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The Overground had problems so we had to get off the train at Gunnersbury and transfer to another train for one stop. On the way home trains were cancelled at West Hampstead because of an obstruction on the line. Fortunately we only had to wait for 5 minutes

PJ spotted this snap

What a motor...

Crippled, pollarded trees

A lovely sunny day just right for a garden trip

Muscari at Kew

Aconites

Helleborus corsicus

Remaining Christmas decorations

Remembrance

Kew’s poignant Remembrance and Hope seat commemorating the First World War

Hope

The Battle of Verdun was one of the longest and deadliest battles of the First World War, lasting from February to December 1916, between French and German soldiers.

An acorn dispersed from a sessile oak tree (Quercus petraea) was collected from the war-torn land and planted here at Kew in 1919.

In its new tranquil setting in our Gardens, the acorn flourished and grew into the stunning 'Verdun oak' tree, a living memorial to those who lost their lives at the battle. Standing proud for almost a century near the Palm House Pond, things suddenly took a turn for the worst on 28 October 2013. The severe St Jude’s Day storm caused devastation, damaging the oak so much, the tree, heartbreakingly, had to be felled.

But Kew’s Head of Arboretum, Tony Kirkham, didn't want the wonderful oak’s story to end there. So he conceived the fitting idea of creating a commemorative outdoor seat made from the tree’s timber to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War.

The new bench is situated near the Palm House Pond on the corner of the panel lawn, just opposite the Temple of Arethusa, where Kew's war memorial plaque can be found. As its name suggests, the towering commemorative seat comes in two parts – Remembrance and Hope. The Remembrance part has an enveloping, contemplative form, and looks towards the Temple of Arethusa. Its Corten frame has a looped design motif, partially in scorched oak, reminiscent of the First World War battle zones’ barbed wire.

The other side of the seat faces the Palm House, and, with its open, convex form, is outward looking and hopeful. It features cut organic branch forms from the fallen Verdun oak, to represent the irrepressible regenerative power of nature.