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Kew Gardens

Everything in these photos is within the gardens. I must admit I found all the 'other stuff' far more intersting than the plants themselves.

 

Antipodean Garden
This garden was terribly interesting. Its most impressive feature was this water fall. I think the supporting flora is Australian.

 

Autumn - Kate Dixon
I intend to go back in Autumn and try and recreate this image with red-leaved trees in the background. This sculpture is set in a circle of enormous trees. Of all the permanent sculptures in the gardens, I felt that this one probably suited its surroundings the most. It introduced the idea that there were possibly faeries and elves watching your from behind trees. 
Chokushi-mon
The Chokushi-mon (Gateway of the Imperial Messenger) is a replica of the Karamon of Nishi Hongan-ji Temple in Kyoto, which was created for the Japan-British exhibition held in London in 1910. After the exhibition closed, the replica gateway was moved and reconstructed in Kew.

After 80 years, the gateway had deteriorated to such an extent that a full restoration was initiated in October 1994 and completed a year later. A combination of traditional Japanese skills and newly developed techniques was used to return the gateway to its original glory.

(Yes, this is almost an exact copy of the information on the plaque, but you can't really expect me to remember all that!)

I couldn't find any further information on this fountain, but it was early evening and the sunlight on the fronds was quite magical. 

 

This metal peacock was part of a series of sculptures littered around the vicinity of Princess Charlotte's cottage. If I remember correctly, they're the result of a project designed to keep young people off the streets and away from drugs. The peacock was by no means the most skillfully created, but the choice of coloured metal made it stand out from the rest of the sculptures. This sculpture absolutely fascinated me. The spiraled metal with water trickling down gives the impression of someone gently shaking their booty! 

The light was also gorgeous, and I spent quite a while trying to capture what I was seeing as an image, but I couldn't, so you'll just have to get your asses their to see it yourselves.
Pagoda
This is a rather impressive structure, but you can't go inside it, and it was quite a hoof to get inside it, so I didn't feel up to walking all the way over just to read the plaque. 

 

Palm House
Really, this picture is about the sculpture again, but the Palm house is often featured in postcards of Kew and it is a very impressive structure. You certainly don't get a feel for its size from this picture at all.
Princess Charlotte's Cottage
I have no idea who Princess Charlotte was, but this was her picnic cottage. It was surrounded by real British woodland, where I saw squirrels, which are still quite a novelty for me.
Princess of Wales Conservatory
This structure won all sorts of awards for engineering. It tries to capture a little piece of the major climates and present the types of plants, and in some cases, animals, that grow in those areas. In short it was a summary of the rest of the gardens. 
Profile of Time - Salvador Dali
I believe this statue was donated to the people of London, and its location was decided on by a city-wide vote. I appreciate the decision to place it in the gardens, but they've put it near a bunch of fogey style rose gardens, amongst which, the sculpture is entirely out of place.
Ruined Arch
This ruined arch was placed in the garden a couple of hundred years ago when it was fashionable to have a fake ruined arch in your garden. Its age has added a bit of authenticity.
Weeping Beech
This tree is truly amazing. I had seen a number of these 'upside down trees' around the gardens, and in Hyde Park as well, but the placement and creation of the archway is inspired in my opinion. 
Wind Chime
This wind chime is easily 4 times as tall as I am. While I was standing, appreciating it a little cat came and introduced itself, so we hung out together at the base of the chime for a little while.
Wounded Angel 1 - Emily Young (Botticino Marble)
There was an exhibition of about 20 of this lady's works on in the gardens when I visited. As you can see, she takes large chunks of stone and creates these subtle images in the rock.

Honestly, most of the others were just adulterated chunks of stone, but this one captured the emotions all her others failed to do. This one was worthy of the stone it was carved into.

 

4 September 2003