Queen's Garden

The Queen's Garden is a charming 17th century style garden situated behind the Dutch House (Kew Palace).

  •  
  • Close Thanks for liking this page. Tell us why by adding a comment at the bottom.
Queens Garden

Queen's Garden

History and design

The Queen's Garden was conceived in 1959 by Sir George Taylor, then Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, and officially opened by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II ten years later. The design involved the recreation of arcades and steps associated with the Dutch House. It also contains several pieces of sculpture including a marble satyr, a venetian well head and five 18th century terms, commissioned by HRH Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1734/5 and considered to be the oldest pieces of sculpture remaining at Kew.

There is also a wrought iron pillar from Hampton Court Palace and a gazebo on a mound. One element is a parterre enclosed in box hedges and standing in the pond in the centre of the parterre is a copy of Verocchio's 'Boy with a Dolphin', the original of which is in Florence's Palazzo Vecchio.

Plants

The plants in the Queen's Garden are exclusively those grown in Britain before and during the 17th century. Their labelling differs from Kew's norm, since they include not only today's botanical name and family, but also:-

  • The common name in the 17th century
  • A virtue, or quotation from a herbal (plant book)
  • The author's name and date of publication

2 comments on 'Queen's Garden'

Terry Love says

29/05/2013 1:18:13 PM | Report abuse

Hidden away behind Kew Palace I, and possibly many others, don't remember to visit this often enough - I'll try and do better this year. Now that the Palace admissions is included in the main gardens admission, it would be good if some suitably period dressed volunteers or guides (RBGK or HRP) could add to the scenery and explain a bit about the garden and Georgian gardening.

Adams Martin says

16/12/2010 3:33:31 PM | Report abuse

Fit for the Queen..

Garden attractions

Follow Kew

Keep up to date with events and news from Kew

Related Tags

  1. english garden
  2. innovative
  3. around the world
  4. adventurous
  5. successful
  6. irreplaceable
  7. ground breaking
  8. amazing
  9. beautiful
  10. creative
  11. imaginative
  12. inspiring
  13. exotic
  14. for kids
  15. fun
  16. popular
  17. interesting
  18. english heritage
  19. historical
  20. romantic
  21. ancient
  22. rare
  23. active
  24. discovered
  25. old
  26. unusual
  27. high
  28. challenging
  29. donate
  30. for friends
  31. gifts that help
  32. the UK
  33. treasures
  34. at risk
  35. endangered
  36. fragile
  37. sustainable
  38. useful
  39. brand new
  40. for plant lovers
  41. special interest
  42. powerful
  43. high up
  44. ornamental
  45. pretty
  46. Kew at home
  47. wet
  48. extraordinary
  49. hot
  50. garden plants
  51. wild
  52. flowering
  53. rare

Your Kew

We invite photographers to capture the sights at Kew and Wakehurst. These images are a selection of images submitted by photographers from around the world. We hope you enjoy them. You can see more on Flickr.

See your favourite reasons to visit