Kew Opens Garden to Show How We Can Support Our Planet
- Editor OGN Daily
- 38 minutes ago
- 2 min read
A new attraction has opened at London's famous Kew Gardens, aiming to inspire visitors to take actions in their everyday lives.
The Carbon Garden features 6,500 plants and 35 new trees, as well as a central pavilion structure inspired by fungi that will become a permanent fixture at the Royal Botanical Gardens in south west London, which were first opened in 1759 and today are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The garden shows how carbon helps to sustain life on Earth, the scale of the climate crisis and how nature can be used to combat it. The new display is intended to inspire visitors to take actions in their everyday lives to support the planet and educate them about how plants and fungi act as "natural allies in climate repair" by capturing carbon and restoring balance.
There is a fungi-inspired pavilion in the centre of the garden, with a sloping canopy directing rainwater into the rain garden and sheltered space to host school visits and community activities. Another feature shows layers of soil, a rocky outcrop and a layer of coal in the Earth's crust with fossilised plants revealing the hidden world of carbon underground.
As well as signs explaining concepts such as photosynthesis, the process by which plants turn carbon dioxide into organic matter, there is also a a so-called dry garden filled with hardy plants such as lavender that are able to cope in heat.
Richard Wilford, designer of the Carbon Garden and manager of garden design at Kew, said: "The Carbon Garden offers a unique opportunity to showcase our ongoing research, combining scientific insight with thoughtful design and beautiful planting to highlight the role of carbon in our lives, how it moves through the environment and how plants and fungi can help us tackle climate change. We hope the Carbon Garden inspires visitors to act and join us in shaping a more sustainable, resilient future for life on our planet."
It’s been said that “we protect the things we care about,” and this new installation could help inspire more people to take action in their own lives to “ally” with nature and fight climate change.
Kew said the attraction was one of its most ambitious garden projects in recent years.
Images credit: Ines Stuart Davidson/RBG Kew