Kew Gardens 15/09

The weather can be a cruel fellow at times. Just take the state of the beloved tree ferns following a week of vicious gusts and gale force winds. The poor blighters have been relieved of some of the more tender mini-fronds (the fronds that come off the fronds) and one particlularly badly hit frond has had its unfurled knobbly bit unceremoniously lopped off, presumably thanks to a lashing from the neighbouring bamboo.

The weather also turned a perfectly pleasant visit to the tranquility of Kew Gardens into a battle of wits as we dodged the rain while dashing between the conservatories. The plants were marvellous, particularly the towering specimens occupying the historic glass houses. It was in one such building, the Temperate House, where I was nutted by nothing other than a nut, having dislodged itself from the tallest conservatory plant in the world, the Chilean Wine Palm.

Now I don't know about you, but when a nut falls from up above and crashes into my skull, it is my opinion that I may quite rightly stake a claim to ownership of said nut by virtue of pain and suffering. Particularly when a bench is positioned under the offending tree.

So I pocketed the nut, along with another that happened to land close by and the saga of its growth from seed to towering 25 metre specimen will be documented on these very pages for all to see. I bet you can't wait.

My own nut is fine by the way Kew, thanks for asking.