About the tutor Christine Lavelle is a lecturer in horticulture and ecology at Writtle College, Chelmsford, UK, and an external examiner for the School of Horticulture at the Royal Botanic Gardens, ...

Worried about the risk of fire, Gerald Loder created a fire brigade for Wakehurst in 1934. Loder was right in his concerns, ...

Join Iain Parkinson, Wakehurst’s Head of Landscape & Horticulture as he reflects on the beauty and importance of meadows.

Richard Deverell Richard started as Director of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 2012. At the BBC he spent 10 years in BBC News and ran the BBC News websites before revamping the BBC’s children’s ...

We often think of insects buzzing around our flower beds or meadows, but pollen and nectar also come from trees, which only have a tiny footprint in our landscapes. Whether insect-pollinated or ...

Discover the beauty of Wakehurst’s meadows on a guided walk through some of its most iconic landscapes, including Bloomers Valley, Hanging Meadow and the Coronation Meadow. This scenic two-mile route ...

Orchid seeds are spread by the wind, which is why they're so tiny. Varying when each seed germinates protects the population ...

Join Kew botanical horticulturist Vicki Thompson to discover where snowdrops originally come from, exactly who distributes ...

Technology like LiDAR isn’t just used for scientific research though: it’s also the magic behind some incredible art. Of the ...

With over 580 science staff, Kew’s mission is to understand and protect plants and fungi for the well-being of people and the future of all life on Earth.

Read & watch Go behind the scenes to get the latest in our cutting-edge science and uncover the fascinating world of plants and fungi.

20th century plant hunters In the 20th century, Kew used its own botanists to bring plants back from around the world, and self-made plant collectors still sent plants to Kew. Frank Kingdon-Ward (1885 ...