Image courtesy RBG Kew.
4. Kew Gardens, London
The Royal Bontanic Gardens, more affectionately referred to as Kew, is home to the world’s largest collection of living plants. A mecca for gardeners from around the globe, Kew is also an international botanical research and education centre home to 700 botanists and scientists.
Established in 1759, there are more than 30,000 different species of plants on the 121-hectare plot of land, just a 30-minute trip from central London. Kew is famous for it’s historic greenhouses. The Bonsai House features an impressive collection of bonsai trees, some dating back 150 years. The Waterlily House is home to a giant pond built in 1852 specifically to showcase to giant Amazon waterlily, which was first encountered by European botanists in South America at the turn of the 19th century.
Guests will have to wait a few years to venture inside the Temperate House, but the wait will surely be worth it. This Victoria glasshouse is the largest of its kind the world and houses a unique collection over 4,000 plants, many of which no longer grow in the wild. It’s currently undergoing a £34.3 million renovation and is scheduled to reopen in 2018.
Visit kew.org for more information.
