Kew Gardens, London

Kew Gardens, or officially, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are extensive gardens and botanical glasshouses located between Richmond and Kew in southwest London, England. The name The Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew also refers to the organisation running Kew Gardens as well as Wakehurst Place gardens in Sussex. It is a huge research and education institution with a staff totalling 700 generating an income Ł44 million for the year ended 31 March 2006.

Kew Gardens were created by Lord Capel of Tewkesbury, who called it Kew Park. It was subsequently expanded by Princess Augusta, the widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales. A Chinese pagoda - there was a rage for things Oriental in the 18th century - was added to Kew Gardens in 1761, and is still standing today. King George III added to the gardens with help from William Aiton and Sir Joseph Banks.

Kew Gardens became the national botanical garden in 1840. Under director William Hooker, the gardens were expanded to 30 hectares (75 acres) and the arboretum extended to 109 hectares (270 acres). Today its size is 120 hectares (300 acres).

The Palm House of Kew Gardens, built between 1844 and 1848, and was the first large-scale structural use of wrought iron. Its glass panes were all hand-blown. The Temperate house, built in the 19th century, is twice the size of the Palm House, and is now the largest Victorian glasshouse in existence.

It was at Kew that rubber trees were successfully propagated for cultivation outside South America, and this leads to the rubber plantation industry of Malaya, now spread to neighbouring Southeast Asian countries. In 1987, Diana the Princess of Wales opened Kew's third major conservatory, the Princess of Wales Conservatory, to commemorate Princess Augusta's associations with Kew. In October of that year, however, Kew Gardens lost hundreds of trees to the Great Storm of 1987.

Unesco inscribed Kew Gardens as a World Heritage Site in July 2003.

Local Tours of London

A practical and often cost effective way to see London is to join a local tour. Check out the Local Tours of London that you can book online.

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