some things I found at Kew

Back when we could, before lockdown locked down, there was a brief moment when outside socialising was permitted and the weather wasn't too terrible and my sister and I both had an afternoon. We went to beautiful Kew Gardens. Not for the winter lights, just for an afternoon bimble. 

I was with my niece who wanted to visit a glasshouse. Surely not, I thought. But the glasshouses at Kew are huge and distanced visiting was possible. Inside the glasshouse I found this:

Earthstar, Cryptanthus - it's freely available as a pot plant, and I rather like it. Different varieties have rather lovely names - Rubin Star, Pink Sarlight, Ruby Red. Of course the thing I get won't turn green and make flowers, eh, probably ever? That's a very mature plant. But the plants themselves are rather lovely, even when tiny.

I'm also finding myself increasingly drawn to variegated leaves. My garden, surrounded by neighbours' trees, tends toward darkness. Variegation brings a little sparkle. Mail order variegation is an unreliable beast, however; you never quite know the mutant you'll get.

Meanwhile, out in the gardens, the bushes were watching and advancing....

But there were some more surprising things outside, too. Observe the hardy cactus and succulents! Growing in the cold and not caring less.Just last year, I started moving some of my cacti and succulents outside in the summer, for more light and space. But looking at these, outside in December, I can take all that much further. It is time to start seriously investigating Hardy Cacti?

I don't really have enough ground to worry about ground cover, but my large number of deciduous shrubs and trees mean that I do need to consider what looks good with fallen leaves. Fine fernlets of some type and a creeping variegated deadnettle or similar are looking very good with the fallen leaves. I brought home a couple of  Yellow Archangel stems last year which might give a similar look. They're also tough enough to take on my terrible perennial weed-load.

I also took this picture, for reference. It's an artichoke plant, taller than me. I brought two of these home from the allotment. Will I regret this? I don't know.