June 2 -- Kew Royal Botanic Gardens

We got a late start this morning. Decided we would have brunch in the neighborhood. We went to a restaurant that Melanie likes and now we know why. The food was scrumptious. After brunch we went back to the house to pick up a few things and then we were off to Kew Royal Botanic Gardens.

Melanie had arranged to have one of her friends accompany us this afternoon. We met May at the train station in Richland another district of London. May is an expat from Egypt and was a delightful companion for the day.

The emphasis in the garden is edible flora for this summer. So every plant in the garden that can be eaten, regardless of taste, was labeled appropriately. In many cases only the seeds were used for food but often the roots, leaves, and other portions of the plant were identified as edible as well. Some things one could eat is quite surprising.

After we left the train we strolled through an open air market and Kay purchased a very delicious jelly filled doughnut for me. It was the best I have had in a long time. If you are a senior (over 60) or a student you get a discount on admission so be sure to ask if you don’t see a posting about it. Our first stop was the café. We got coffee or water and maybe a sweet snack for those that didn’t purchase one in the market. We sat down at a table and discussed our plan of attack. The gardens encompass 700 acres so it is necessary to have a plan if you don’t have a whole day or two to spend there.

Our first stop in the garden was the greenhouse. It was very hot and humid in this house. It simulated a jungle of course. There were an amazing amount of plants here that could be eaten. Some of the trees and other plants had spectacular flowers. There were spectacular flowers everywhere in the gardens.

The water lily house was spectacular. I will let the pictures do the description. The green pads are up to 6 feet (2 meters) across. The peppers that were also growing in this house smelled just wonderful. Would have been nice to just be able to pick a few for dinner.

The temperate green house was the next stop. This was more in tune with most of the climate of the US. However there were few “cold” climate plants in this green house. It was fun even though most of the plants were unfamiliar. This house was huge.

We then went to the treetop walk. You climb about 50 feet up a tower and then can walk around through the “forest canopy”. This was unique at least for me. Have never seen a walkway like this. May left us for the day after this venue we wished here a good day and thanked her for joining us.

Off to the Japanese landscape area. Interesting flowering shrub and the pagoda. Couldn’t go into the pagoda but it was interesting to look at. Spied a peacock and of course snapped a few picks.

Went back to the train and off to Mel’s.  A lovely day and the weather was spectacular.