February at Kew Gardens and Wakehurst
Release date: 25 January 2023
- Orchids 2023, celebrating the beauty and biodiversity of Cameroon, at Kew Gardens
- Horticultural highlights include the Rock Garden at Kew, including snowdrops and early flowering tulips. Visit the Winter Garden at Wakehurst to experience a vibrant treat for all the senses
- When Flowers Dream at the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art must end 5 March
- International Garden Photographer of the Year exhibition returns to Kew
- Nature Heroes begins at Wakehurst with the Bird Buddy mission during February half-term
Kew Gardens
Orchids 2023: Cameroon
Back bigger and better than ever for 2023, Kew Gardens’ much-loved Orchid festival returns to the Princess of Wales Conservatory from Saturday 4 February to Sunday 5 March 2023. Taking inspiration from the beauty and biodiversity of Cameroon, Orchids 2023 is a vibrant celebration of colour to brighten up the winter months, and is the first time Kew’s Orchid festival will celebrate an African nation. Entry included in Kew Gardens admission, with £1 tickets available for recipients of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and other legacy benefits. Time slots must be pre-booked in advance.
Orchids After Hours, featuring live performances, cocktails and cookery demonstrations run on Friday 10th, Saturday 11th, Friday 17th and Saturday 18th February.
When Flowers Dream
The perfect escape from grey winter days, When Flowers Dream by Pip & Pop showcases an eclectic, playful and immersive mix of vibrant artworks and a brand-new bespoke installation created especially for Kew Gardens - an imaginary landscape brimming with foods of the future. Runs until 5 March 2023 in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, entry included as part of Kew Gardens admission.
Horticultural Highlights
Horticultural highlights on display this month at Kew include the spectacular Rock Garden, featuring early spring plants including snowdrops and narcissus. At Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex, the Winter Garden is at its peak this season, with an array of colours and textures. Look out for delicate cyclamen popping up throughout the gardens.
International Garden Photographer of the Year
Running at Kew Gardens from Saturday 4th February to Sunday 5th March, the International Garden Photographer of the Year exhibition features a selection of winning photographs across categories including Beautiful Gardens, The Beauty of Plants, Wildlife in the Garden and The World of Fungi, the exhibition takes place in Kew’s stunning Arboretum. Winners of the Captured at Kew special award will also be on display.
.jpg.webp?itok=Znmqo9fH "Molly Hollman's winning entry to International Garden Photographer of the Year Exhibition 16 © Molly Hollman / IGPOTY")
Kew Publishing Book of the Month: Tell Me About Plants
Did you know that some plants have been around since the time of the dinosaurs? Sit back, and let expert scientist and CBeebies writer Emily Dodd tell you all about plants with this brand-new title. Complete with bite-sized text and easy-to-understand explanations, Tell Me About Plants is the perfect introduction for readers aged 4 and over.
Online Courses from David & Charles
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and David & Charles have partnered to deliver a selection of new online learning courses, available to enjoy from the comfort of your own home. Courses are delivered through a mix of video tuition and downloadable instructions and include a materials kit to provide established and amateur artists alike with the tools they need to develop their skills. Courses now live include Capturing The Inner Beauty of Flowers in Pen & Ink with Hazel Wilks, Painting Roses in Watercolour with Trevor Waugh, and Botanical Watercolour Vegetables with Rachel Pedder-Smith, the ideal way to start the new year.
Short Courses
Why not sign up for a crafty new short course at Kew? Led by a selection of experts, these one-day courses and workshops offer unique opportunities to develop fresh skills within the stunning surroundings of Kew’s UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Pruning | 16th February 2023 | 10.30am- 4pm | Lady Sainsbury Lecture Theatre
Have you ever wondered how to prune your woody plants in the garden? If you answered yes, then this is the course for you! The course will discuss pruning tools, the main pruning groups used when pruning shrubs and practical demonstrations will be carried out to show how to make proper pruning cuts and the type of material to remove on commonly grown species.
Plant propagation | 17th February 2023 | 10.30am – 4pm | Lady Sainsbury Lecture Theatre
Come and learn how to propagate vegetables, shrubs, herbaceous plants, house plants and all types of bedding. This course will provide a helpful introduction to the various methods you can use to increase your plant numbers. We will discuss the time of year when cuttings should be taken or seeds sown, types of pots required and suitable compost to use.
Wakehurst
Nature Heroes | Bird Buddy mission | 11th – 19th February | Book now
Every half-term and school holiday, young adventurers will have the opportunity to become a planet-saving Nature Hero, starting with the Bird Buddy mission for February Half Term. Superhero capes are available for purchase, and children can gain an embroidered badge by taking part in an fun mission. The main trail is accompanied by drop-in activities, workshops and birds of prey displays.
.jpg.webp?itok=D40e91Em "Wakehurst Nature Heroes, Visual Air © RBG Kew")
Learn to talk to birds | 13th – 15th February | 11:00 – 12:30 & 13:30 – 15:00 | Book now
Join bird expert, ecologist and environmental educator Tom Forward, for a walk with a difference to tune your ears into the sounds of the woodland and gardens at Wakehurst. This session will include a chance to help assemble and install a split sweet chestnut bird box from locally sourced timber - the perfect nesting place for woodland birds.
 - Unsplash (2).jpg.webp?itok=uaIitJCT "Bird, © Unsplash")
Surviving or Thriving: An exhibition on plants and us | Daily, 10am – 3.30pm | Millennium Seed Bank | Included with entry
This exhibition brings Kew’s State of the World’s Plants reports to life, telling the story of why some plants are only surviving, while others are thriving. Through film, audio, models, and a futuristic garden, explore the challenges that plants face and discover the vital role of fungi too.
ENDS
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Notes to Editors
About Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is a world-famous scientific organisation, internationally respected for its outstanding collections and scientific expertise in plant and fungal diversity, conservation, and sustainable development in the UK and around the globe. Kew’s scientists and partners lead the way in the fight against biodiversity loss and finding nature-based solutions to the climate crisis, aided by five key scientific priorities outlined in Kew’s Science Strategy 2021-2025. Kew Gardens is also a major international and top London visitor attraction. Kew’s 132 hectares of historic, landscaped gardens, and Wakehurst, Kew’s Wild Botanic Garden and ‘living laboratory’, attract over 2.5 million visits every year. Kew Gardens was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2003 and celebrated its 260th anniversary in 2019. Wakehurst is home to the Millennium Seed Bank, the largest wild plant seed bank in the world and a safeguard against the disastrous effects of climate change and biodiversity loss. RBG Kew received approximately one third of its funding from Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils. Further funding needs to support RBG Kew’s vital scientific and educational work comes from donors, memberships and commercial activity including ticket sales. For tickets, please visit www.kew.org/kew-gardens/visit-kew-gardens/tickets. In the first six months since implementing a new accessibility scheme for those in receipt of Universal Credit, Pension Credit and Legacy Benefits, Kew has welcomed over 20,000 visitors with £1 tickets.
About Wakehurst
Please note that Wakehurst is referred to just as Wakehurst, not Wakehurst Place. It is not a National Trust property.
Wakehurst, Kew’s wild botanic garden in Sussex is home to the Millennium Seed Bank and over 500 acres of the world’s plants including temperate woodlands, ornamental gardens and a nature reserve. It is situated in the High Weald of Sussex, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and focuses on wild plant collections. The Millennium Seed Bank houses and protects seed from the world’s most substantial and diverse collection of threatened and useful wild plants, making it the most biodiverse place on earth.
RBG Kew receives just under half of its funding from Government through the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and research councils. Further funding needed to support Kew’s vital work comes from donors, membership and commercial activity including ticket sales.
In March 2021, RBG Kew launched its 10-year strategy Our Manifesto for Change 2021. The institution’s ultimate goal is step up to help to end the extinction crisis and contribute to creating a world where nature is protected, valued by all and managed sustainably. In the wake of a global pandemic, and with the future of the planet in peril, the strategy represents a public commitment by RBG Kew to do everything in its power to reverse the environmental devastation of biodiversity loss and climate change. The five key priorities are 1) Delivering science-based knowledge and solutions to protect biodiversity and use natural resources sustainably 2) Inspiring people to protect the natural world 3) Training the next generation of experts: 4) Extending our reach 5) Influencing national and international opinion and policy.
On May 25th 2021 RBG Kew launched its new Sustainability Strategy – committing to become Climate Positive by 2030 and marking a step-change in our urgent action to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis.