Winter

After a rather mild old time of it, winter recently took hold at Kew with freezing temperatures and delightfully snowy landscapes! There have been some truly wonderful sights to behold, but surely the highlight at this time of year is taking joy in the detail; for example the beauty of some standing dead or the colours of a tiny flowering bulb, which may look like the most delicate thing in the garden but is in fact the hardiest. Tulip stems have cheerfully poked through the parterres in front of the Palm House, offering hope and the chance to dream of an early spring! Doubtless another cold snap is lurking just around the corner, lead pipe in hand and waiting patiently to smother such optimism, but until such time we shall proceed blissfully in a haze of positivity and glorious sunshine!

The old Palm House seen over the pond, thankfully it’s warm inside!

Snow settles on the unheated Alpine House, with the Rock Garden coated below

This is Syon Vista I was jabbering on about earlier, leading away from the Palm House to the River Thames

The snow begins to melt…

The snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii, is one of the most welcome sights at this time of year!

Over in the Apline House, Narcissus papyraceus var. polyanthos, forms one of the many potted bulb displays

One of the best displays this winter in the Alpine House has been Scilla maderensis! Seen here in the Alpine Nursery, these beauties are somewhat more imposing than the little blue chaps that self-seed around English gardens

Out on the Rock Garden, Cyclamen coum subsp. coum

The Winter Aconite, Eranthis hyemalis, is amongst the most colourful of the tiny winter bulbs

Out in the Arboretum, the Helleborus orientalis cultivars are flowering away, as always, the stoical blighters. What wonderful plants!

Helleborus argutifolius is an outstanding species, with excellent, spiny foliage

The Grass Garden is admittedly looking rather tatty compared to its late-summer glory, but nevertheless is still jolly exciting!

The witch hazel bed is undoubtedly the most colourful area of the Kew Arboretum, with a huge array of Hamamelis species flowering their socks off! H. x intermedia ‘Arnold Promise’ seen here

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Barmstedt Gold’ is another cultivar. ‘Cheese-string jewels!’



Autumn interest

Outside of the greenhouse, the Kew landscape has recently been going through some staggeringly beautiful and dramatic changes. The place is absolutely chock full of mature and magnificent trees, so the autumn colour is both unique and utterly glorious! There are literally thousands of trees here; The Arboretum holds the lion’s share of the site with the garden display areas dispersed in amongst it. The long history of the gardens means that many of these specimens are beasts, and considered champions within British arboriculture! This season of radiant autumn colour has already given way to winter structure, but with the strong possibility of snow on the horizon I am looking forward to smothered branches and icy silhouettes!

 

Several majestic specimens of Taxodium distichum dominate the banks of the Palm House lake, what a tree!

Down by the main lake, Taxodium distichum is collapsing into an autumn drop while the evergreen Taxodium mucronatum holds things together with a stiff upper lip

A monstrous Larix decidua towers over Prunus serrulata ‘Taki-nioi’

The shocking red foliage of Sorbus commixta!

An autumn standard, the Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum

The foliage of Cotinus obovatus displays these curious markings in autumn, the tree appearing to drain the life out of each leaf

Over by the Palace, a stand of Liquidambar styraciflua

This is Pterocarya x rehderiana, the foliage delightfully reminiscent of Wisteria autumn colour

The Temple of Aeolus perched on the mound that affords some good views of the Palm House, and an ancient Acer campestre

The shimmering display of Carya glabra, which has the charming common name of the Pignut hickory and is native to the Eastern United States

Prunus serrulata ‘Tai Haku’ lights up the Japanese Garden and Chokushi-Mon (the Gateway of the Imperial Messenger)

A chap named David Nash has been displaying some of his famous sculptures across the garden. He works mostly with wood, and these organic shapes have looked quite fantastic amongst the frosty Kew landscape

Amongst all of the colour, some incredible seed pods have been seen about the place! These are from the Goldenrain tree, Koelreuteria paniculata. Apologies for the quality of the image as these were taken with my field telephone device

Paulownia tomentosa fruit is egg shaped and with tiny, papery seeds. These seed pods and fruit were brought together for our recent identification test, every fortnight we have a ‘plant ident’ featuring a test on 20 Latin names from a possible list of 40. This includes genus, species and family

Finally this is from an Aristolochia species. Such detail and colouring, it looks more like an expensive Christmas tree decoration!

 
One of my favourite Hidcote blog posts was from this time of year; please click here for more autumn mayhem.