are the Princess of Wales Conservatory
and the Palm House.
There are other buildings dotted around the gardens which aren’t primarily homes for plants. Kew Palace for example, was the home of King George III. He unified the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and is now most famous for having suffered mental illness in is older age.
At the back of Kew Palace is a garden planted with medicinal plants used in the 17th century and is referred to as the Queen’s Garden (I’m not sure which queen….)
Other built structures around the gardens include this tree, supported by bricks, and the icehouse, a windowless brick dome in which ice from the Thames would be stored as long as possible to provide ice to those in Kew Palace.
The last bits of human construction I encountered on my visit I want to share with you are a fantastic use of a gardening fork to water the right plants
and the spiral staircase up into the mist, both inside the Palm House.
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