Kew Gardens facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Kew Gardens |
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A view across the gardens to the Palm House in Kew Gardens, in London, England
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| Type | Botanical |
| Location | London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England |
| Area | 121 hectares (300 acres) |
| Visitors | more than 1.35 million per year |
| Species | > 50,000 |
| Public transit access |   Kew Gardens |
| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
| Official name | Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |
| Criteria | Cultural: (ii), (iii), (iv) |
| Inscription | 2003 (27th Session) |
| Area | 132 ha (330 acres) |
| Buffer zone | 350 ha (860 acres) |
Kew Gardens is a famous botanic garden located in southwest London. It is home to the world's largest and most diverse collections of plants and fungi.
Kew Gardens started in 1840 from an exotic garden at Kew Park. It has over 27,000 types of living plants. Its huge herbarium (a collection of dried plants) holds more than 8.5 million preserved plant and fungus samples. The library has over 750,000 books, and there are more than 175,000 plant drawings. Kew Gardens is one of London's most popular places to visit. It is also a World Heritage Site, recognized for its special global importance.
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, manages Kew Gardens and another garden called Wakehurst in Sussex. This organization is a major international research and education center for plants. It employs over 1,100 people.
The Kew site officially began in 1759. It covers 132 hectares (about 326 acres) of gardens and glasshouses. It also has many historic buildings.
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History of Kew Gardens
The area where Kew Gardens is located has a long history. Royal families lived nearby since 1299. In the 16th century, courtiers built large houses in Kew. The land that became the gardens was once a large field.
The exotic garden at Kew Park was first created by Henry Capell. Later, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, the mother of King George III, expanded it. The gardens officially began when the royal estates of Richmond and Kew merged in 1772. William Chambers built several garden structures, including the tall Great Pagoda in 1761, which you can still see today.
King George III helped improve the gardens with the help of William Aiton and Sir Joseph Banks. In 1840, Kew Gardens became a national botanical garden. This happened largely because of the efforts of the Royal Horticultural Society. Under its director, William Hooker, the gardens grew to their current size of 121 hectares (about 300 acres).
The Palm House was built between 1844 and 1848. It was one of the first large buildings to use wrought iron. It is considered a very important Victorian glass and iron structure. The Temperate House, which is even bigger than the Palm House, was built later in the 19th century. It is the largest Victorian glasshouse still standing.
In 1913, the Tea House was burned down by suffragettes. In 1987, a big storm damaged many trees in the gardens.
From 1959 to 2007, Kew Gardens had Britain's tallest flagpole. It was made from a single Douglas fir tree from Canada. It was removed because of weather damage.
In July 2003, UNESCO declared Kew Gardens a World Heritage Site. This means it is a place of special cultural or natural importance to the world.
A big renovation of the Temperate House was finished in May 2018. Five trees from when the botanical gardens started in 1762 are still alive today. They are known as the 'Five Lions'.
Amazing Features at Kew Gardens
Treetop Walkway
A canopy walkway opened in 2008. It lets visitors walk 18 meters (about 59 feet) above the ground among the trees. The walkway is 200 meters (about 656 feet) long. You can go up and down using stairs or a lift. The walkway is made of metal and sways a little in the wind. It was designed to look like trees as it rusts.
Lake Crossing Bridge
The Lake Crossing bridge opened in May 2006. It is made of granite and bronze and crosses a lake. The bridge has a simple, curved design. Its bronze posts look like a solid wall from some angles, but from others, you can see through them to the water. This bridge helps visitors explore more parts of the gardens. It connects the art galleries to other houses and gardens.
The Hive
The Hive opened in 2016. It is a special experience that shows you the amazing life of bees. It is 17 meters (56 feet) tall and looks like a giant honeycomb. The Hive is made of thousands of aluminum pieces. It was so popular that it became a permanent part of Kew Gardens.
Kew Explorer Tour
The Kew Explorer is a road train that takes visitors on a tour around the gardens. It uses clean fuel to reduce pollution. The driver provides interesting information, and there are several stops where you can get off and explore.
Giant Compost Heap
Kew Gardens has one of the largest compost heaps in Europe. It is made from garden waste and manure. This compost is used to help the plants in the gardens grow. There is a special viewing platform where visitors can see the compost heap.
Guided Walks
Volunteers lead daily tours of the gardens. They share interesting facts and stories about the plants and history of Kew.
Plant Houses at Kew
Alpine House
The Davies Alpine House opened in 2006. It is designed to keep alpine plants cool. These are plants that grow high up in mountains or near the poles. The roof is 10 meters (33 feet) high to allow natural airflow. It has automatic blinds to prevent overheating and a system that blows cool air over the plants. The glass is special and lets in a lot of sunlight. To save energy, the air is cooled by pipes buried underground.
Kew has over 7,000 alpine plants. Only about 200 are displayed at a time, and they are rotated regularly.
Nash Conservatory
This building was originally designed for Buckingham Palace and moved to Kew in 1836. It was once used to display tropical plants. Now, with its bright natural light, it is used for exhibitions, weddings, and photography competitions.
Orangery
The Orangery was finished in 1761. It was meant for growing citrus plants, but it was too dark. Today, it is a restaurant.
Palm House
The Palm House was built between 1844 and 1848. It was designed by Decimus Burton and Richard Turner. It has a frame of wrought iron arches and glass panes. The glass was originally tinted green to reduce heat. A walkway inside lets you see the tops of the palm trees. In front of the Palm House are the Queen's Beasts, ten animal statues with shields.
The Palm House was first heated by coal. A tall chimney, now called the Campanile, was built nearby. Today, hot water is piped to the Palm House from modern boilers.
Princess of Wales Conservatory
This large conservatory opened in 1987. It was named after Diana, Princess of Wales. It replaced 26 smaller buildings. The conservatory has ten computer-controlled climate zones. It houses plants from dry and wet tropical areas. You can see many orchids, water lilies, cacti, and carnivorous plants here.
The conservatory is designed to use less energy. Cooler zones are on the outside, and tropical zones are in the center to keep heat in. Its glass roof goes all the way to the ground. A time capsule was buried during its construction. It contains seeds of important crops and endangered plants.
The Temperate House
The Temperate House reopened in May 2018 after a big restoration. It is the world's largest surviving Victorian glass structure. It holds plants and trees from all temperate regions of the world, including some very rare ones. It was designed by Decimus Burton and Richard Turner. It covers 4,880 square meters (about 52,500 square feet) and is 19 meters (62 feet) high. There is a viewing gallery inside where you can look down at the plants.
Waterlily House
The Waterlily House is the hottest and most humid house at Kew. It has a large pond with different kinds of water lilies. It also displays other heat-loving plants. It closes during the winter.
This house was built for the Victoria amazonica, the largest water lily. The ironwork for this house was done by Richard Turner.
Evolution House
This house was a gift from the Australian Government and opened in 1952. It used to be called the Australian House. Since 1995, it has been known as the Evolution House.
Bonsai House
The Bonsai House displays a collection of miniature trees. It was previously known as the Alpine House No. 24.
Special Buildings and Structures
Great Pagoda
In the southeast part of Kew Gardens is the Great Pagoda. It was built in 1762 by Sir William Chambers and looks like a Chinese Ta. It has ten octagonal (eight-sided) stories. From the bottom to the top, it is 50 meters (164 feet) tall.
Each story has a roof that sticks out, like Chinese buildings. Originally, these roofs had large dragons on them. People used to say the dragons were made of gold and sold by King George IV to pay his debts. But actually, they were wooden and painted gold, and they rotted away over time. The Pagoda was closed for many years but reopened in 2006. It was fully restored in 2018, and 80 new dragons were made for it.
Japanese Gateway (Chokushi-Mon)
This gateway was built for the Japan-British Exhibition in 1910 and moved to Kew in 1911. It is a smaller copy of a gateway from a temple in Kyoto, Japan. It is surrounded by a traditional Japanese garden.
Minka House
After a festival in 2001, Kew acquired a Japanese wooden house called a minka. It was built around 1900 in Japan and was rebuilt at Kew within the bamboo collection. Japanese craftsmen helped put the framework back together.
Queen Charlotte's Cottage
This cottage was built before 1771 for Queen Charlotte by her husband George III. It has been restored and is open to the public on weekends and holidays during the summer.
Kew Palace
Kew Palace is the smallest of the British royal palaces. It was built around 1631 by a Dutch merchant. King George III later bought it. The way the bricks are laid gives it a Dutch look.
Behind the palace is the "Queen's Garden." It has a collection of plants that were believed to have medicinal uses. Only plants that existed in England by the 17th century are grown there. The palace was restored and reopened to the public in 2006. In front of the palace is a sundial given to Kew Gardens in 1959.
Galleries and Museums
Admission to the galleries and museums is free after you pay to enter the gardens.
Shirley Sherwood Gallery
The Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanic Art opened in 2008. It displays beautiful paintings from Kew's collection and Dr Shirley Sherwood's collection. Many of these paintings had never been shown to the public before. The artworks are changed every six months.
Museum No. 1
Near the Palm House is a building called "Museum No. 1." It opened in 1857. It used to show how humans depend on plants, with collections of tools, clothing, food, and medicines. The top floors are now an education center, and the ground floor has a restaurant.
Marianne North Gallery
The Marianne North Gallery was built in the 1880s. It houses 832 paintings by Marianne North. She was a woman who traveled alone to many parts of the world to paint plants. She left her paintings to Kew on the condition that their arrangement in the gallery would not be changed. The gallery was restored between 2008 and 2009 and reopened in October 2009. It is the only permanent exhibition in Great Britain dedicated to the work of one woman.
Science at Kew
Plant Collections
Kew Gardens has many living plant collections. These include:
- Alpine and Rock Garden
- Aquatic Garden (for water plants)
- Arboretum (a collection of trees)
- Arid Collection (for desert plants like cacti)
- Bonsai Collection
- Carnivorous Plant Collection
- Orchid Collection
- Palm Collection
- Temperate Herbaceous Collection
The Aquatic Garden has a large pool with water lilies. The Bonsai Collection is in its own greenhouse. The Carnivorous Plant collection is in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. The Grass Garden has over 580 types of grasses. The Orchid Collection is in two climate zones in the Princess of Wales Conservatory. The Rock Garden has plants from six different parts of the world.
The Arboretum covers two-thirds of the gardens. It has over 14,000 trees of many different kinds.
Herbarium
The Kew Herbarium is one of the largest in the world. It has about 7 million dried plant samples. These are used mainly for studying and classifying plants. The herbarium is very important globally. It helps researchers from all over the world study botany and biodiversity. A large part of the herbarium has been made digital and is available online.
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Kew Herbarium old wing
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Kew Herbarium, storage in the old wing
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Solanum cheesmaniae Kew herbarium sheet prepared by Charles Darwin, Chatham Island, Galapagos, September 1835
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Kew Herbarium pressed and boxed specimens of Raphia australis
Kew Gardens also has a Fungarium (for fungi), a plant DNA bank, and a seed bank. The Fungarium has about 1.25 million dried fungi samples.
Library and Archives
The Library, Art & Archives at Kew have one of the world's largest collections about plants. It has over half a million items. These include books, plant drawings, photos, letters, and maps.
Forensic Horticulture
Kew helps police forces around the world. They use plant material to find clues in cases. For example, they once identified a highly toxic African bean found in a body.
Economic Botany
The Sustainable Uses of Plants Group studies how plants are used in the UK and in dry parts of the world. They also take care of the Economic Botany Collection. This collection has over 90,000 plant materials and artifacts. Some are on display in Museum No. 1.
Jodrell Laboratory
The Jodrell Laboratory was started in 1876. It was a place for scientists to study plants. It was one of the first laboratories not connected to a university. Many important discoveries about living and fossil plants were made here. The lab has grown over the years.
Achievements
Kew Gardens has had many achievements. For example, the world's smallest water-lily, Nymphaea thermarum, was saved from extinction when it was grown from seed at Kew in 2009. In 2022, Kew scientists identified a new species of Victoria waterlily, Victoria boliviana. This plant had been growing at the Gardens for over 170 years.
Other Features
Kew Constabulary
The gardens have their own police force called Kew Constabulary. It has been operating since 1845. It is a small, specialized police force that patrols the grounds. They have the same powers as the Metropolitan Police within the gardens.
War Memorials
There is a memorial to the Kew gardeners who died in the First World War at a nearby church. There are also two memorial benches in the gardens. They contain parts of an oak tree whose acorn came from a battlefield.
Food and Drink
Kew has several places to eat, including The Orangery and The Botanical Brasserie. A new Family Kitchen & Shop opened in 2021 near the Children's Garden.
Access and Getting There
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Kew Gardens has four gates open to the public:
- The Elizabeth Gate
- The Brentford Gate (faces the River Thames)
- The Victoria Gate (main entrance with the Visitors' Centre)
- The Lion Gate
Kew Gardens station is the closest train station. It is served by the District line (London Underground) and London Overground services. Kew Bridge station is also nearby.
Several bus routes stop near the garden entrances. During the summer, London River Services boats stop at Kew Pier, which is close to the Elizabeth Gate. There are also places to park bikes and cars.
See also
- List of World Heritage Sites in the United Kingdom
- Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, which manages Kew Gardens and Wakehurst Place
- Wakehurst Place
- Botanists active at Kew Gardens
- The Great Plant Hunt – a science project for primary schools created by Kew Gardens
- Index Kewensis, a huge list of plant names started and kept up by Kew Gardens
- Kew Bulletin, a science journal about plant and fungal classification published by Kew Gardens
