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The Kew orchid festival, in brief
Mar. 10th, 2020 10:43 pmOn Monday morning, I had an obnoxiously early routine medical appointment of uncertain purpose in Hammersmith. By the time you've got to Hammersmith from Enfield you're about three-quarters of the way to Kew, and they'd just e-mailed me to tell me that they'd extended this year's orchid festival by a bonus extra week, so having despatched said medical appointment (rather more productively than I'd expected to, to be fair) I bimbled around the Hammersmith charity shops for a bit before getting myself on a bus out toward Richmond.
And I am so glad I did, because it turns out that this year KEW BUILT ME AN ORCHID VOLCANO.
This does not do it justice but you'll just have to trust me, okay. It's on the waterlily pond in the Princess of Wales glasshouse, and words are insufficient to express my glee: it's a dark base, some sort of sculpting material over chicken wire, only they left some of it unsurfaced so that they could arrange plants through it. They've got a riot of red and pink and orange orchids and bromeliads and lilies and various fascinating foliage plants cascading down the sides evoking lava flows; they've got amazing structural white bits coming out top as an ash plume. The reason for this is that this year their focus is on Indonesian orchids and other flora and fauna and, well, Indonesia has a lot of volcanoes, but just -- they could have made this JUST FOR ME, PERSONALLY, and I had NO IDEA it was a thing and I am DELIGHTED BEYOND WORDS.
( +10 )
The run's been extended to the 15th and I very much enjoyed pootling around (being as I'm already a Friend of the gardens so it was functionally free); lovely and quiet on a Monday afternoon. I didn't buy a Vanilla planifolia from the gift shop because they're twenty-five quid and there's no way I'll be able to keep one functionally alive, but Adam's deeply curious about the concept so I might see if they're reduced next week -- when hopefully both the camellia (in bud, starting to blossom, not yet spectacular) and the wisteria (likewise in bud) might be slightly further advanced.
And I am so glad I did, because it turns out that this year KEW BUILT ME AN ORCHID VOLCANO.
This does not do it justice but you'll just have to trust me, okay. It's on the waterlily pond in the Princess of Wales glasshouse, and words are insufficient to express my glee: it's a dark base, some sort of sculpting material over chicken wire, only they left some of it unsurfaced so that they could arrange plants through it. They've got a riot of red and pink and orange orchids and bromeliads and lilies and various fascinating foliage plants cascading down the sides evoking lava flows; they've got amazing structural white bits coming out top as an ash plume. The reason for this is that this year their focus is on Indonesian orchids and other flora and fauna and, well, Indonesia has a lot of volcanoes, but just -- they could have made this JUST FOR ME, PERSONALLY, and I had NO IDEA it was a thing and I am DELIGHTED BEYOND WORDS.
( +10 )
The run's been extended to the 15th and I very much enjoyed pootling around (being as I'm already a Friend of the gardens so it was functionally free); lovely and quiet on a Monday afternoon. I didn't buy a Vanilla planifolia from the gift shop because they're twenty-five quid and there's no way I'll be able to keep one functionally alive, but Adam's deeply curious about the concept so I might see if they're reduced next week -- when hopefully both the camellia (in bud, starting to blossom, not yet spectacular) and the wisteria (likewise in bud) might be slightly further advanced.