Hello
Thanks for popping in.
I've saved the best house till last on our trip round Kew Gardens, the Waterlily House. It's the hottest, most humid and smallest plant house but oh, it's so beautiful in Summer when the waterlilies are flowering. You feel like you've stepped into a painting or a tapestry.
The building was specifically designed to show off the giant Victoria Amazonica Waterlily in 1852. The circular pond also has fish and is dyed black to keep down the algae.
The waterlilies are grown from seed each year and are hand pollinated, rather than by beetle like in the wild, to obtain seed for the next year.
The giant waterlilies were found in Bolivia in 1801.
Other plants grow in the house including gourds with their dangly fruits hanging down around the side of the building.
The photos don't do it justice, it really is a magical place.
That ends our tour of Kew Gardens, there is still heaps more to see with the Tree-top Walkway, Nash Conservatory, Princess Charlotte's Cottage to name but a few.
Kew does a marvellous job in conservation and scientific research, there's even the Millennium Seed Bank at their other property Wakehurst in Sussex. If you need any other information, here's their website.
At least the money paid for your entry ticket is going to an important cause to make the world a better place.
Cheerio