Catching The Rain

Kew’s new treetop walkway

It’s no huge secret that taking pictures and writing about plants is just a hobby, but it’s all linked to my ‘real’ job, managing the website for Kew - www.kew.org.

We’ve had a very busy period lately (which maybe explains why this blog has languished!), but this has culminated in the launch of the Rhizotron & Xstrata Treetop Walkway website. It’s a really rich resource for anyone who loves their trees, and indeed anyone who simply wants to learn about trees.

My favourite bits?

Trees@Kew - an interactive map showing just over 100 of the best or simply most interesting trees at Kew, with links through to full profiles on each. There’s also a great little tree identification guide letting you choose bark, leaf, fruit and overall profile characteristics, and it will tell you which of the profiled trees match.

Trees of the World - again an interactive map, but this time linking through to tree stories about Kew’s research around the world. Just a few sample stories in there for now, but with plans to add to this regularly.

Learn about Trees - lots of resources, and more to come, but for kids (of all ages!) there’s a Tree Teasers quiz to test your tree knowledge

Another highlight is that everyone else gets a chance to contribute. You can add notes about trees, comment on the blog posts, and through Flickr share photos of the trees in People’s Arboretum - these will be displayed on the website adding to the depth and breadth of content.