My Favourite Place: Kew Palm House
Kew was the obvious place for me to train as a gardener.
I’m very interested in plants from around the world and my trainee year was spent in the Palm House and the Orchid Nursery. On my very first day I found myself working in the Palm House – it was amazing: I didn’t dare touch anything as it all seemed so perfect! When they asked me to cut back some huge, fabulous leaves that were dangling over the path, it seemed a really big deal!
The Palm House is a completely artificial environment so it’s an excellent place to learn about what plants need.
I learned how to water, which seems really basic but it’s quite complicated in a heated glasshouse where it depends on the type of soil, the air flow, and the season. Finding out how to manage such a wonderful display of plants was a real learning curve.
It’s such an incredible structure and has such visual impact.
You open the big heavy doors and as soon as you get inside you’re hit by a wall of humidity. There’s a huge range of different textures and shades of green and the atmosphere varies a lot; when it’s cloudy, there’s a shaded, enclosed feeling but on a sunny day it’s filled with dappled light.
The friendly robins are part of the experience!
They’re permanent residents in the Palm House and they like it there – they have plenty of worms to eat and you can always hear them singing.
One of my favourite plants is pandanus, the screwpine.
It’s raised up out of the bed on stilts and is very striking and architectural. I also like the Panama hat palm; it’s not technically a palm, but the leaves were originally used for making the hats. In fact, there aren’t many things in the plant world that don’t excite me!
Kew’s strapline is ‘Plants, People, Possibilities’ and that resonates with what I’m doing now.
The ethos of the Horatio’s Garden charity is using plants and the garden space to inspire possibilities in people with spinal injuries, whether that’s solace, recovery or skills, the connection is fundamental.
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE; www.kew.org.
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