Wild Flowers

Wild flower displays at Kew

In recent years special displays of wild flowers have been created to illustrate the importance and beauty of wild flowers in the British landscape.

One of the first of these was the planting of the Broad Walk to celebrate the new Millennium. In autumn 1999 a strip on each side of the Broad Walk was sown with wheat and wildflower seeds and in the summer of 2000 visitors were greeted with glorious displays evoking memories of the flower-filled fields that were once common in the countryside before the intensification in agricultural production methods.

In 2003, Kew held the Go Wild summer festival. At the end of the Syon Vista and the Lake, a field was sown with wheat, corn flowers, corn cockles, corn marigolds, corn poppies and crimson clover. In September, the wheat was then harvested using traditional methods and made into traditional stooks.

In 2004 a more spontaneous display of wild flowers could be seen on Cherry Walk. An area between King William's Temple and the Temperate House was dug up to allow the planting of a swathe of Scilla bulbs. After a stunning spring display of these delicate bulbs, it was noticed that the disturbance of the soil had led to the germination of many wild flowers, and in keeping with Kew's management of the Gardens this was left, with the result that visitors were treated to a second carpet of colour into the summer months.

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