My Visit to Kew
My visit to Kew Gardens in June 2018 provided me with most of the images for my series of paintings which I am near to finishing. This was not intentional however in the nearly 2000 photographs of gardens I took on that trip it appears that Kew is extremely photogenic! Before going I knew that I was going to make the most of my visit to Kew as it would be most likely my last chance to take advantage of a student discount. In preparation I blocked out the whole day to be spent at Kew and even planned my route through the gardens and grounds, to make sure I didn’t miss any parts of the gardens that I would want to see and to dodge the heat of the day the best I could all with the end of my route spitting me back out near an Exit! I should mention that spontaneity does not breed within me. But I also believe that my pre-planning allowed me to take in more of the gardens and wander freely rather than looking at a map and trying to figure out where to go next!
However do not let this excessive pre-planning let you be fooled into thinking that I had decided I was going to love Kew before going or that it was number one of my priority list of gardens to see. It wasn’t really. I knew the grounds were large and the price for admission was on the higher side, which is why I allowed myself to spend the whole day there. I had very little idea of what to truly expect other than LARGE before going, as my knowledge of Kew extended only to the BBC series of Kew On A Plate (2015). Which I did thoroughly enjoy, however got very little insight to an experience at Kew, as the series focused on food and its origins.
Upon my visit to Kew as soon as I was though the gate I went to the Palm House as I thought to go through all of the glasshouses first because it was meant to be a very hot day. I loved the Palm House it was amazing. It felt magical being drenched in the deep humidity and surrounded by the lush plants and Victorian architecture. I spent nearly an hour in there alone which made for an excellent start to my visit at Kew. But after I left the magical illusion soon evaporated as the day grew hotter and there were more and more crowds of people around every corner I went! I did not like this… For context the week before my visit to Kew I had gone to quiet National Trust gardens around the countryside, where there were not many locals visiting let alone tourists! Making Kew quite a contrast from my quiet country garden experiences.
Despite this qualm of too many people being present (hats off to all the introverts out there!), I did enjoy my visit to Kew quite a bit. The photos that I chose to paint indicate some of the highlights for me, as well as the mere fact that seven of the ten paintings in my British Horticulture series are painted from photos taken at Kew, which feature the Palm House, Sackler Crossing, the Davies Alpine House, and Princess of Wales Conservatory.
Clearly the glass houses are the highlights of Kew for me. Perhaps because the architecture is what contrasted the most with the naturalistic English gardens I had visited prior. The National Trust gardens perhaps had trellis’ and architectural plants in their herbaceous boarders in terms of architectural features. None of them had glasshouses, so enjoy them wherever you find them especially when the plants inside interact with their protective architecture!
The main difference between Kew and the countryside gardens I visited was the feeling of being surrounded by colourful frothy plants outdoors under a bright expansive sky and the quiet-peaceful feeling of discovering a garden alone. Kew felt more formal in their outdoor gardens and was much busier. Whenever I thought I was alone another group of people would come around the corner! But Kew has magnificent pieces of architecture that are beautiful, and bountifully curated and cared for inside which creates the feeling of being transported to somewhere fantastically exotic.
These are the opinions of one humble Kew visitor. Which begs me to ask have you ever visited Kew or another botanic garden? And do you prefer to visit a more natural garden or a more structured and architectural garden?
Palms and Kews,
L . C. Cariou