June 17, Richmond upon Thames

The very famous Kew Gardens are right here in Richmond, so off I went this morning with my pre-purchased ticket  to arrive at the Victoria Gate by 10:00 a.m. Already there was quite a queue. Many many many school groups were visiting, as well. Each school is distinguished by its distinct uniform: e.g., blue or pink gingham or solid yellow or shirt and tie for the girls (yes, the girls wear ties.  Maybe some boys do, to, but not among the groups I saw), but all the boys dressed pretty much the same in grey pants and navy blazers (blazers in the heat)!  So....it seems that if some wee chappie were not too happy with his situation, why he could just tag along with some other group.  Of a truth some schools do have similarly colored uniforms for boys and girls, such as red shirts and black skirts or pants.

A botanic a garden is not just for growing things; in addition to live specimens of myriad variety, there was an exhibit of botanical art, which, in case you did not know, is a very exacting art form.  As you can see, every part of the tree/plant/flower in its various stages of growth and development are included. "Call me by my name!' demands Walter White of Breaking Bad fame, but I cannot name any of the plants, real or painted.

I did not take a lot of photos because why look at mine when professionally taken pictures can really do the job. If you click on this link you will see at the top of the page a number of different headings such palm house, hive, tree top walkway, greenhouse, pagoda, orchids and so on.  Just click on your favorites and enjoy the show.

Of course, I could not resist taking a few shots, like of these water lilies, for example.  

Someone told me that in Thailand, people sit in them!

Like all growing things, they do require tending::

A flower:

Another flower:

This is like the tree in my bedroom, only bigger:

There is SO MUCH interesting stuff to read regarding various plants and flowers, but this bit about the bees I could not resist passing on:

Kew's hives contain up to 50,000 honey bees, all born from the same queen.  In each hive, you will find several types of honey bee, a single queen, thousands of female worker bees and hundreds of male drones

To pass on the location of pollen and nectar-rich flowers, worker bees communicate with each other through a series of movements called a waggle dance.  The waggle dance is composed ot two parts—the waggle run and the return phase.   The duration of the waggle indicates the distance to the nectar source:  the longer the waggle run, the further the flower.  The angle at which a bee then dances across the comb tells the colony the direction of the flower in relation to the sun.

Who figures out this stuff?

Lady of the Leaves:

Tired: take a sit down on this bench

For anyone who has seen the movie Le Violin Rouge (The Red Violin) and if you have not you definitely should, here is a possibility for the source of the mysterious red color of the instrument:  Some rattan plants bear a fruit which exude a red resin known as dragons blood.  This was once used medicinally and also as a dye for violins. So there you have it!

I also learned that star fruit can treat eczema, and pepper can treat stomach acid.  Whether that would be green, red, black, or white peppercorns, and whether you should eat the entire peppercorn or grind them up and sprinkle generously on your eggs, the blurb did not reveal.

After a few hours at the gardens, and fortified with a mix of chocolate and coffee gelato and strawberry sorbet, I headed back to the Isabella Plantation, this time taking the four-minute longer walking route.  A good choice!  A good part of it followed the Thames and on the way back, a different route meandered through some woods and lanes.  All in all 14 miles of pleasant walking, much beauty to enjoy, and many interesting things to learn.

A word about the hotel because I love talking about hotels.  The Selwyn is just about the only game in town since Richmond is not a tourist attractor.  The rooms are small, very small, very very small, but the bed was excellent, blackout curtains made it easy to fall asleep especially at this time of year, and the shower was decent.  It seems, though, that hotels are really cutting down on amenities.  There was a bottle of water, two cups and saucers, and a few coffee pods but no sugar or milk or even milk substitute.  Not even a drinking glass in the bathroom.  I say! Jumping ahead to Chepstow where the Three Tuns offers a large, colorful room, but way less class. You can't have it all!  But more about Chepstow in the next post.