Exploring the gardensAt Kew, you’ll find 300 acres of incredible greenery and over 260 years of history, where scientists work year-round to unlock the secrets and potential of real botanicals.The iconic Temperate House is a ‘must’ to experience at Kew. It’s the world’s largest remaining Victorian glasshouse, protecting 10,000 rare and endangered plants from all over the world. Visually beautiful and lush, its pathways guide visitors around species of plants from Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Other ‘must see’ features at Kew include the Palm House, a smaller but equally beautiful glasshouse containing a ‘rainforest’ of tropical plants, the Princess of Wales Conservatory, with its living display of aloes and the Arboretum, which has 14,000 trees and more than 2,000 species, covering every country and every continent in the world.
Whilst the public can enjoy these sublime gardens, behind the scenes the Herbarium is at the heart of the science at Kew. It contains an estimated seven million different dried plants samples that reflect the diversity of plants on Earth, a collection that is growing every year. When they are compared with current botanicals, these samples help Kew to understand plant evolution and conservation.