Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Kew Wednesdays, the Mediterranean Garden


If you’ve been following along you know our first stop at the Kew Gardens was the Palm House. After that the rain picked up and we hurried towards the shelter of Temperate House. While I did manage to snap a few pictures of the Mediterranean Garden as we passed through most of my exploration occurred later in the day, once the rain had stopped…if you feel a little weather disconnect in the continuity of the pictures that would be why.

Almost on Palm overload here…

I believe (assuming I found the correct plant tag) the silver/blue shrub is Hippophae rhamnoides.

And of course this one is a Broom, Spartium junceum (Spanish Broom) to be exact.

Side view of King William’s Temple, we’ll see that picturesque building later too.

This must be a Lonicera of some sort?

Acacia pataczekii

I don’t know what this shrub is…

But I loved the multi colored seed heads, even though I couldn’t get a clear picture of them!

The Temperate House is a very photogenic structure.

After taking the photo above I turned around to see this…

And realized I was looking at a huge Fremontodendron!

This lovely bark belongs to a Cistus laurifolius.

Puyas I presume?

King William’s Temple, again.

Unknown Verbascum.

Great photo of a guy striping cork off the tree…

Arbutus x andrachnoides (Hybrid strawberry tree)

Echium albicans

I’ve never seen this Echium before, but I like it!

In my reality I believe that was the last photo I took as we left the Kew. You however still have so much more to see! Come back next Wednesday when we’ll continue our journey…

27 comments:

  1. Yay! I loooove the Mediterranean garden at kew! So many wonderful palms. Some were looking a bit more beat up when I visited so I'm glad to see those chamaerops looking good. Thanks for a wonderful tour.

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    1. All the palms looked fabulous, which considering the weather they've had this year is quite the achievement.

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  2. The shrub you were wondering about is the mature form of Hedera helix, good old fashioned English Ivy. The leaves elongate at this stage and also flower and set seed.

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    1. Really!? I had no idea, the leaves do look so different from what I think of English Ivy leaves as looking like. That's crazy! (and thank you for the id).

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    2. Yes, this is probably the most interesting thing I'll learn today. Thanks Barry!

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  3. Beautiful garden. With all the palms and silvery plants in the first few photos it does look very Mediterranean. The lawns and structures bring it right back to England.

    I can imagine that in rainy London they must have brought in tons of gravel for many of these plants.

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    1. And the fact that this garden is in a mounded up area certainly supports your gravel theory.

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    2. Shirley, as I recall from my uncle's Maidenhead garden, there is quite a bit of gravel and decomposed granite in the Thames River valley.

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  4. Exciting to see all those Echium albicans in the ground. Maybe they are the seedlings from a mother plant that has bloomed and gone to Echium heaven. And how odd to see that Canada geese have "crossed the pond" and are creating a home (and a mess) on British park lawns as well.

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    1. Oh you know it...there was quite the mess to navigate through!

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  5. Another wonderful Wednesday post about Kew! Thanks! I think we should have King William's temple perched on a picturesque hill above our gardens!

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    1. Deal! You get King Williams place, I think I'd rather have the Temperate House off in the distance.

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  6. Another nice installment of Kew Wednesdays! It's always interesting to see your perspective of this botanical institution. I'm not sure if the Echiums sails through every year though, I think they are seedling that sprout in situ in succession (or sown by their gardeners each year). The shrub with interesting seed heads is a shrubby Ivy, a Hedera helix form and I think that particular one is 'Poetica' if my memory serves me right. The seed heads becomes very bright orange during winter.

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    1. No doubt you're right about the Echium seedlings...and I'm still amazed by the shrubby ivy! I would love to see the bright orange version, should you guys happen to visit during the winter...

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  7. It is one of my favourite bits, although not the palm side, the cork and pine side. I love the row of Stone pines just along form the cork tree.

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    1. Are you a palm hater? Or you just prefer the pine side?

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  8. I keep hearing that our climate is Mediterranean and I see quite a few plants in common. I guess different sensibilities lead to creating very different gardens. I can't recall seeing many that look like that, or is it MY sensibilities that are askew? Lovely to see them ,either way.

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    1. I think you hit the nail on the head with "different sensibilities lead to creating very different gardens"...while a lot (most) of these plants will grow here in our climate I don't think I've seen anyone set out to plant a distinctly Mediterranean style garden such as this.

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  9. Seems to me I remember a spectacular Arbutus in the garden. It was hug-worthy.

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    1. I only remember seeing the smaller one. Maybe there was an unfortunate accident? Or more likely I was just overwhelmed.

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  10. What's not to love?! It's all beautiful!

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  11. That IS a great Lonicera you've got there!

    Breathtaking place too.

    Glad I'm back trying to read these things...

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    1. Me too. You should go back and take a look at the Palm House and Temperate House if you haven't already. Not that my coverage is "all that" but because there are some fabulous plants in there!

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  12. Cork trees are so crazy...I was always kind of amazed by them...and I love those old Victorian structures...they really don't build them like that any more :-)

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    1. Nope, they don't. Someday I'm actually going to make it inside the glass house at Golden Gate Park, to see how it compares.

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  13. Yes the bush is Hedera helix, the leaves grow different when they grow away from their support ; and I believe the Honeysuckle is Lonicera peryclimenum.
    Gregory Tissot

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