Article: Celebrating nature at Kew gardens

Sunday July 19, 2009

By CHOI TUCK WO

Now's the perfect time to visit the magnificent Kew gardens in London – they are abloom in a blaze of glory befitting their birthday bash.

FROM showcasing giant alien-looking willow sculptures and the world's smelliest flowers to a campaign to collect 10% of the world's flora, Kew Gardens is so much more than just a beautiful garden in London.

The World Heritage site is, in fact, celebrating 250 years of its pivotal role as the planet's leader in horticulture, plant science, and conservation. It certainly has plenty of work to keep it going for another 200 years, as one of the biggest challenges it faces is helping the world combat climate change and habitat degradation.

A sweep of bright flowers leads the eye towards Museum Number One. – Photos from Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew

"We want people to live their life more sustainably and make their contributions to saving the planet," says Nigel Taylor, curator of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (to give it its official name).

He cites, for example, the plant hunt involving more than 22,000 primary schools in Britain that will endeavour to reaccquaint schoolchildren with the natural world around them. As so many people now live in towns and cities, Taylor points out that many have inevitably become divorced from nature.

"Each school has been sent a Darwin Discovery Chest, similar to that used by Charles Darwin," he says, referring to the English naturalist's travelling chest during his legendary voyage on board the HMS Beagle in the 1800s.

Among other items, the chest contains equipment for collecting and experimenting with seeds and plants. The programme and chest are aimed at encouraging children to follow in Darwin's footsteps by going on nature walks to discover more about the flora around them.

Touted as the biggest ever school science project, it has already attracted more than 50,000 responses at its website (www.greatplanthunt.org), adds Taylor.

He also touches on the ongoing effort to collect and bank seeds from 10% – or 30,000 species – of the world's wild flowering plants.

Queen Charlotte's Cottage

"We're confident of hitting our target by the end of this year," he says, adding the project is one of the highlights of the celebrations.

Those celebrations are in full swing, and Britain's grand old green dame has rolled out the red carpet to welcome visitors – Kew is literally bursting forth in a riot of colour. With summer scents filling the air and exotic flowers jostling for attention, the 132ha grounds are now a paradise on earth for gardeners – or just anyone who loves beauty.

Here, you can see over 30,000 plants embarking on their journey through their life cycles, as the gardens have flora at every stage, flowering and fruiting, growing and resting.

Among the stranger displays are the titan arum flowers, the world's tallest flowers (they can reach a height of 2.7m) whose sheer enormity is just stunning. As if joining in the birthday celebrations, two of the plants – which only flower once every six or seven years – recently bloomed for the first time in the gardens' history! But keep your distance if you visit, as these flowers are like Malaysia's own Rafflesia (which can also be found at Kew) and emit that rotting corpse stench that gave rise to their nickname, the corpse flower. The titan arums are housed in the Princess of Wales Conservatory.

And if that does not pique your curiosity, wait till you catch sight of those towering alien-like willow sculptures. They could have come straight out of a Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster! Intricately woven by visual artist Tom Hare, these sculptures of the banksia, star anise, horse chestnut, poppy, and devil's claw are among the gardens' crowd-pullers.

Indeed, no expense has been spared in trumpeting the gardens' special anniversary this year.

Queen's Garden

Among many projects are the Great Plant Hunt mentioned above, the Millennium Seed Bank, Global Conservation Map, reshaping the rose garden, as well as commemorative stamps, limited edition 50-pence coins, jewellery ... the list goes on.

There are horticultural commemorations, too: Taylor explains that there are flowers that have been specially grown for the occasion. For instance, the re-shaped Rose Garden – it's being replanted in its original footprint dating back to 1848 – will feature the Rosa Kew Gardens, a celebratory rose created for the anniversary and said to be thornless with eye-catching white-and-yellow flowers.

And then there is the 8m-tall Xstrata Treetop Walkway that allows visitors to walk through the tops of trees for a stunning bird's eye view of nature's wonders.

"More than 670,000 people have trekked along the walkway since it opened last year," says Taylor.

And the public can literally stroll from continent to continent over a global map of recycled glass set on the ground at the gardens' Victoria Gate. The map highlights Kew's global conservation work involving over 200 scientists collaborating with more than 800 organisations in over 100 countries.

With the glorious summer and so much happening during its birthday celebration, there's never been a better time to visit the gardens.

Taylor says they are on track to hit 1.5 million visitors this year, describing it as one of the best years for visitors in history.

And his message for Malaysians?

It's well worth coming to London just to visit Kew Gardens which has been hailed as the spiritual home of botany in England, if not the world.

For more information on the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, and its 250th anniversary events, go to kew.org.

Choi Tuck Wo is Editor, European Bureau.

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This article was taken from: The Star Online: Lifestyle: Travel & Adventure, 19 July 2009