Image accredited to Peter Gasson/ RBG Kew

Celebrate biodiversity and butterflies at Kew Gardens, London

Discover how plants get by with a little help from butterflies and moths during the summer ‘Biodiversity Year at Kew’ programme

In 2010 the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is celebrating the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity and throughout the summer you can not only explore the stunning Gardens in full bloom, but to also delve into the hidden world of plant pollination and discover how plants work together with animals and insects to sustain life.

The Princess of Wales Conservatory, which boasts 10 different climatic zones under an acre of glass, will be transformed into a haven for plant pollinators. See the spectacle of three butterfly zones, one steamy and flourishing with tropical orchids, another bursting with lush ferns and the last planted with sweet nectar beds. All will host clouds of fluttering butterflies and moths.

Throughout the rest of the glasshouse live bug displays, large scale sculptures of insects, birds, and bats, and visual and audio interpretation will explain the amazing relationships between flowering plants and their pollinators. There are over 30,000 different flowering plant species in the world, all unique and pollinated in a variety of ways.

When/where: 29 May - 5 September 2010 at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3AB

For a full programme of events see www.kew.org/press/2010.html