A yearlong 250th birthday party for Kew’s Royal Botanic Gardens

This year the exquisite Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew near London will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its founding by Princess Augusta, the mother of King George III.

What started in 1759 as a 9-acre garden is now an internationally renowned 300-acre wonderland of flowers and plants from around the world, as well as a botanical laboratory in the forefront of efforts to recover extinct plant species using DNA from the dried specimens in Kew’s vast collections.

Celebrations get off to an exotic start Feb. 7 with the opening of Tropical Extravaganza, displaying orchids, bromeliads and other hot-climate plants in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.

At the same time Kew will launch “Darwin Now” in the Nash Conservatory, exploring the groundbreaking botanist’s life, theories and legacy. Part of the exhibition guides visitors around the gardens with the help of a map pointing out examples of plants that have adapted in order to survive in different environments.

In March and April, 5 million bulbs — including a carpet of crocuses — will welcome spring. From May to September, winning pictures from Kew’s popular “International Garden Photographer of the Year” competition will be shown in an outdoor display, and in October visitors will be able to view the fall colors from an elevated walkway in the Arboretum.

There you have it — a full year of growing things at Kew. Never mind the English weather. Come wind and rain, you can always take shelter in the glass-roofed Palm House, one of Kew’s many architectural treasures.

— Susan Spano, L.A. Times staff writer

{Photo: Kew.org]

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 24, 2009 at 8:18 am by Susan Spano and is filed under Arts & Culture, Europe, Great Britain, Spring, Summer, Travel Photography, Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.