Birmingham Branch News Feed

In November 2024 Branch members, friends and families have visited the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, a UNESCO World Heritage site housing over 50,000 living plants.

Although late in the growing season, the outdoor gardens put on a display of colourful leaves and majestic coniferous trees. However, the main attractions were the conservatories.

Located within the rock garden and of interest to many succulent growers, the Davies Alpine House features plants that thrive in dry, cool, and windy conditions. On the other hand, the Palm House is home to tropical plants – although covering only 2% of the world’s surface, rainforest plants make up 50% of species, many of which are vital sources of our food, timber and medicine.

Probably the most impressive of the Kew’s glasshouses is the Princess of Wales Conservatory. A labyrinth consisting of ten climate zones, it is home to numerous cacti and succulents, carnivorous plants, tropical orchids, bromeliads and giant waterlilies, and many other unusual and rare species.

Another impressive structure is the Temperate House, the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse. At the time of our visit, it was housing a unique exhibition on the world’s rarest plants, featuring plants that are classified as rare or now extinct in the wild. Surprisingly, some of those plants are often found in succulent enthusiast’s collections. This excellent exhibition highlights the importance of preservation of natural habitats for the future generations, one of the main goals of BCSS.

To get the most out of our visit, we have enjoyed the guided tour on the Kew Explorer train, the Rare & Endangered Tour, as well as the cafés and the plant shop.

As this experience was a success among the visitors of all generations, we are looking forward to exploring more gardens and plant collections in the future!