Featured in this
episode
Kew Palace
Dig
Seed collecting
in Madagascar
Darwin
and the rhododendron
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BBC's 'A Year at Kew'
Episode 10
Kew Palace dig
Behind Kew Palace, once a home of George III, there are plans to
open the palace to the public and an access lift is to be fitted
to the outside, in a gulley once occupied by the latrine shoot.
But before any work can begin archaeologists have been brought in
to discover any secrets of the past that might lie undisturbed beneath
the paving of the courtyard. What they find is as mysterious as
it is exciting.
Seed collecting in Madagascar
The Millennium Seedbank is based at Kew’s garden in the country,
Wakehurst Place in Sussex. It’s Kew’s most futuristic
project - laboratories and a public exhibition, standing on top
of a fireproof vault where seeds of the world’s endangered
plants can be kept forever.
One of Kew's seed collectors, is sent on a mission to find a succulent,
Aloe suzannae, thought to exist only in Madagascar’s
inhospitable spiny forests and collect its seeds to conserve forever.
Darwin and the rhododendron
In July Kew won World Heritage Site status and has now had a call
for help from Down House, a potential future nominee, and former
home of Charles Darwin. It has had a relationship with Kew going
back over 150 years when Kew’s then director sent plants to
Darwin to help him with his work.
Down House garden is being restored with original plants from the
garden of Darwin’s time and Randal Keynes, Darwin’s
great, great grandson, is hoping Kew can renew the gift of a Sikkim
rhododendron.
Find out more
If you've still got questions posed by the BBC series check out
the extensive online Frequently
Asked Questions
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