A day at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

What it is

Kew, in south-west London, grew out of a royal garden founded in 1759 and is now a research institute as well as a public garden. It holds one of the largest collections of living plants anywhere and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Victorian Palm House and the Temperate House are the famous buildings. For flowers, the year runs from snowdrops and an orchid festival in late winter, through crocus lawns, magnolias, cherry blossom and bluebells in spring, to the rose garden and long borders in summer. The small Waterlily House holds giant waterlilies in the warm months.

Before you go

• The site is very large. Pick three or four areas and allow most of a day.
• Glasshouses are warm and humid. Dress in layers in winter.
• Weekday mornings are calm. Sunny weekends in April and May are not.

The flowers you will see

Cherry blossomThe spring-blooming flower of ornamental cherry trees, central to Japan’s hanami customRoseWoody perennial plants with showy, often fragrant flowers in many coloursAmazon water-lilyThe enormous floating lily of the Amazon, with leaves up to 3 metres wide

Also part of it, and being written: Magnolia, Hyacinthoides non-scripta.

Read more

Royal Botanic Gardens, KewLondon’s world-renowned botanical gardens and plant science centre

More in London

🇬🇧 London · All yearColumbia Road flower market on a SundayOne short East End street, packed every Sunday with plant and cut flower stalls and the calls of the traders. 🇬🇧 London · All yearNew Covent Garden Flower Market before sunriseLondon's wholesale flower market at Nine Elms, where the city's florists buy in the dark hours and the public may walk in. 🇬🇧 London · All yearA floristry class at a London flower schoolA half day or full day learning to build a hand-tied bouquet with seasonal stems at one of London's flower schools. 🇬🇧 Berkhamsted · Apr to MayBluebell woods on the Ashridge EstateOld beech and oak woods in the Chiltern Hills where native bluebells cover the ground for a few weeks in spring. 🇬🇧 Woking · Mar to OctRHS Garden Wisley through the seasonsThe Royal Horticultural Society's main garden in Surrey, where plants are tested, compared and shown at their best. 🇬🇧 Cranbrook · Apr to SepThe garden rooms of SissinghurstA Kent garden of hedged rooms made by Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson, known above all for its White Garden.