It’s worth a trip to Kew to see spring arrive with a flourish at the Royal
Botanic Gardens, but if you get there before 31 March, head for the Princess of
Wales plant house for the orchid festival, a dazzling display of evolutionary
bad and good taste. Orchid design does, however, argue against a single creator
of the Universe—those gross pouched, lurid magenta and lime-green
monstrosities are too many light years away from the delicate spider orchids.
Admission to gardens £4.50, children £2.50.
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles
1
Where, when and how to watch the 2026 solar eclipse
2
The race to understand how and when Thwaites glacier will collapse
3
Babies are born with the neural foundations for maths
4
Our verdict on The Selfish Gene: An unpopular piece of popular science
5
We’ve uncovered a master gene that switches on human development
6
US government wants to have a useful quantum computer by 2028
7
I’m the first person whose life was saved by CRISPR base editing
8
This physicist is hunting for the biggest black hole in the universe
9
I have a 100 per cent chance of getting cancer due to a rare gene
10
The best sci-fi novel in 2026 so far – plus 6 other great reads
