Kew Gardens, Richmond, and Diane

The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew is nearly the last westbound stop on the District Line tube. The town of Kew is close to Richmond, and both are classic British towns. 

 

The tube station.

Along the way to the Gardens.

Views of the Palm House.

Marc Quinn had quite a few installations placed around the gardens. These were outside the Palm House.

Inside the Palm House.

The water lilies were spectacular once again.

I found the "dead" water lily on the right in front of the building. I wondered if it was one of the ones on the left as the veins were similar.

 

Some of the smallest water lilies.

Interesting displays of grasses were around the property.

This is interesting, but I was disappointed. When I saw "The Hive" on the map, I was expecting bees.

The information about the Pagoda Tree was fascinating.

There were no topiaries except for these shaped into triangular prisms. Maybe the thought was that topiaries are unnatural, created by man. The red bricked building is Kew Palace.

Another informative display - this time about irrigation.

My favorite was the Treetop Walkway. The elevator whisked me up into the canopy.

 

 

These metal messages hung from the fencing protecting the walkway. They were fun to read.

This was one of my favorites.

A view of the Temperate House from above.

Later, I took the tube to the end of the line, Richmond, a beautiful town on the Thames. 

After a delicious early dinner at Sebastian's, I sat in this park and enjoyed the view. Soon, a woman joined me on the bench. Her string bag held a few bananas, among other items, and indicated that she had gone shopping. We started talking and realized we had quite a bit in common. This unexpectedly joyous time was one of the reasons I love to travel. And we'll continue our conversation, as Diane and I exchanged contact info to stay in touch.