Kew Orchid Festival runs at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, from Saturday, February 1 to Sunday, March 2.

THE series of Colonial floras issued from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are highly technical works of great value to the systematic botanist and to the trained worker in the countries in question.

As the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew prepare to celebrate their 250th anniversary, Dan Cruickshank unearths some of the surprising stories that shaped the famous gardens. His travels take him from ...