Chihuly at Kew

A few weeks ago my friend Jude and I had a long overdue get together. Mostly we meet in central London and visit an exhibition and/or have a meal but this time we ventured west to Kew Gardens to wander, natter, catch up and see the fabulous glass installations of Dale Chihuly. The exhibition Reflections on Nature runs until October 27th and is well worth a visit. Actually Kew Gardens is well worth a visit never mind this wonderful exhibition. Who would thought that until two years ago I had never been, but since visiting for one of my sixty x sixty projects I have now been three times.

The exhibition is a wonderful partnership of art and nature, transforming the gardens into a fabulous outdoor gallery space. My favourite piece of the  installations we managed to spot was this glorious plant like sculpture comprising of wonderfully organic blown glass forms. Nestled in the pond in the newly refurbished Temperate House, against a background of ferns and trickling water, it was truly captivating.

There were several sculptures in the Temperate House, mostly well hidden in amongst the plants but one of the stars of the show was the "Temperate House Persians", large blue flower like forms specially designed for the exhibition and suspended 19m above the ground like a huge chandelier.

Two more stunning pieces were the matching pair of sculptures outside the Temperate House called "Opal and Amber Towers" perfectly reflecting the colours of the house.

"Sapphire Star" was quite breath taking, rising from the flower bed like a giant allium, again made of hundreds of individually blown forms.

And by the lakeside "Summer Sun" also built from individually blown forms... 1,483 to be precise! This one reminded me of writhing snakes just like Medusa's hair.

The Seattle based artist has said about the installations that he wants then "to appear like they come from nature, so if someone found them... they might think they belonged there". Mostly I think he has achieved this with spectacular art forms sitting together with one of the most amazing plant collections in the world. Definitely worth a visit... and we only saw a fraction of the 32 individual installations! That of course is the problem with meeting a friend to visit an exhibition, when you've not seen each other for a while. In fact Jude and I have been known to visit the V & A in the past and not get any further than lunch in the member's room... although if I remember correctly it was a very good lunch!

Kew Gardens

Amazingly in all the years I have lived in or around London I have never managed to visit the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew, yet it has always been one of those places I have wanted to see... so another thing to do for my sixty x sixty list that I finally achieved last week. I joined a coach trip from our village on the warmest day of the year so far. There were mutterings about being of an age where one goes on day trips on a coach but I rose above it...

 

And I'm so glad I did because it was a fabulous day out, once I got over the embarrassment of turning up at the bus stop at 9.50 for a 10.00 am departure to find everyone already on the coach waiting to go. Of course the last remaining seat was in the back row (it's where the naughty children always sit) so I had to do a walk of shame down the entire length of the coach! On arrival we were greeted by the sight of an avenue of magnolia trees in full bloom which was stunning.

 

From there I ventured into the Princess of Wales Conservatory where there was an amazing display of orchids and other exotic plants.

 

Beautiful succulents

 

and cactii too.

 

Outside, the highlight for me was the cherry blossom

 

It was breathtakingly beautiful and I can fully appreciate why in Japan that picnicking under cherry blossom is something of a tradition, known as "hanami"

Instead I chose to eat my picnic overlooking the tranquil Japanese garden.Not a bad place to stop for lunch!

 

 

This inquisitive chap sat at the end of my bench getting ever closer to my lunch box the entire time I was eating... but I didn't share it with him!

 

I then walked around the treetop walkway with it's wonderful bird's-eye view of the gardens and beyond. I imagine it will have a very different vista once the canopy is in leaf.

 

But at the moment it still looks quite bare.

 

I couldn't visit Kew without a going into the iconic Palm House but I'm afraid my interest in palms wasn't enough to make me stay in this giant greenhouse for very long as it was overwhelmingly hot... so hot my glasses steamed up and I couldn't see anything anyway!

 

And so I spent the rest of the day strolling around the park admiring the woodland garden and majestic redwoods.

Wandering around the lake and being impressed by the displays of tulips with the clever underplanting of primula

 

The day finished with a well earned ice cream whilst I admired the classic proportions of Kew Palace, country home to George III. It looks just like a dolls house!

 

Of course I came home inspired to get my garden into shape which seems a never ending job. Having spent most of last spring unable to do anything in the garden due to the broken ankle and then the arrival of a boisterous puppy meant it was rather neglected last year so there is much to do now and I despair of it ever looking tidy, never mind beautiful. But I doubt the gardeners at Kew have help from a lively labrador who likes to dig everywhere, chew anything that resembles a stick... and thinks that flowers pots are there merely so he can up end them onto the patio!

That said... I'm off to do a bit of digging now*. Have a lovely weekend. It sounds like it's going to be a good one.

* Blogger wouldn't load my post this afternoon, so I have now been and finished my digging and I'm enjoying a Friday night G & T!