Kew Gardens in bloom

Making the most of my annual season ticket and the convenience of the 65 bus I headed back to Kew Gardens in early August.


The plan, such as it was, was to go on the tree top walkway again, this time to with the trees in full leaf.

I am (justifiably) uneasy with heights but for the third time this year I managed to steel myself to walk all the way round thus putting all my previous failures to do so far behind me.

This was despite the fact that in a few places the thin metal floor gives way noisily and there were hordes of small children toddling around carefree and oblivious to possibility that they could push somebody over the edge due to the very low rail (it's only at chest height).

After the courageous amble through the trees a coffee (and cake!) was required so I strolled to the Orangery. There I had the pleasant surprise of bumping in to a Czech lady that I know through the BCSA who was also taking advantage of a season ticket.


The next stage of the plan was then hatched and I headed towards the Palm House by Victoria Gate.

I took the main route which had unexpectedly been colonised by several flower beds that had clearly been planted with both visitors and wildlife in mind.

The planting was stunning with a glorious profusion of colours and shapes that proved irresistible to hordes of bees, flies and several other species of pollinators.

The Palm House did what the Palm House does and I took the usual dozens of pictures of dark green jungle stuff set off by the decorative (well, I love it) white metal of the greenhouse.


But, lovely though the Palm House was, it was the flowers that grabbed attention on this visit and there were more to come.

The final splash of colour was just by Victoria Gate where another large flower bed has been created to the obvious delight of even more bees and their friends.

I loved it too, particularly as the colour was such a contrast to the rest of the garden where the greens and browns rule all but unopposed.

It was bit of a risk getting an annual ticket to Kew Gardens as I had no real idea of how often I would want to, or be able to, go but it has already been a great success and there are still around six months to go.