Kew Gardens in May

[Eric Locke]

It's great to see a window to Kew in May....Thanks for the lovely shots of the setting and glass houses, Eric, and the odd bit of wildlife amongst the beautiful plants - one that intrigues me is 23.jpg - what on earth is it ? 

Ragged Robin

 2.jpg is as Maggie said a Titan Arum  -Amorphophalus Titan "The Biggest Flower in the World"
If you look on the Kew website there is lots of information and photos of these flowerings.

"Wee Lizard" was in a tropical section basking with the tropical waterlilies so not a "Native".

Eric

[Ragged Robin]

Thanks for that Eric.  Kew is such an amazing place just to wander in and admire!

[Maggi Young]

Thanks, Eric.

We do get "wee lizards" in Scotland.... but not as many as there used to be.....and not of the species you show, obviously!  I forget what species they are, if I ever knew.... cute and little, anyhow 

[Eric Locke]

Ragged Robin -  Kew is worth a visit at any time of the year.

This was my first visit for several years and I will not leave it for so long before I go again.
As always this garden is too large too cover in just one visit .
I did find the Alpine house rather small compared with the old display area.
Tree walk was a new experience for me and gives very different views to the garden.

Eric

[Eric Locke]

A few photos from the mentioned Tree Walk.
No 14 shown earlier was also taken from here.

Eric

[Paul T]

Wonderful pics.  Some amazing plants in there.  2 is Amorphophallus titanum as previously mentioned.  Powerful stench to join the intriguing flower.  One I hope to see in bloom somewhere one day in person, as I love the aroid family.  I actually grow a couple of them from seed, although I doubt they are ever going to get to flowering size in my house and they can't go out into the cold.  Given that in the wild forests in Sumatra they have a 22 feet wide leaf, even scaled down with better light there is going to be problems at some point. 

My question is about 21.jog.  What in the world is it?

The tree walk is quite amazing, isn't it?  Would love to see all of this in person one day.

Thanks for the pics.

[Ragged Robin]

What a fantastic walk in the tree tops at Kew, Eric, we miss so much when we're grounded 

I shall make a point of going on the walk in Kew this summer, thanks for posting your inspirational photos

[Maggi Young]

My question is about 21.jpg.  What in the world is it?

Paul, the cute plant with the nicely marked upward facing bell flowers is Petunia patagonica.

[Paul T]

The cream "bowls" with the purple spotting?  That is a Petunia? 

[Maggi Young]

I believe so, Paul! Weird , is it not? Rather sinister flower colouring.
It used to be called Nierembergia patagonica
I have pinched these two photos from (Cliff Booker's pix/) posts in this old thread ;
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1733.msg43873;topicseen#msg43873

two shots of Petunia patagonica.....

[shelagh]

I loved number 2 as well but it looks a little large even for a 36cm pot for the show bench.  I gather it is rather smelly too.

[Paul T]

Wow!!  That is something I would definitely like to grow.  Although I guess it would not look quite so good in my conditions here.    Fascinating form and colour.