Kew Gardens London

Had a great day out and about yesterday. I've met a delightful American woman from Utah who is also here with her husband (who is on business like mine), so we been filling our days with trips around the city.

First we took the tube to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard than we wound up at Kew Gardens. What a beautiful place!

As usual my photos are all jumbled up. So we begin with the end of my day when I met my DH for dinner and a walk up Primrose Hill which is right by our hotel in the Regant's Park area.
DH and I at the top of Primrose Hill.
This is what the view looks like, its actually a very good view, you can see the Eye of London, St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey among other things.
These lovely tiles are outside a door in Kew Gardens near the train station.
These are the flowers of the Indian Bean Tree, brought to England from India when India was their colony.

Speaking of bringing other species into England, England has recently been invaded by the common gray squirrel. I'm not sure how they got here, but they're killing the native English red squirrel. They're not outright slaughtering them, but the gray squirrel is better equipped to forage thus stealing the lazier red squirrel's food! An English man was just charged $1500 pounds for drowning a gray squirrel that he caught in a trap in his garden. Apparently the little beast was eating the food he set out for the birds and he was fed up!

The Indian Bean Tree flowers and all of the rest of these shots are of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. It was built about 250 years ago by royalty who originally used it as hunting grounds.
This Chinese Pagoda was added in 1761.
I loved the fields of lavender.
This is a holly bush, hopefully the ones I planted along my driveway will eventually grow this big.
I love marigolds, they're some of my favorite flowers.
This lily pond was amazing!
This is a pitcher pant, it traps small incests in these sweet smelling pitchers than eats them!
Gorgeous, maybe some one reading this can tell me what this flower is.

There is also a beautiful Victorian era glass conservatory..."The Temperate House is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse in the world. Covering 4,880 square metres (5,850 square yards) and extending to 19 metres (63 feet) high." Sorry no pic but you can see one by going to the Kew Garden website.

If you're in London for a few days and the weather is nice take the time to visit Kew. Its an easy ride on the Green District line practically to the end, near Heathrow, and than a short walk from there.