Botanica

B O T A N I C A A B o t a n i c s G a r d e n s M aga z i n e ISSUE 5 · OCTOBER 2017

KEW GARDENS London

We want a world where plants and fungi are understood, valued and conserved - because our lives depend on them. Royal Botanics Gardens, Kew’s mission is to be the global resource for plant and fungal knowledge, building an understanding of the world's plants and fungi upon which all our lives depend on.

Botanica magazine

PUBLISHERS

CONTRIBUITING WRITERS

gerardo guzmán Editor in chief and creative director

Sir David Attenborough Pato Suárez María González Mine Galván Juana Martínez Elena Arriaga

MALiz LÓPEZ Art director

BOOKCOVER

Photo by: GERAND Echinopsis oxygona Calceolaria Primulas

Juana Martínez Editor Itzel Álvarez Design director Pina Alfaro Photographer Elsy Penie Stylist MOREVA PUBLISHERS Av. Del sol #77 Mexico, city.

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Around the world

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Top 5 hidden green spots in Berlin

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Navigating the Mountains of Northern Vietnam

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Talking to Sir David Attenborough

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Kew Elements

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A different view of the Dolomites

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Science in Kew

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Art in Kew

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Kids in the garden

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Gifts from Kew

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AROUND THE WORLD

EDITORIAL 4

AROUND THE WORLD

Botanic gardens all around the world have been a treausure to people around them and the visitors who come to enjoy nature and botanical natural phenomena. BOTANICA, a botanics garden magazine, is an intention to improve our vision about gardening and the importance of achieving the main commintment with Earth and ourselves as humans showing up the best places in the world. BOTANICA magazine looks for the fact of surprising and keeping us at the edge of the magnificense of nature and its effects on our lives, casting all the places we can enjoy botanics, meet the plants,smell the flowers essence, even walk barefooted along gardens and simply enjoy this beating life...

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Top 5 hidden green spots in Berlin

By PATO SUÁREZ

If you happen to go to Berlin or if you are in Berlin, dont miss this. The last days of fall have officially arrived and we aim to soak up every last sunbeam before it’s getting cold and dark in Berlin again. We celebrate the late summer by visiting all our favorite green spots, spending time outside, sipping coffee or going for a last boat ride on Spree river.

In the following Places Feature we assembled our favorite green spots in Berlin for you where you can hang out with your friends, become an urban gardener, visit flea markets, find a good cup of coffee, listen to some music or just enjoy the lush green roof unfolding above your heads. Enjoy.

Café Am Neuen See

Lichtensteinallee 2, 10787 Berlin Open Monday – Friday from 9 am

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Prinzessinengarten Prinzessinnenstraße 15, 10996 Berlin Open Monday – Friday from 9 am

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Klunkerkranich Karl-Marx-Str. 66, 12053 Berlin Open Monday – Friday from 9 am

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Insel der Jugend Prinzessinnenstraße 15, 10996 Berlin Open Monday – Friday from 9 am

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Georg-Kolbe-Museum Karl-Marx-Str. 66, 12053 Berlin Open Monday – Friday from 9 am

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Navigating the Mountains of Northern Vietnam Words by MINE GALVÁN

Editorial and commercial photographer Quinn Ryan Mattingly has been based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for more than a decade. In collaboration with Huawei, he turned the Huawei P10 Plus to some of the landscapes he knows best: the mountainous rural pastures of northern Vietnam. Through his crisp and evocative snapshots, he guides us through the vibrant terrain, capturing the faces and natural beauty of this exquisite part of the world.

“Leaving Hanoi on a Friday morning after a long week of work, even the incoming typhoon blowing into the region couldn’t hold back my excitement of returning to the mountains of North Vietnam, to photograph my encounters with the local people.

The rain chased us nearly all the way down the long straight highway that connects the city with the rural provinces that surround it. Once the landscape started to change, luckily so did the weather, and I was beginning to see the images I wanted to make. Not far into the countryside, our car passed by a set of men perched on a wooden fence, framed by rising hills in the back. After driving by the scene for a second or two, it occurred to me that this was exactly a perfect place to start, and I asked the driver to stop and turn about. I got out and approached the men with a smile and my best northern Vietnamese. They, of course, responded in kind, and I took out the phone and began to make a few shots. Though it usually takes me a second to warm up on the first shot of the day, the ease of the phone and the steadfastness of the subjects made my life easy, and within a few minutes I had a variety of images in the can.

The drive continues on and eventually, we reached the rural villages of Muong Hum and Y Ty, near the border of Vietnam and China. The next day saw me and the phone out exploring the surrounds, tromping through muddy rice terraces, following the action and light.”

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All images © Quinn Ryan Mattingly.

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A TALK WITH...

Sir David Attenborough

By Jenny Johnson

“I do get lonely since my wife died but being a television dinosaur keeps me busy�.

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How does one get to be an old dinosaur?

It might seem like an offensive question to ask Sir David Attenborough, but he’s delighted to explain it!

‘I didn’t get any warning, you know. I wandered into the Natural History Museum one day, and the head of the palaeontology department came up and said, “Congratulations!”

sia? Because it is named after Dr Fuchs, the German botanist who discovered it in the 19th century. But every time you look at your fuchsias, I bet you do not say, “Dear old Dr Fuchs”.

It transpires that a dinosaur, the Attenborosaurus, has been named after Sir David. New names, he explains, are always being required for plants and animals – even ones that haven’t lived on this Earth for thousands of years.

‘You didn’t even know he existed. It is the same with Attenborosaurus. In 50 or 100 years’ time, people will not be saying, “Attenborosaurus – good Lord, that must be that wildlife chap”.

They will just say, “Attenborosaurus. There is another bloody Attenborosaurus”. I will be long, long forgotten.’

This particular fossil – of a giant marine reptile – had been on display in the museum for well over a century, and everyone had been quite happy to call it a Plesiosaurus conybeari. Then there was a scientific rethink, and someone decided that this creature wasn’t a plesiosaurus at all. A new name was required – and Attenborosaurus was born.

Well, you have to credit him for seeing the bigger picture. In the meantime, thanks to the fact that most homes in the country must boast at least one of his DVD collections, there is little chance of Attenborough being forgotten too soon on documentals.

One might think that Sir David would be a bit blasé about having things named after him by now. A flower in Ecuador already bears his name, as does a species of, er, parasitic wasp.

Just last month, a flesh-eating plant called the pitcher plant became the latest member of the Attenborough ‘family’. But none can compare to ‘his’ dinosaur.

Not that posterity will record every whispered commentary he has ever made.

‘The stuff I did in the Fifties is not available,’ he says, with a laugh.

‘Thank God, because it was terrible. It was in black and white, and the camera quality – oh dear. You could just about make out that you were watching an elephant. Mind you, people were bowled over by that in those days. How things have changed in the half-century or so since.

‘There is a sign underneath it that says “Attenborosaurus”,’ he chuckles. ‘Imagine that! I actually stand under it quite regularly myself, and people walk by and never take the slightest bit of notice.’

He reckons that the young Attenborough would never make it if he were starting out today. His teeth were too big, for starters. And he was, with hindsight, completely devoid of any desire to elbow his way to the top.

‘It’s hugely flattering,’ he says, ‘and very entertaining, but ultimately it doesn’t mean much.’

Why? ‘Have you got fuchsias in your garden?’ he asks. ‘Do you know why it is called a fuch-

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‘It was not that I had to fight my way up, you know. The amazing thing is that nobody else wanted to do it in 1954. I found myself on screen by default, because producers – of which I was one – did everything. If a programme needed a bit of commentary, someone got shoved to the front.

to. I looked at my poor, dear wife and thought, “Good grief, what have I exposed her to as well?” Then I put my hand on the sheet between us and it was red hot. She’d bought an electric blanket when I was away. A his and hers one. My side was on and I had no clue that I should be turning it off.’

‘And that was me. If I was starting out today, I wouldn’t have – you don’t want to come home and live in the remotest parts of Scotland. You want theatre, music, the cinema. You want a huge and sweet family.’

He doesn’t like to talk too intimately about his beloved Jane, who died suddenly from a brain haemorrhage in 1997. When she slipped into a coma, he was in New Zealand making The Life Of Birds.

He tells a lovely anecdote about coming home from some god-awful adventure, eating his first good meal in months, and throwing himself into his bed. He woke, blinded with sweat in the wee small hours.

He flew across the world to be with her and just about made it back in time. She squeezed his hand in recognition just before she died.

He says it has never occurred to him to leave the house they shared.

‘I thought I had malaria and lay there, anguished, wondering what type I’d been exposed

‘What would be the point? I would be leaving the home we made together, the garden we

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built up. We loved to spend time there. Where we grew up our kids and more’.

‘The thing is, when you go around the house, you know that, no matter how many doors you open there is not going to be anybody there, and that’s a pity. Then you go down to have a meal that you have to cook for yourself, which is not too odd, but, you know, it is nice to be able to talk to someone.’

You are quite pragmatic about these things then, I say.

‘I think it’s probably sentimental,’ he replies.

‘This house is all bound up with her. I feel her here as much as anywhere.’

He says he can quite understand why some men of his generation turn their faces to the wall after losing a wife, and never quite recover. He was lucky, he says, that there were people – programme- makers, fans, academics – relying on him.

It’s also where his two children, now in their 50s, were raised – Robert is an anthropologist in Australia and Susan is a teacher. His daughter, who lives in Woking, comes in a few times a week to ‘muck him out’, as he puts it.

‘What is important is that there are people around who say to you, “Look, we desperately need you, you know. We do understand desperately want you to write that script. Could you possibly do that?”

A few years back, I asked him if he was ever lonely and he waved my question away, saying something about being too busy.

Today, when I ask the same question, he says, ‘Yes. I mean, I understand would rather have people around.

‘It is a great relief when there is somebody driving you to get on with things. I was in the middle of a series when my wife died. I took

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time off, of course, but there was an obligation there. There were things to do. If there hadn’t been…’

have time for jogging!’ But yes, he is irritated that he ‘can’t climb trees any more’. Indeed, it transpires he can’t walk any distance at all.

He feels desperately sad for men of his age who aren’t so lucky.

‘My legs don’t work and people say, “You should have a knee replacement”, but when you are 83, there would be another year or 18 months of pain and stuff, and by that time you are 85, 86. Come on! We are mortal and you cannot make yourself a 26-year-old again. You might as well cope with it the way it is going.’

‘For them, that loss must be just appalling. If you have retired, your world is contracted, your perspective is contracted, and you have probably contracted entirely almost to yourself and to your partner. Then that suddenly goes. It was a very fortunate thing that I did not have to retire.’

His way of coping is to charge on regardless.

He still gets about 50 letters a day from organisations and fans, and people who want him to identify some frog they spotted in the garden.

Is it coincidence, then, that he has spent the years since Jane died working even harder than before? He says not.

‘I did cope by working, and again it was just the most fantastic luck that I was able to. If my life had gone in a different way – say I had gone into the oil business, which I once considered doing – I would have been out at 60.

‘I could say, “Look it up on the internet, you twit!” but I don’t. People have taken the effort to get in touch, so the least I can do is help them out.’

He spent this morning looking at pictures of birds of paradise, for a new book project, and he was clearly in his element.

‘Someone would have waved me off, saying, “Goodbye, and of course you have always wanted to play golf, have you not?” And what would have happened to me, then? I am 83 now, so for the last 23 years, I would have done, what? As it turns out, I think I have done some of my best work in that time, in the years I supposedly should have been in a bath chair or playing golf.’

‘Can you think of a more wonderful way to spend a morning?’

In a few months he is off to the South Pole to make another documentary.

What do his friends say about that, given those frequent debates about his knee replacement?

He finds it difficult to watch those friends whose paths have gone that way.

‘They say, “You must be mad”, but they don’t mean it. They mean, “How lucky you are” – and we all know it.’

‘You are too young to know this, but there comes a point when the only time you see your friends is at funeral services. Then you are all older and greyer and more trembly, and there are fewer of you. It is quite depressing.’

Perhaps there is an added edge to his desire to press on regardless, though.

‘If I was starting out on TV today, I wouldn’t have a hope in hell’

Late last year, his brother, the legendary film producer Lord ‘Dickie’ Attenborough, fell down the stairs and was seriously ill for quite some time.

Does he worry about physical decline? He guffaws at the mention of diet, raves a little more about pork pies and sh some of my best work in that time, in the years outs, ‘I don’t

‘The North Pole,’ he declares, laughing. And long may his globe-trotting continue.

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N AT U R A COCIN A S

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Words by Sir David attenborough

THE KEW ELEMENTS Photos by Olivia Mena

Kew is London’s largest UNESCO World Heritage site offering unique landscapes, vistas and iconic architecture from every stage of the Gardens’ history. Our collection of living plants is the largest and most diverse in the world, growing out in the landscape and within our glasshouses and nurseries. Kew is a global resource for plant and fungal knowledge. Kew Gardens, together with the botanic gardens at Wakehurst Place in Sussex, are managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens.

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Welcome to Kew Gardens

By SIR DAVID AT TENBOROUGH

There have been royal gardens at Kew since 1759 – the same year that the British Museum first opened its doors and that the first pint of Guinness was poured. Founded by Princess Augusta, Princess of Wales and mother of King George III, Kew Gardens is, today, home to the largest and most diverse collection of living plants anywhere in the world. In 2003, it was awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in recognition of its advancement of botany and ecology. It is regarded as a scientific research centre of global importance in botanics and history.

Set in 326 acres (132 hectares) of exceptional landscape featuring glasshouses, a royal palace, art galleries and immersive installations as well as stunning floral displays, Kew Gardens is the perfect day out for visitors of all ages.

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In 2017, Kew Gardens was voted Best Attraction in London as part of the Worldwide Attractions Awards

Kew’s Archives contain the official records of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as well as the papers of many botanists, gardeners and other individuals and organisations connected with botany. They form a valuable resource on the history, discovery, study, transfer and use of the world’s plants and fungi.

interest to a diverse user community. They represent a global resource for plant science and one which supports Kew’s aims both nationally and internationally.

Kew will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker’s birth this year, with a number of events and also further work on his correspondence. Cam Sharp Jones tells us more about all that is the core purpose of our science stems from a simple but often overlooked truth: all our lives depend on plants and fungi. Kew’s Science Directorate is led by the Director of Science, Professor Katherine J Willis. The directorate comprises six scientific research departments, supported by the Office of the Science Directorate, and Library, Art & Archives. Our scientific vision is to document and understand global plant and fungal diversity and its uses, bringing authoritative expertise to bear on the critical challenges facing humanity today.

The archive catalogue contains entries describing these collections. A small number of the more important collections have been listed to file or volume level, but most have a collection level record, summarising what is contained in each collection.

We are working to add summary records for all our “personal” collections i.e. those collections that relate to a particular individual.

However, please note thathis is in progress.

The Library, Art & Archives Collections at Kew comprise the most comprehensive collection of botanical literature in the world, an Art and Illustration Collection that is without equal and substantial Archives are available for studing. These collections include many exceptionally fine rare botanical books and some outstanding original manuscripts and paintings which clearly could be of significant

Our unique combination of extensive collections, databases, scientific expertise and global partnerships gives us a leading role in facilitating access to fundamental plant and fungal information. Kew contains the most di-

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verse collection of living plants of any botanic garden in the world. The collection contains plants from tropical, temperate, arid and alpine climates, and are grown out in the Gardens and in controlled conditions within glasshouses and nurseries.

both nationally and internationally. Kew will be celebrating the 200th anniversary of Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker’s birth this year, with a number of events and also further work on his correspondence. Cam Sharp Jones tells us more about all that is planned.

From walks and tours, outdoor festivals and childrens activities to art exhibitions and short courses, discover a unique variety of things to do during your trip to Kew Gardens.

The core purpose of our science stems from a simple but often overlooked truth: all our lives depend on plants and fungi. Kew’s Science Directorate is led by the Director of Science, Professor Katherine J Willis. The directorate comprises six scientific research departments, supported by the Office of the Science Directorate, and Library, Art & Archives. Our scientific vision form a valuable resource is to document and understand global plant and fungal diversity and its uses, bringing authoritative expertise to bear on the critical challenges facing humanity today.

The Kew site, which has been dated as formally starting in 1759, though it can be traced back to the exotic garden at Kew Park, formed

by Lord Capel John of Tewkesbury, consists of 121 hectares (300 acres)[4] of gardens and botanical glasshouses, four Grade I listed buildings, and 36 Grade II listed structures, all set in an internationally significant landscape.

Kew’s Archives contain the official records of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as well as the papers of many botanists, gardeners and other individuals and organisations connected with botany. They form a valuable resource on the history, discovery, study, transfer and use of the world’s plants and fungi.

Our unique combination of extensive collections, databases, scientific expertise and global partnerships gives us a leading role in facilitating access to fundamental plant and fungal information. Kew contains the most diverse collection of living plants of any botanic garden in the world. The collection contains plants from tropical, temperate, arid and alpine climates, and are grown out in the Gardens and in controlled conditions within glasshouses and nurseries.

The archive catalogue contains entries describing these collections. A small number of the more important collections have been listed to file or volume level, but most have a collection level record, summarising what is contained in each collection.

From walks and tours, outdoor festivals and childrens activities to art exhibitions and short courses, discover a unique variety of things to do during your trip to Kew Gardens.

We are working to add summary records for all our “personal” collections i.e. those collections that relate to a particular individual.

However, please note thathis is in progress.

The Library, Art & Archives Collections at Kew comprise the most comprehensive collection of botanical literature in the world, an Art and Illustration Collection that is without equal and substantial Archives are available for studing. These collections include many exceptionally fine rare botanical books and some outstanding original manuscripts and paintings which clearly could be of significant interest to a diverse user community.

They represent a global resource for plant science and one which supports Kew’s aims

The directorate comprises six scientific research departments, supported by the Office of the Science Directorate, and Library, Art & Archives. Our scientific vision is to document and understand global plant and fungal diversity and its uses, bringing authoritative expertise to bear on the critical challenges facing humanity today.

Our collection of living plants is the largest and most diverse in the world, growing out in the landscape and understand within our glasshouses and nurseries.

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The Palm House This Victorian glasshouse is one of Kew's most recognisable buildings. Inside, the rainforest climate supports a unique collection of tropical plants from some of the most threatened environments on Earth. The Palm House was built by architect Decimus Burton and ironmaker Richard Turner between 1844 and 1848, and was the first large-scale structural use

of wrought iron. It is considered “the world’s most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure”. The structure’s panes of glass are all hand-blown. Over time Nesfield’s designs disappeared but in the 1920s flower beds were reinstated and the bedding changed twice a year, a practice which continues today.

Come and have a look by yourself.

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n 1840 the gardens were adopted as a national botanical garden, in large part due to the efforts of the Royal Horticultural Society and its president William Cavendish.[17] Under Kew’s director, William Hooker, the gardens were increased to 30 hectares (75 acres) and the pleasure grounds, or arboretum, extended to 109 hectares (270 acres), and later to its present size of 121 hectares (300 acres). The first curator was John Smith.

In 1848 William Andrews Nesfield created an intricate geometric pattern of beds, or parterre, to surround the newly constructed Palm House finished. Over time Nesfield’s designs disappeared but in the 1920s flower beds were reinstated and the bedding changed twice a year, a practice which continues today.

Palm House pond The sculpture in the centre of the Palm House pond depicts Hercules wrestling the river god Achelous. It was made for King George IV in 1826 and formerly stood on the East Terrace of Windsor Castle. It came to Kew in 1963.

The Tea House at Kew Gardens after the arson attack in 1913 by suffragettes Olive Wharry and Lilian Lenton The Palm House was built by architect Decimus Burton and iron-maker Richard Turner between 1844 and 1848, and was the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron. It is considered “the world’s most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure.”[18] [19] The structure’s panes of glass are all handblown. The Temperate House, which is twice as large as the Palm House, followed later in the 19th century. It is now the largest Victorian glasshouse in existence. Kew was the location of the successful effort in the 19th century to propagate rubber trees for cultivation outside South America.

Ten heraldic figures, sculpted in Portland stone, look out over the Palm House pond. These are the ‘Queen’s Beasts’. They are replicas of sculptures that stood understand at the entrance of Westminster Abbey during her Majesty’s coronation in 1953.

Derived from the heraldry of the Queen’s ancestors, they reflect her royal lineage and include the Falcon of the Plantagenets, the Black Bull of Clarence and the Unicorn of Scotland. No one had ever built a glasshouse on this scale before and to do so the architects borrowed techniques from the ship building industry which may explain why the Palm House looks like the upturned hull of a ship.

In February 1913, the Tea House was burned down by suffragettes Olive Wharry and Lilian Lenton during a series of arson attacks in London.[20] Kew Gardens lost hundreds of trees in the Great Storm of 1987.[21] From 1959 to 2007 Kew Gardens had the tallest flagpole in Britain.

Made from a single Douglas-fir from Canada, it was given to mark both the centenary of the Canadian Province of British Columbia and the bicentenary of Kew Gardens. The flagpole was removed after damage by weather and woodpeckers made it a danger.

Today the Palm House is one of Kew’s most recognisable buildings having gained iconic status as the world’s most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure.

Kew’s third major conservatory, the Princess of Wales Conservatory, designed by architect Gordon Wilson, was opened in 1987 by Diana, Princess of Wales in commemoration of her predecessor Augusta’s associations with Kew.In 1989 the conservatory received the Europa Nostra award for conservation.[36] The conservatory houses ten computer-controlled micro-climatic zones, with the bulk of the greenhouse volume composed of Dry Tropics and Wet Tropics plants. Significant numbers of orchids, water lilies, cacti, lithops, carnivorous plants and bromeliads are housed in the various zones.

In July 2003, the gardens were put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sitesby UNESCO.From walks and tours, outdoor festivals and childrens activities to art exhibitions and short courses, things to do during your trip to Kew Gardens.The cactus collection also extends outside the conservatory where some hardier species can be found.

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The 19m high central nave is surrounded by a walkway at 9m height, allowing visitors a closer look upon the palm tree crowns. In front of the Palm House on the east side are the Queen’s Beasts, ten statues of animals bearing shields. They are Portland stone replicas of originals done by James Woodford and were placed here in 1958.

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Waterlily House The Waterlily House is the hottest and most humid environment at Kew. In summer the pond is home to giant waterlilies, understand lotus and other exotic plants. Find it next to the Palm House.

last for 48 hours. They start out white then darken to pink and purple before sinking beneath the surface of the water. We often display them in the Waterlily House as the leaves are slightly smaller than Victoria amazonica, but this year you will find specimens in the Princess of Wales Conservatory pond.

In the wild, Victoria is a short-lived perennial, pollinated by a beetle (Cylocephata castaneal), which is attracted by the floral scent.

The Waterlily House is the hottest and most humid of the houses at Kew and contains a large pond with varieties of water lily, surrounded by a display of understand economically important heat-loving plants. It closes during the winter months.

At Kew we raise our Victoria as annuals from seed planted each January. The flowers are hand-pollinated during the summer and the resulting seed collected in the autumn.

Giant waterlilies were first discovered in Bolivia in 1801 and later named Victoria amazonica in honour of Queen Victoria.

It was built to house the Victoria amazonica, the largest of the Nymphaeaceae family of water lilies. This plant was originally transported to Kew in phials of clean water and arrived in February 1849, after several prior attempts to transport seeds and roots had failed. Although various other members of the Nymphaeaceae family grew well, the house did not suit the Victoria, purportedly because of a poor ventilation system, and this specimen was moved to another, smaller, house.

One of several V. amazonica plants germinated at Kew in the mid-19th century was sent to architect Joseph Paxton and the structure of the waterlily’s leaf is said to have inspired his design for the Crystal Palace which housed the Great Exhibition of 1851.

The leaves grow so vast they have been photographed with babies understand and toddlers sitting on top.

The ironwork for this project was provided by Richard Turner and the initial construction was completed in 1852. The heat for the house was initially obtained by running a flue from the nearby Palm House but it was later equipped with its own boiler.

Santa Cruz waterlilies (Victoria cruziana) have striking lily pads up to two metres wide, with prickly undersides and wide, upturned rims.

The flowers are large and fragrant, but only

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Miss Cotton, daughter of Kew’s Herbarium Keeper Arthur Cotton, sitting on a Victoria amazonica waterlily, 1923

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This small, square glasshouse was designed specifically to showcase the giant Amazon waterlily (Victoria amazonica). It was completed in 1852 and is now a listed building.

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The Broad Walk team has been busy maintaining the borders to keep them looking good for our vistors.

Great Broad Walk Borders Planted with over 30,000 plants, the Borders provide striking textures and colours throughout the summer months and beautiful white spectacle on winter time.

of texture and colour. The borders are at their best between June and September, and there are bulbs for spring and some late flowers and seed heads for autumn interest.

The Broad Walk was originally designed to serve as an impressive formal promenade to the newly opened Palm House.

A large number are cultivars, selected to give an extended flowering season and reliably bring colour to the scheme. The borders also include some understand wild plant species and plants from Kew’s own collections that have been propagated to make the borders unique and distinct.

We wanted to bring back the atmosphere of an ornamental promenade to the Palm House and emphasise the perspective. We planted new borders and a row o understand f topiary yew trees (Taxus baccata) along the edge of the path on each side. The new borders opened in spring 2016.

Take action today by sowing a virtual wild flower seed. This helps us to raise awareness of native pollinator-friendly wild flowers and how important they are for wildlife and our own wellbeing.

A series of circles are bisected by the path to create the shape of a bean pod. This design was inspired by the tropical vine Entada gigas – the largest seed pod in the legume family – also known as the sea bean or monkey ladder.

We planted 30,000 plants for a great diversity

We believe small actions lead to big changes, so go to growwilduk.com/sowingmap to sow your virtual seed now, have an eye on our project and joing us to grow up.

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It is hard to believe that we only finished planting up the Broad Walk borders last spring. It is bursting with colour and buzzing with bees.

A frequent question about bulbs is do we leave them in the ground? We do!

Once over we cut back flower stems to the base to prevent the plant spending energy on seed production. We leave the foliage to die away naturally; removing it only when it is yellow. This ensures that all the sun’s energy is converted to food which is stored in the bulb for next year’s display. The dying foliage can look ugly but is hidden in part by the surrounding plants.

The Broad Walk team has been busy maintaining the borders to keep them looking good for our vistors. We closely monitor the Broad Walk for irrigation, dead heading and staking needs. Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to.

After the spring bulbs We hope you enjoyed the waves of spring bulbs this year; starting with the Narcissi in late February into April, followed by a dazzling show of Tulipa, including the hugely popular rich red Tulipa ‘Red Shine’.

We are leaving the heads on for ornamental appeal but removing stems of any that start to lean and flop over the emerging perennials.

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Kew Palace and Royal Kitchens Kew Palace was constructed in 1631 for a Flemish merchant Samuel Fortrey. A lovers knot with the initials S and C are carved over the front door of the house representing his initials and that of his wife, Catherine de Latfeur.

known as the Royal Botanic Gardens. (Entry to the Palace is included in the ticket to Kew Gardens on any visit during its open season.)

Kew Palace really came into its own in the time when Prince George grew up here. When he became George III it was one of his favourite homes for his own family with Queen Charlotte. The king had an observatory installed and Charlotte added to the gardens with a rustic-style cottage which the family used as a picnic retreat. Sure beats a garden shed.

About 100 years later, it was leased by Queen Caroline and subsequently bought by George III. He and his wife, Queen Charlotte, spent happy summers at Kew Palace with their 15 children and it was an important refuge during his infamous episodes of ‘madness’. After Queen Charlotte died in 1818, Kew Palace was closed up.

A visit to Kew Palace today includes a chance to see the fashionable Georgian decor of the princesses’ rooms, the Royal Kitchens and artefacts which tell the story of George III’s life, including the understand times when he was deemed ‘mad’ and stayed here whilst suffering from porphyria.

It was acquired by Kew in 1898 and opened to the public for the first time. Today it is in the trust of Historic Royal Palaces.

Step into royal family life as lived in sophisticated Georgian England and find out who sowed the seeds of the great Kew Gardens

Curiously, there is a wax bust of George III on display too. It was made in 1996 but it’s cast from the original mould kept at Madame Tussauds. Madame Tussaud herself made the original waxwork ‘from life’, to celebrate his Golden Jubilee in 1810.

One of the lesser known royal residences in London and only open from spring to autumn each year, Kew Palace is a rare chance to glimpse family life among kings, queens, princes and princesses.

Built by a rich Flemish merchant in 1631, this pretty, red-brick villa was designed as a riverside country residence convenient for London.

The house then had a succession of tenants before George II’s wife Caroline spotted the house and deemed it a suitable home for their three eldest daughters when the royal family was in residence at Richmond Lodge nearby.

The Royal Kitchens are next to the Palace, preserved from the time of Queen Charlotte’s death in 1818.

The great kitchen and the preparation rooms give an insight into the servants who worked in them and Georgian culinary life.

To discover Kew’s Ice House, which was used to store foods for King George III and his family, head towards the Princess of Wales Conservatory.

It was George II’s son, Prince Frederick and later his widow, Augusta, who cultivated and developed the gardens at Kew Palace – today

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The Treetop Walkway

The Treetop Walkway is 200 metres long and towers 18 metres above the ground, enabling visitors a rare insight into the complex ecosystem of the forest canopy, a world teeming with birds and insects, lichens and fungi.

The Grade I listed building is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse in the world, and twice the size of the Palm House. It houses an internationally important collection of temperate zone plants, including some of the rarest and most threatened. Currently closed for restoration, it will reopen to the public next year.

Made from over 400 tonnes of weathered steel, the rusted steel columns blend in with the natural environment.

At ground level sculptures carved from tree trunks illustrate microscopic elements of trees to explain how trees grow. A path leads visitors below ground to the Rhizotron, an underground lab constructed to study the soil.

The Temperate House houses an internationally important collection of temperate zone plants, including some of the rarest and most threatened. Due to its age and the complex internal conditions required to maintain the plants, much of this very special Grade I Listed Building needed modernising.

Take in the breathaking views across the Gardens and beyond while walking through the tops of trees, 18 metres above the woodland floor.

By restoring this historic building we are ensuring its conservation, highlighting our botanic heritage, and delivering new cutting-edge displays.

Walk through the branches of sweet chestnut, Castanea sativa, beech, Fagus sylvatica, horse chestnut, Aesculus hippocastanum and different oak species, Quercus.

With the global challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss and food security, these important plant collections will highlight Kew’s role in safeguarding rare and threatened plants from extinction.

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SIGNS IN ACTION

A Different View of the Dolomites David Avazzadeh’s ‘Force Majeure’ Photography · October 27, 2017

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Currently based in Vienna, David Avazzadeh is a self-taught photographer whose work appears within the recurring setting of various natural environments. Over the course of two years, Avazzadeh made a series of visits to the Dolomites, a corner of the Alps in northeastern Italy. Taking as inspiration the ‘optical phenomena’ of the mountain range, the photographer captures ‘Force Majeure’ – a collection of images that intervene with the vast, visceral landscape, both physically and in post-production. Avazzadeh describes the study as “a series of disconnected interventions, staged arrangements and encountered alienations,” and explains a desire to “not only to capture the mystical beauty of nature but to break with preconceived ideas of beauty, realism and truth.”

All images © David Avazzadeh

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SCIENCE IN KEW Words by maría gonzáleZ Photos by Olivia Menaolalde

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The Herbarium

The Herbarium is a collection of preserved plants that are stored, catalogued, and arranged systematically for study. When specimens are collected in the field, the Herbarium and associated information in the library is used to identify these specimens, to determine how one species differs from another, or whether a specimen represents a species new to science.

cimens have priceless significance in the study of plant diversity. Kew’s Herbarium collection, one of the largest in the world, is representative of global plant diversity, containing around 95% of plant genera and 330,000 type specimens which act as standards for identifying the correct name for a plant.

Around 25,000 specimens are added to the collection each year, a quarter of which are collected by Kew staff with partners from around the world, the remainder being sent from other herbaria worldwide. Around 12% of the herbarium collection has been databased, including all the type specimens, which have also been imaged.

Herbarium specimens act as a source of information, to determine: what the plants look like; where they are found; what environmental niche they occupy; which species are threatened by extinction; what morphological and chemical variation occurs; and, when they flower or produce seed. Specimens can be used to provide samples of DNA to study relationships and evolutionary processes.

They also act as vouchers to validate scientific observations. The Herbarium is therefore of immense practical use and of fundamental importance to science.

The Spirit Collection, comprising over 74,000 specimens preserved in a solution containing 53% industrial methylated spirit, is also databased.

When William Hooker was appointed Director of Kew in 1841 there was no official herbarium.

Before then, Sir Joseph Banks’ herbarium and library in Soho Square had been used for queries on plant names and classification. Hooker then made his own collection, perhaps the largest in private hands, available to staff and visitors at his home close to Kew. The ground

Individual plants (or parts of plants) are preserved, stored and cared for over time so that current and future generations can identify plants, study biodiversity and use the collection in support of conservation, ecology and sustainable development. The Herbarium collection has grown over 150 years and all spe-

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floor of Hunter House became available in 1852 and was used to house Hooker’s herbarium, alongside the herbarium and library of Dr William Arnold Bromfield. Santa Cruz waterlilies (Victoria cruziana) have striking lily pads up to two metres wide, with prickly undersides and wide, upturned rims. The flowers are large and fragrant, but only last for 48 hours. They start out white then darken to pink and purple before sinking beneath the

surface of the water. We often display them in the Waterlily House as the leaves are slightly smaller than Victoria amazonica, but this year you will find specimens in the Princess of Wales Conservatory pond. The library and archives at Kew are one of the world’s largest botanical collections, with over half a million items, including books, botanical illustrations, photographs, letters and manuscripts, periodicals, and maps.

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Fungarium

The Fungarium houses Kew’s reference collection of fungi which includes an estimated 1.25 million dried specimens. This collection is the largest, and one of the oldest, and most scientifically important in the world. There are samples of fungi from all seven continents, spanning the entire fungal tree of life, representing well over half of known global diversity.

years have greatly enhanced the collection, alongside many specimens collected by Kew staff from all corners of the globe. In 2007, the International Mycological Institute (IMI) fungarium (owned by CAB International) was housed alongside the Kew collection, adding very substantially to our overall holdings.The Fungarium holds an estimated 375,000 specimens from the UK, which are designated as the British National Collection of fungi. Collections from other parts of the world focus especially on historically significant collectors from the nineteenth century. Reflecting the research interests of Kew mycologists over the years, the Fungarium contains particularly important collections of dried mushrooms and toadstools, and the IMI samples are especially significant for tropical plant pathogens.

Our oldest specimens date back to the eighteenth century, and we have a rich collection of historically significant material, including fungi collected by John Ray, Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt.

The Kew fungal collections are particularly rich in type specimens: original material that is used to make unequivocal links between the fungus as a living organism and the name applied to it. Recent advances in DNA technologies mean that these types can be sequenced and included in phylogenetic research.

Found in virtually every ecological niche, fungi are key organisms to the environment and our lives. From nutrient recyclers, decomposers and beneficial symbiotic partners with plants and animals to food and medicine providers, they can also represent a devastating threat to ecosystems, our food resources and even to our health. Nevertheless, we still suffer from inadequate sampling and study of the kingdom Fungi in many parts of the world.

The Fungarium was founded in 1879 with the donation of Rev. Miles J. Berkeley’s personal collection of around 30,000 specimens (including 6,000 type specimens). Numerous other bequests and donations over the

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Fungi can be found across the Gardens. Although 2,750 named species have been recorded here, visitors will only see the ‘tip of the iceberg’ – the fruiting bodies that appear above ground and the lichens growing on benches, trees and stonework. Most of the non-lichenised fungi grow under the surface – inside the food source – be it soil, leaf litter or rotten wood.

the dried specimens, a small living collection is maintained as cultures, deep-frozen in liquid nitrogen.

Depending on the featured plant or fungus the tour could include a visit to the Jodrell Laboratory, the Herbarium or one of our Nurseries.

You’ll see how Kew’s research can be used to help people across the globe, for example with re-forestation or finding alternative crops for farming in remote areas.

Kew is home to the most important fungal resource in the world – the Fungarium, supported by its own dedicated research team. This collection of dried fungi contains more than a million specimens and represents around 60 per cent of the known global fungal diversity.

Thousands of new specimens are integrated into the collection each year. In addition to

During the guided tour you’ll meet Kew’s knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff and visit areas of the Gardens not normally seen by the public. You’ll gain an insight into different aspects of work that Kew undertakes in areas of science, horticulture and conservation.

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Science and seed collection facing the planet and human populations.

We believe this strategy, by describing Kew’s science priorities, will make an important and unique contribution to addressing these challenges. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, was founded in 1759 by Princess Augusta, the mother of King George III, and over the past 256 years has been at the centre of global discovery, collection, identification, naming and ordering of all things plant and fungus related.

Science has always been the heart of Kew’s purpose and it will continue to be so. Our collections, our people and our partnerships enable us to make an invaluable and highly relevant contribution to some of the biggest issues facing the global population. We do this through research, conservation, and educating and inspiring the public about the importance of plant and fungal science.

This document sets out how Kew intends to make a unique and valuable contribution to plant and fungal science and the specific outcomes we will deliver over the next five years.

It has been developed in tandem with a major re-organisation of our scientific resources that, along with this strategy, will provide focus and clarity on Kew’s scientific priorities.

Spread over two sites (Kew Gardens in west London and Wakehurst Place in West Sussex), Kew’s scientific collections contain over 8.5 million items, representing over 95% of known flowering plant genera and over 60% of known genera of fungi. They incorporate living and preserved material, seeds, spores and DNA, and between them cover an extraordinary breadth of plant and fungal diversity.

In delivering this strategy we also strive for transparency and accountability, both essential to any successful endeavour.

Many of Kew’s collections are unique, and together they provide an unrivalled record of plant and fungal diversity in space and time.

Kew also has over 250 highly skilled scientists, curators and technicians located in three purpose-built buildings: the Herbarium, the Jodrell Laboratory (both located at Kew) and the Wellcome Trust Millennium Building (located at Wakehurst Place).

At each stage of the development of this document the ideas and proposals it contains have been rigorously challenged and shaped

by Kew’s Trustees, colleagues at Defra, and other stakeholders including academic institutions, non-governmental organisations and businesses. We are also grateful for the input of all Kew’s scientists, and to a number of external experts whose insights and critical feedback were invaluable.

The combination of world-class expertise and our collections makes Kew a truly global resource in plant and fungal knowledge. The core purpose of Kew science stems from a simple but often overlooked truth: all our lives depend on plants.

This strategy does not claim to have all the answers. The challenges facing humanity will evolve, and science will continue its forward progress. However, researching and conserving plant and fungal diversity has never been more urgent given the pressing challenges

Kew has an extensive international network of individual partners and consortia.

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However, despite centuries of study, the huge diversity of life on Earth remains poorly understood, and we can only estimate the total number of species in existence.

of biodiversity (from genes, species and populations through to whole ecosystems) such evidence is critical for the development and delivery of policies to manage current environments and also safeguard future environmental resources, both in the UK and around the world.

Even in better-known groups, such as vascular plants, large numbers of new species are still being discovered, and around 2,000 new species names are published each year. Some of these are known from only a single record, particularly in the species-rich tropics.

Our scientific activities and collaborations span 110 countries worldwide. Much of the fieldwork and sharing of information that Kew undertakes in order to achieve its scientific objectives is dependent on working in partnership with key organisations, individuals and communities in these countries. We also deliver an extensive programme of training and capacity building. Our primary stakeholders are UK and global scientific institutions, governments, research councils, industry, international cocies, and the public. Kew is also an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body part-funded by Defra. As part of the Defra Network, Kew plays an active role in delivering the Department’s policy objectives.

A lack of understanding of the taxonomy, distribution, ecology and properties of many species and their associated gene pools represents a significant understand knowledge gap, which undermines global biodiversity conservation efforts.

Collecting baseline knowledge of the world’s plants and fungi, naming and identifying species and analysing patterns and distributions in time andspace therefore form a fundamental part of our scientific mission. Kew’s expertise in naming and identification is global in its reach with a particularly strong emphasis on the extremely species-rich, yet highly threatened, tropical regions of the globe, including the large remaining blocks of rainforest in Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Broad-scale analyses of molecular genetic sequence data at Kew have transformed our understanding of evolutionary relationships across the tree of life for both plants and fungi. These improved frameworks provide logical structures for classifying and understanding biodiversity. Both plants and fungi follow sets of developmental ‘rules’ that are at least partly dictated by their genomes. Exploring genome structure and comparing character traits – especially in species that break the rules – help us to understand the underlying evolutionary patterns and processes and how organisms become understand adapted to their environments.

We also focus on locating and identifying those plants and fungi that benefit human livelihoods and well-being, including food crops (e.g. coffee, yams, legumes, palms, grasses), crop wild relatives, fuel crops and timbers.

The long-term collection of plant and fungal material, with records for some individual species spanning more than 250 years, means that Kew is also critically placed to determine the ecological tolerances of many of these species and ascertain how they have changed over time, including their flowering times, distribution and traits such as leaf-shape.

Kew aims to enhance this work to provide authoritative and wide-ranging knowledge of the structure, development, evolution, classification and genomics of all the major plant and fungal groups. The majority of current studies in plant science relate to a few crops and other model speci understand es, so that biological information is lacking formost of the world’s species. Kew’s unparalleled collections of living plants.

Armed with this knowledge, Kew can provide the data-rich evidence needed to evaluate the potential impact of current and future global change on the diversity, physiology, distribution and abundance of some of the most important plant groups. Spanning all aspects

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The Kew site, which has been dated as formally starting in 1759, though it can be traced back to the exotic garden at Kew Park, formed by Lord Capel John of Tewkesbury, consists of 121 hectares (300 acres) of gardens and botanical glasshouses, four Grade I listed buildings, and 36 Grade II listed structures, all set in an internationally significant landscape.Kew’s Archives contain the official records of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, as well as the papers of many botanists, gardeners and other individuals and organisations connected with botany.

01 - Pagoda 02 - Opera House 03 - Tree Top Walkway

04 - Palm House 05 - Waterlilly House 06 - Broad Walk borders

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07 - The Hive 08 - The Orangery 09 - Kew Palace

10 - Herbarium 11 - The Orangery 12 - Kew Kitchens

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ART IN KEW Shapes and shadows

Words by ELENA ARRIAGA

Photos by PINA ALFARO

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Stroll through the Gardens to find pieces from over 30 renowned British and international artists.

Discover Handmade in Britain’s innovative new exhibition, Sculpt at Kew, and see more than 70 sculptures set against the historic backdrop of our world famous gardens.

Handmade in Britain was established over 10 years ago by Piyush Suri, an engineer turned designer who is passionate about championing everything handmade. After working for a few years in the industry, he built an initiative to support and promote designer-makers who create their work in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. For over a decade we have provided a platform of support and promotion for design and craft talent through fairs, events and pop-ups alongside workshops and business mentoring. We work hard to increase accessibility, create new market opportunities and maintain high standards in the contemporary craft sector whilst providing a comprehensive support programme for new graduates and up-coming design talent.

We’re continuing to grow and expand, raising our profile within the sector and beyond.

Enjoy beautiful figurative, abstract and modern sculptures in a range of media including ceramics, bronze, glass and woodwork.

Artists include British sculptor Simon Gudgeon and international artist Mark Dedrie, alongside incredible life-size animals by Piers Mason and Hamish Mackie, and figurative pieces by Paul Vanstone.

Discover a wide range of work and styles, with the chance to view and purchase original works of contemporary art. Handmade in Britain is regarded by exhibitors and visitors as one of the leading organisers of selling events in the UK Contemporary Craft calendar. With annual visitor figures exceeding 14,500, Handmade in Britain events are an essential highlight of the UK’s craft portfolio for designer-makers, collectors, industry professionals and design enthusiasts.

His inspiration comes from an interest in Celtic and Pictish culture as well as contemporary art. Much of his work is functional sculpture and his benches have been commissioned throughout Britain and Europe as well the USA and Canada.

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Nigel has six wooden sculptures along Cedar Vista, made to be sat on and enjoyed. We asked him how he became inspired to create sculptures from fallen trees, why he decided to exhibit at Kew and how he feels seeing his sculptures in the Gardens.

Nigel is a self-taught sculptor whose art has developed naturally from a life working with trees. He learned the skills of tree surgery in the parks of London, then spent several years as a forest contractor fencing, planting and harvesting trees in the hills of Arran in Scotland. He seeks to save tree trunks from logging and planking, sculpting them into large abstract organic forms.

His inspiration comes from an interest in Celtic and Pictish culture as well as contemporary art. Much of his work is functional sculpture and his benches have been commissioned throughout Britain and Europe as well the USA and Canada.

Nigel didn’t need any persuasion to apply to participate in Artful Autumn at Kew as he felt it was the right environment to show his work.

His art is largely inspired by nature, trees and the landscape.

He’s very happy with how his work looks at Kew. He hopes visitors will appreciate the pieces as art but also as resting places to sit and enjoy the Gardens and the autumn experience.

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s and Cl i mb e r oor) d n i ( s r Cr eep e wers o T e s u eho for 3 e l and Tre b a t i u ) a re s r o play o d e t h u t (o d n lds. Fi o r cafĂŠ a s e k y a e P to 9 W h ite o t t x e . L et s d i k r a re a s n u for yo s e i t i v ug h i t o r ac h t e f i ve l erd them lo n u d n nce a exper ie ure. t a n d n st a

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Words by JUANA MARTÍNEZ

Pho tos by PIN A AL FAR

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Come to Kew Gardens and have the most amazing experience with nature. We have several activities for you to give you a learning and great journey. Children see everything at their low level, finding many things live saw bugs, earthworms, gecko lizards, etc... It is a rich and varied world we adults cannot see.

See through the eyes of a bird, live like a badger, and make friends with giants. From the tropics to the desert, travel the natural world in a day and discover the enormous wonders of nature.

The new play area and garden will be next to White Peaks café. It will involve completely re-planting and re-landscaping the surrounding area.

Work begins soon so the outdoor play area Treehouse Towers will close from the end of October.

Climbers and Creepers, our indoor play area, remains open. Kew’s Natural Area covers 37 acres and was given to Kew on the understanding that it should be left in a wild, natural state. In this area you will find a woodland walk, children’s natural play area and Queen Charlotte’s Cottage.

See through the eyes of a bird, live like a badger, and make friends with giants. From the tropics to the desert, travel the natural world in a day and discover the enormous wonders of nature.

The new play area and garden will be next to White Peaks café. It will involve completely re-planting and re-landscaping the surrounding area.

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