\paperw3360 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \f1 \fs22 Imagine setting out on an early spring morning and emerging from the noise and rush of traffic to find yourself surro
unded by an immense sea of crocuses: over one and a half million of them reaching up to the cautious sun. Throughout the year at Kew Gardens there are natural wonders to take your breath away: quiet carpets of bluebells and proud rhododendrons and azale
as in May and June, an enchanting rose garden from July to September, every imaginable tone of green, brown, russet, red and yellow as autumn gives way to winter. And this is only part of the constantly changing picture at the worldÆs premier botanical
institution. The 300 acre grounds also contain a number of highly individual glasshouses on such a large scale that they themselves are a source of amazement: for instance, the Palm House built between 1844 and 1848 to contain plants now rare or even ex
tinct in their native habitats, the Temperate House of the same period, and the modern Princess of Wales Conservatory with its ten different environmental zones in which KewÆs unrivalled collection of tropical herbaceous plants are cultivated and display
