Pink bananas

This isn't new news, I'm afraid, but I found it while googling Kew's wonderful Millennium Seed Bank project and thought it was worth a post. Last year, the seed from the endangered pink banana was the last one in the then collecting goal of 10% of the world's plant species to protect from possible extinction.

The next target is 25% by 2020.

Very inspiring and worthwhile and the kind of thing that's really worth supporting. Go ahead and adopt a seed.

More room for the Explorer?

It looks as if the paths are being widened, a bit. I'm not sure if this is a measure to tidy up the badger digging, or to allow more room for the unwieldy Explorer juggernaut. Or for some other reason?

Very good news, if it's going to be done on all the Explorer routes. Pedestrians won't have to step off the paths into the grass/mud if they want to avoid being mown down.

Seeds walk no more?

Farewell to the Seeds. I see from the Kew Gardens site that the pleasing Seed Walk willow sculptures near the Main Gate have also only been showing temporarily and may have disappeared as I write.

They are (or were) 3-5 metres high/long and were hand-woven by Tom Hare. A giant sycamore pod, coco-de-mer and  devil's claw among others.

A new discovery

I happened upon a new (to me) greenhouse in Kew today. It's at the northern end of the Order Beds and houses 10 bonsai trees, rotated according to season. Some are 85 years old, like this Chinese juniper.

There's something quite magical about miniature things. The trunk and bark of this Japanese cedar are perfect.

It's hard work to keep them like this. "Bonsai require frequent watering. During the heat of summer, Kew’s bonsai specialist Richard Kernick checks and waters the collection up to three times daily. He re-pots around a quarter of the trees every spring; prunes in spring, summer and autumn; and wires branches in winter."

More information at the official Kew Gardens site.

Wounded Angel taken flight?

My favourite sculpture at Kew has gone from the woods between Victoria Gate and the Temperate House. Perhaps Emily Young has taken it back? She's a fantastically talented sculptor and I found 'Wounded Angel' very beautiful and moving. It's a shame.

You are being watched

Don’t bother even trying to show your season ticket to get into Kew if you get there later than 30 minutes before closing time.

In the past, the attendants would happily wave you through if you wanted a last-minute walk round the gardens, but no longer. Last week my other half was sheepishly refused entry because the attendant said he’d get into trouble if he let him in.

How would anyone know? Because somewhere behind the scenes is a person watching CCTV footage of people entering the gardens, with instructions to report misbehaving attendants.

I can see that CCTV has some good uses (for example: protecting attendants, who must feel quite vulnerable especially at the Lion Gate entrance where they work alone), but I don't think this is one of them. It would be nice if the attendants were allowed to exercise their common sense.

More on the proposed license

The Kew Society provides a good summary of the proposals.:

The new application is a major change from the existing one. The main differences are as
follows:

Major Public Events
✶ An increase in maximum attendance from 6,000 to 10,000
✶ An increase from 6 consecutive nights to any 12 nights per year
✶ An extension from 22.30 finish to 23.00 finish
✶ Can be located anywhere in the Gardens

Private events
✶ An extension from Midnight finish to 1.00 am finish
✶ Can be located anywhere in the Gardens
✶ Unlimited numbers of events with no maximum attendance

Fireworks
✶ Increase from 6 to 15 nights. Finish remains at 22.30, except for:
✶ Late fireworks New Year’s Eve

Other changes
✶ Specific noise restrictions (including measured decibel limits in the village) and traffic
controls for Summer Swing have been dropped. Weaker, generic sound management
and traffic management plans remain.
✶ The licence would cover the entire 300 acre site, giving Kew Gardens freedom to organize
events anywhere in the Gardens – unlike the existing licence which lists 18 specific venues
including two open air areas, with different controls for each venue.
✶ We understand that they intend to convert the Joseph Banks Building into a party/reception
venue for 400 people.

More late night partying at Kew

Kew want to extend the opening hours, but only for revellers - not for ordinary visitors. The summer concerts would now end at 11p.m. instead of 10.30. OK, doesn't sound too bad. But 'private events' would go on until 1 a.m. Not so good. The events won't be nature outings to spot interesting nocturnal wildlife but weddings, parties etc. Which means drunken revellers emerging on to the streets in the small hours, lurching hither and thither,  singing tunelessly and trying to find their cars.

We have until 13th January to object to the plans through Richmond Council.