Monday, October 18, 2010

Our London Trip - Kew Gardens, the green heaven on earth!

We will never forget our visit to the Kew Gardens (Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew) during our trip to the UK. We felt as if we were inside a designer forest! The whole area was full of different types of trees everywhere, but very well maintained, it was green, green and green, everywhere!

The Kew Garden, is a very old garden maintained by the English Royal families for the past nearly 4 centuries! The history of the place is very very interesting...I have given the links from wikipedia.

They have battery operated cars to take us inside the gardens (40 mts.). We can go for a round first and then decide which area to spend more time.

The best place we liked at the garden, was Palm House, which houses rare plants from all over the world. The best is the Giant Water Lilly pond. The giant leaves at the pond, we saw there, were amazing! Have a look at the pond:



The Giant Waterlilies, Kew Gardens

This pond is quite huge. We took many photos of the pond, but I found this photo, which is displayed below, of a single leaf here in this link, The leaf looks like a plate with edges. You can see the veins also clearly...beautiful!



Giant Waterlilies - close-up of a leaf

All of us were fascinated by the size of the leaf. And then we saw one sample of the roots which spread under the leaf, upside down! We clicked! We were told that a mature leaf can support 45 Kg. if the load is evenly distributed - we can believe this after seeing the display of the roots here:



The beautiful network of roots, under the giant leaf!


More information about these Giant Waterlilies:

  • The enormous leaves, which grow to over 2.5m across, have a network of protruding ribs on the underside, which give the leaf buoyancy and stability.
  • The flowers are large and fragrant, but relatively short-lived, lasting only 48 hours or so. As each flower matures, it changes colour from white, through pink, to purplish-red, finally sinking below the surface.
Some more beautiful photographs of the leaves and flowers here:



The Lilly flower and the bud!



You can see the reflection of the roof in the water!



A lone leaf and a lone flower...!

The temperature is maintained according to the plants which are housed here, so it was a bit hot. All of us were clicking from all the angles!

I thought this Lilly pond needs one post...such a beautiful place which should never be missed by anybody who visits the U.K.

The full view of the pond is here. Click on it and you will be stunned by the beauty of the place!



This beautiful photograph of the Giant Waterlilly House was taken by David Iliff which shows a panoramic view of the house!

Let me write about the other attractions of the Kew Gardens in the coming posts with lots of photographs!

22 comments :

UmaS said...

WOW !!! Never seen such a big leaf, which can take upto 45kg weight !!! Its amazing....Nature and its ways...

That Lily is damn beautiful...love that color. :)

That roots pic held my vision for sometime. :)

Thanks for sharing this, Sandhya... :) :)

KParthasarathi said...

Thanks could get an idea of the beauty that lies there.We have our own botanical gardens in Kolkata for example.is the climate in UK responsible for the greenery
The pictures are great.Thanks

I have opened a Tamil blog http://vasparth.blogspot.com/ pl see if you hv the time and inclination

Anonymous said...

Wow! It is so pretty, Sandhya! The Giant Water Lily is so amazing! The roots look pretty too!

You know, we lived in London for4 year and never went here :( Guess we ill have to make trips to London just to see the sights now!

R. Ramesh said...

me 2 never seen such a big leaf..vallah...gr8 one ya...london...haaha why did i suddenly remmber this: in school when v used to say want to go to london it meant loo..hahah

Sandhya said...

UmaS: Nature is always amazing!

I love the root photo than the others, too!

Welcome, Uma, thank you!


K.Parthasarathi: Maybe, the climate helps over there. But the people seem to be very sincere in whatever they are doing. We noticed some youngsters mowing a huge area sincerely!

Sure, I would like to visit your Tamil blog, Parthasarathiji!


wordsndreamz: I loved the roots and my first photo at the pond was of the roots!

Yes, the garden is beautiful. I saw many parents with small babies too....maybe just to inhale the pure air!


R.Ramesh: Take time to visit this place once, Ramesh, it is worth the trouble.

SG said...

Thanks for the nice pictures. Been there. Stunning gardens. Break from the city life. Two disadvantages: Noise from the planes overhead. Food is expensive.

Swaram said...

Wowww! So so beautiful Sandhya. I lovvved the pic with those reflections. Amazing!

Kavita Saharia said...

This certainly one of the most beautiful thing my eyes have ever seen(of course through your eyes).It does look like a designer forest and one can sense that Royal Touch here.I am in love with the Giant Water Lily pond .Your pictures are awesome - i bet you were thinking of us (your blogger friends)while clicking these shots.The root network picture as well as the shadow of the roof are amazing .I can go on and on .Thank you so much for sharing this Sandhya.Once done commenting peacefully i can now invite my kids and husband to enjoy this wonderful post.

Sandhya said...

SG: Oh, I had forgotten about the plane sound...my brother in law was counting and it was around 11 and he said he missed some!

You are right, food is toooo expensive and souvenirs too...still I bought one paper weight (I loved Kew garden and I wanted something from there!)but the rate is tooo heavy!


Swaram: Thank you Swaram!


Kavita: Yes, the place was very very beautiful, clean...not a single dry leaf to be seen anywhere, which was astonishing! The autumn weather was changing the colour of the leaves on the trees, my niece said. Pictures will come later!

I knew that you will love this, that is the reason I did a post on Giantlilies first!

The root network is so beautiful, so thoughtful of the nature/god!

Sure, they will enjoy the photographs.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful snaps!! The Giant Waterlillies look so amazing!

Thanks for sharing these images, Sandhya :)

R. Ramesh said...

aiyoo aiyoo..in vadivelu style..:)

Anonymous said...

Lovely pictures! Truly amazing waterlillies- And to think that they can support so much weight of the roots!

Thanks for taking us on a virtual visit of these wonderful Kew Gardens!

Bikramjit Singh Mann said...

Beatuiful pics and kew garden is one of the best ... did you go all around it .. its huge :) we went in winters and the small fountains were frozen .. but inside that glass house it was WOWO the way they have done it indeed beatuiful .. :)

reminds me i shud go there again soon been 8 years since i last went :)
Bikram's blog

Sandhya said...

deepsspeakingup: Thank you, Deepu!


R.Ramesh: Nandri Ramesh!


Manju: Thank you, Manju! It is unbelievable!


sm: Welcome, sm! Thank you!


Bikram: No, it is not possible to cover the whole area within a day. It might take 3-4 days to see everything properly.

Please visit the place again and inhale fresh air!

தக்குடு said...

Nice narration with wonderful photos. I can see that garden through your post..:)

radha said...

Amazing. Never knew it had roots like that!!

Renu said...

Your version of London looks beautiful, whereas my son was making me believe that its not:)..looks like beauty lies in the eyes of beholder:)

BK Chowla, said...

Yes, it is beautiful.I went there a few years ago, it is a sight worth seeing.

Destination Infinity said...

The root formation under the leaf is very interesting, not seen such leaves! When compared to the leaves, the flowers are small no? :)

Destination Infinity

Saritha said...

Beautiful snaps,never saw those gaint lilies

Sandhya said...

Thakkudupaandi: Welcome here! Thank you! Sorry, for the delay in acknowledging your comment!


Radha: I noticed this root suddenly and clicked immediately! Fascinating, isn't it?


Renu: Yes, London is interesting even after 2 visits, Renu!


BK Chowla: Yes, it is worth seeing, Sir.


Destination Infinity: Yes, they look small. The pond had more leaves than flowers.


Varunavi: Yes, the leaves are too huge, Saritha!

Shail said...

Lovely!! And the water lily leaf is simply amazing! Beautiful pictures Sandhya. Waiting to read more from you... and also see more pictures.

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