Kew Gardens

Spring is here - well the weather is warm and the daffodils, snowdrops and crocuses are starting to bloom and Sunday is the 1st of March so it must be spring!! Kew Gardens was quite picturesque at this time of year, but a few more weeks would have seen more bulbs out and more crowds so it was probably quite a good time to go. We got there about 9.30 (so another early start) and found a park outside the main gate. The ticket person, asked if we were 'recycled teenagers' and with this classification we paid full price to wander around the 300 acres gifted to the country by Queen Victoria in the 1890's. It is Kew Gardens 250th anniversary as the Royal Botanical Gardens and Darwin's 150th so it was the beginning of celebrations. We wandered around the gardens (stopping only to have our picnic lunch but without our cuppa as we had left the tea bags in the car). Harry had carried around the milk and thermos all day - so we eventually stopped at the restaurant bought a pot of tea and after paying £2.50 for the privilege continued to fill the pot with our hot water.

Kew Gardens is under the flight path of Heathrow which sees an aeroplane land or take off every 90 or so seconds. You can imagine the disjointed conversation between with us two enthusiasts ...

'The daffodils are out

That's an Air New Zealand Boeing 747 400

Aren't the snow drops lovely

Think that's an Emirates A380

Wonder what tree that is

A Virgin A340 600

What an usual coloured camellia

Don't recognise that airline'

and so it went all day ... I think we both saw the same things such as the wildlife, plants, buildings and aeroplanes but what we remember from the day just might be different. There were lots of big geese, peacocks, ducks, moorhens, the Goldcrest (the smallest bird in Europe apparently), badger homes (but the badgers weren't at home) and stag beetles (we only saw pictures but apparently they live 7 years as lavae under ground and only a few weeks above). But the highlight was a lime green lizard (looking like a mini dinosaur - about a foot long and head high ran in front of us in the hot house - we were so surprised we didn't take a photo and he didn't wait around that long). No staff could be found to ask about this cute, but slightly scary creature so I googled it at home. It said that 'dozens of tropical lizards seized by Customs and Excise have begun a new career in pest control at Kew Gardens. The lizards have taken up residence in two of Kew's greatest glasshouses. This 'Acanthosaura armota' and five of its relatives from Malaysia have gone to work in the Palm House' in the hope they will eat the cockroaches and other pests. Apparently the lizards came here without the right immigration visas and are listed as an Endangered Species. It said that people hoping to see one are likely to be very disappointed as they are quite shy and stay hidden (they probably party at night!) - so weren't we lucky.

We wandered through the Queens garden (more like a few trees with daffodils underneath it with quite an extensive herb garden). The attraction here were the little quotes placed beside the plants which show that the 17th century garden was all about medicine and food rather than beauty.

'We have not learned that any author, hath knowne this tree to be applied, to any physicall use, but as a wood for many necessary imployments, both for milles and other small works, in good account for the hardnesse, strength and durability' - wrote Parkinson in 1640 about the Common Hornbeam tree.

Gerard in 1597 wrote about one type of daffodil (known less affectionately as 'The Lesser French Double Bastard Daffodil') 'The distilled water of daffodils doth cure the palsie, if the patient be bathed and rubbed with the said liquor by the fire'. Of the leafed sowbread cyclamen Gerard wrote 'Being beaten made into cakes good amorous medicine to make one in love' and about the rose root 'it relieved paines in the head, chives cause troublesome dreams, provoke urine, engender hot and grosse vapours and are hurtful to the eies and brane'. Don't know who Gerard and Parkinson were but obviously up with the modern techniques of aromatherapy and dietary requirements. And it isn't my typing but an indication of how the language has changed in a few hundred years.
We also visited the Temperate House - a large glasshouse with lots of indoor plants including a section with New Zealand plants - this included a rather weary looking pohutukawa, some hebes while in other parts of the gardens were flaxes and other native bushes looking as though there were having trouble surviving the snowy conditions of late. Of New Zealand a plaque stated 'described as an ancient life raft New Zealand has plants and animals that are particularly special. 80 million years of isolation has resulted in 1865 endemic plant species. Each has involved in a distinct way to attract the unique insects, birds and animals that pollinate them.'

In the grounds was Queen Charlotte's cottage where the family went to stay during summer (which was also gifted to the city of London), a pagoda in the Japanese garden, rhododendron dell (with the first buds), orchid exhibition, exhibition on Darwin, tree top walkway and a Earth's Environmental and Geological Timeline (We now have a timeline on all the periods such as Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Jurassic, Triassic etc etc).

I enjoyed the Darwin exhibition as it told of his life, 'a man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life' (we decided relaxing wasn't wasting) and his theories. I hadn't really thought about the evolution of music before but I know it is the 'international language'. Darwin considered that music may have come about by people making sounds to communicate but couldn't really put any more theory into it than that - yeah we have something in this world that hasn't been theorised.

During our walk around I suggested that we could later go for a walk along the Thames into London. Thankfully the map (and our weary legs) said 'too far', so after a 30 minute doze in the car (yes, outside the main gate of Kew Gardens) we decided to take the underground and catch a show. We had a leisurely Italian dinner and a quick walk through Westminster Cathedral. I was busily singing Westminster Cathedral until Harry told me it was Winchester Cathedral and then to Billy Elliot - a show top of my list. It was very good (seats not that great but what can you expect for last minute decisions) and the dancing and singing managed to convey the human conflict, social turmoil during the coal mining strikes, sadness at lost loved ones and the joy of success. We got to bed about 1.30 in the morning and us 'recycled teenagers' spent most of Sunday recovering before cooking dinner for some friends.

What's in the news - more about the economic climate, Ireland thinking of ditching the euro, Gordon Brown meeting US president, the big payouts and pensions to top dog bankers who used to work in banks that were bailed out by the government, the impact of global warming on the bulbs (snowy conditions made the bulbs late by a few weeks), the short life of David Cameron's disabled son, the school lottery system means one in six students will miss out on their preferred choice (zoning has its problems but I think is better than the system here) and predictions of some colder weather.