Thailand’s vibrant colours, culture, and magnificent plant life will be the centrepiece of Kew Gardens 2018 Orchids Festival in February. Inside the tropical paradise of the Princess of Wales Conservatory, visitors to Kew’s 23rd annual Orchids Festival will get a chance to shake off the winter blues and get creative through a host of exciting new events and activities designed to appeal to all ages.
Free entry to exhibition after Kew Gardens entry. ‘Orchids Lates’ at Kew Gardens will be held on 15th, 16th, 22nd and 23rd February / 1st and 2nd March; 6.00pm – 9.30pm (last entry 9pm)
Follow our sparkling trail of over one million twinkling lights, illuminating heritage trees and buildings through the Gardens. Fairy-tale meets fantasy in a world of singing trees, larger-than-life flora, ribbons of light, giant baubles, and a flickering Fire Garden. The Palm House leaps into life with a dazzling show of laser beams, jets of light and kaleidoscopic projections.
Little ones can catch a glimpse of Santa and his elves at the North Pole village and enjoy a vintage fairground ride. Not so little ones can warm up with some mulled wine or hot chocolate and toast marshmallows around the fire.
A charming exhibition by Surrey-based artist Alison Catchlove who specialises in metal sculptures of birds, bugs, animals and flowers which will be dotted around the garden for visitors to admire in this beautiful autumnal setting
Feed your curiosity with over 200 private, institutional, commercial and communal gardens to explore in this magical two-day event. Gardens range from the historic and traditional to the new and experimental and can be discovered across 27 London boroughs. Gardens may be open either Saturday or Sunday, or both days, and opening times will vary so consult the Open Garden Squares website
Visit one of Hertfordshire’s most stunning gardens this May when Kerrie Lloyd-Dawson and Pete Stevens open their private garden for the National Garden Scheme.
Although the garden is only 30m x 15m (100ft x 50ft), you will be amazed at the huge variety of plants accommodated by several soil types and microclimates. Includes a pond, bog garden, sun-loving perennial border and significant collections of rare woodland plants and hosta.
43 Mardley Hill, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, AL6 0TT, only a 1 hour drive from central London.
Open Monday 29 May (Bank Holiday), from 1-5pm. Admission is £4, children free. Homemade teas.
CarexTours has announced a special 20% discount on its 2017 Chelsea Tour but be quick! The offer only lasts until April 20.
Visiting the Chelsea Flower Show, the world’s most prestigious and talked about flower show, should be on every gardener’s bucket-list. Featuring renown garden designers from all around the world, Chelsea’s Best In Show award is the most coveted prize in landscape design. But Chelsea has much more than big show gardens – there’s the smaller Fresh Gardens with cutting-edge design, Artisan Gardens, magnificent floral marquee and garden products for sale.
Changing Seasons: an exhibition by the Society of Botanical Artists. For our new and regular visitors alike, we hope you will enjoy visiting us in the autumn of 2017 to delight in this seasonal change and maybe do some pre Christmas shopping before the City gets too crowded. As well as paintings on show, our shop will be full of cards, prints, books and new SBA products to tempt you.
Central Hall Westminster, SW1. Nearest Tube stations are St James or Westminster. 11am to 5pm daily
The RHS Early Spring Plant Fair in London features high quality plant exhibitors, expert advice, previews of garden designs for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Q&A sessions with designers, expert plant and design talks, tours of the Lindley Library, floral art. Workshops on posy making and creating a terrarium. Evening opening 6pm-9pm 13 February, and 10am-5pm on 14 and 15 February 2017.
The RHS Early Spring Plant Fair in London features high quality plant exhibitors, expert advice, previews of garden designs for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, Q&A sessions with designers, expert plant and design talks, tours of the Lindley Library, floral art. Workshops on posy making and creating a terrarium. Evening opening 6pm-9pm 13 February, and 10am-5pm on 14 and 15 February 2017.
On June 18, 2016, Kew Gardens in London will open ‘The Hive‘, a 17m (55ft) metal structure that will use both sound and light to tell the story of one of the world’s most important creatures – the honey bee. Continue reading “Bee delighted by Kew Gardens’ ‘The Hive’” →
There is just so much to take in at the Chelsea Flower Show. So here is some more of 2016’s fun, fashion, flowers, fascination and fantastic gardens – all the things that makes Chelsea so special. Continue reading “Chelsea Flower Show goes on” →
On a glorious sunny Spring day in London the Chelsea Flower Show delivers again. The pinnacle of horticultural endeavours and exhibitors were on display and I was certainly impressed by the gardens on show. Continue reading “Chelsea Flower Show 2016” →
I’ve offered to write a review of this book, simply because I enjoyed it. Such books don’t always live up their hype but this is one I’m happy to add to my collection. And whenever I can get to London again I have a new list of gardens to see. Continue reading “Book Review: Great Gardens of London” →
What caught my eye at the Chelsea Flower Show 2015? From moss-covered lampshades to colourful potatoes and a must-have shell-covered pig seat, there really was something for everyone. Continue reading “Chelsea 2015: 10 things that caught my eye” →
One of the Chelsea Flower Show 2015 gardens in the Fresh category that I loved was the ‘World Vision Garden: Grow Hope’, inspired by the beauty of Cambodia. It won a silver-gilt medal for designer John Warland, a four-time RHS medallist and a supporter of World Vision. It evokes the rice fields of Cambodia where children often survive, but are malnourished, on just two bowls of rice a day. Continue reading “Chelsea 2015 Fresh: World Vision Garden” →
With the Chelsea Flower Show on this week, the focus is firmly on all things floral in London, from the famous Harrods to the leafy Sloane Square, a high-end retail precinct near the Chelsea Flower Show. Continue reading “London’s ‘Sloane in Bloom’ 2015” →
As a first time visitor to the Chelsea Flower Show in late May, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. So much to see in such a short time. The standard of horticulture, the level of presentation of plants and the sheer variety was even better than I had expected. With so much to marvel at, one thing stood out in my memory of that day and it was the exhibition and display of the Phalaenopsis, or moth orchids, set up as an overhanging ‘tree’. Continue reading “Orchid fever” →
Twice a year, a unique barge community of barge gardens floating on the Thames is opened to the public to raise money for charity. Known as the Downings Road Moorings or Garden Barge Square, the gardens can be viewed from the shore or river anytime but for a close-up view, you’ll need to visit on an open day. These occur annually in May and June, once for the National Garden Scheme (during the Chelsea weekend in May) and again in June for the London Open Squares weekend. Continue reading “The floating gardens of London” →
As I prepare to leave London this week, I thought I’d reflect a little on my nearly two years at Kew, how I got here and why I’m leaving. A moving on post…. Continue reading “A Year (or two) in Kew” →
No I haven’t been to Madeira. But according to Greg Redwood, one of my colleagues here at Kew, I should go there rather than to (mainland) Portugal. This was in response to me listing the places in Europe Lynda and I had hoped to visit while on this side of the world. Oh, well. Next time. For now though I have the Madeirenese (I’m torn here between Madeiranese and Madeirenese – if only I’d studied Latin at school) flora to enjoy. And isn’t that the great thing about a botanic garden: you can visit the plant world without leaving home. Continue reading “Giant squill is simply delightful, Madeira” →
Sometimes it is hard to crystallise your thoughts about an event especially when there is so much visual white noise around. I found that after visiting Chelsea 2012. I have attended three Chelseas now, each separated by a period of 2 years and each time I try to distil the essence of the show in terms of trends. Continue reading “Chelsea 2012 review & retrospective” →
Some things you see when you’re travelling are amusing or thought provoking, and it’s nice to have a blog like this to share them. I’m very lucky to lead a garden tour to Europe each year, taking in the Chelsea Flower Show and visiting great and small gardens in different countries. On a loose theme of “Is it real or not?” here are some quirky items from my recent trip.
Continue reading “Real, or not? Dubai, Chelsea & Aalsmeer” →
Well at last I’m really ‘talking plants’. As regular readers know, Talking Plants (http://talkingplants.blogspot.com) is a blog devoted to plants and gardens, with an eye for the quirky or scientific, or both. Its first home was the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney, Australia, but early this year Talking Plants migrated with my wife Lynda (who adds expertise in French, botany and more) and me to Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in London, UK. Continue reading “Ancient Parisian acacia has a crise d’identité” →
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