Everything tagged 'hot'

Kew today - Escape the winter chill in Kew's Palm House

13 Jan 2010

Escape the cold at Kew Gardens and discover our amazing plants in flower in the Palm House.

Indian horse chestnut

Deer and squirrels eat Indian horse chestnut seeds, but they can be poisonous to humans. The small conkers contain a substance called aesculin, which destroys red blood cells.

Tropical Nursery

Beyond a pair of wrought iron gates near Kew Palace lies the Tropical Nursery. This is where Kew holds its reserve scientific collections and cultivates plants for use in displays within the Palm House, Temperate House, Waterlily House and Princess of Wales conservatories.

Titan arum

One of the most spectacular plants to be found in the wet tropics zone of the Princess of Wales Conservatory at Kew Gardens is the titan arum. 

Jade vine

The jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) is a member of the pea and bean family, and is best known for its hanging stems of jade-green flowers.

Compost Corner

Peat bogs are important habitats and valuable stores of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

Waterlily House

The Waterlily House was designed to exhibit the giant waterlily (Victoria amazonica) but the plant never thrived there. Today, one of its closest relatives, Victoria cruziana, inhabits the enclosed pond instead.

Princess of Wales Conservatory

The Princess of Wales Conservatory recreates ten climatic zones. See Madagascan baobab trees, orchids from Central America and carnivorous plants from Asia.

Palm House & Rose Garden

The curvaceous exterior and steamy interior of Kew’s Palm House have long made it an icon of the Gardens. Designed by Decimus Burton and expertly engineered by Richard Turner, it was constructed between 1844 and 1848.