A Weekend Of Plants

It was my birthday today (having turned 30 last year I now plan to tell everyone I am 29.95 plus shippling and handling), and Hubster has learnt well over the last year - this means that at some point I will drag him to a botanical garden.

This year, the poor sucker had to cope with two draggings: Chelsea Physic Garden on Saturday and Kew Gardens today. Chelsea Physic Garden is still very much a hidden gem in London, although I am sad to see that the rule about close supervision of children is not as strictly enforced as in previous years - somewhere with Ricinus, Digitalis and Atropa belladonna is probably not suitable for use as a children's playground.


Depressingly enough, the first thing I saw when I went in was a display on plant fibres and their use in rope, which I thought would be perfect when teaching the final AS Biology topic on use of plants.


The lichens are amazing, and at this time of year were some of the most vivid organisms in the garden. Oh yeah, and there were some snowdrops too...


Kew Gardens was all about the tropical extravaganza.


It seemed a little less "extravagant" this year, and it was unusual not to see the waterlily house in use this year. However, it was a great opportunity to get stuck in with my tripod again, and snap some orchids:


And a first for me - a jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) in flower:


The colours were utterly amazing, and I think I managed to capture them pretty faithfully even with my little digicam.

Next weekend sees the start of half-term, so I stand a chance of being able to a) see my garden in daylight, b) dig over the allotment and c) sow some of the gazillion or so seeds that I ordered over the past few weeks...