CHAPTER II 
BETWEEN THE HOLLY WALK AND PAGODA VISTA 
Thorns and 
Crabs. 
Resuming our inspection of the collections, we now turn our steps 
towards the Temperate House. A grass avenue extends from the 
gravel walk skirting the Old Deer Park to the south 
entrance of this house. This is called the Thorn 
Avenue. It is planted with a collection of thorns 
(Crataegus) and Pyrus. The genus Pyrus is a very extensive one, 
including, as it does, the crabs, pears, mountain-ashes, sorbs, and 
whitebeam trees. All are beautiful in flower, many also in fruit, 
and the same may be said with equal justice of the thorns. The 
large rectangular plots at the sides are planted with the same genera 
and their close allies — the medlars, quinces, and Amelanchiers. Sur- 
rounding these plots are straight formal borders, in which many kinds 
of rosaceous shrubs are grown ; amongst them are roses, brambles 
and raspberries, Spiraeas, Cotoneasters, Kerrias, and many smaller 
genera. This portion of Kew is most beautiful in April, May, and 
June — the flowering time — and again in September, when many of 
the fruits are ripe. 
Keeping the long straight Holly Walk as our western boundary 
— it marks pretty nearly the track of the Love Lane of olden time 
and is now the dividing line between these collections 
and the woodland — several interesting genera belonging 
to the Saxifragaceae may be inspected. The mock oranges 
(Philadelphus) make a beautiful display in June; the Deutzias flower 
earlier ; Hydrangeas and Escallonias are later flowering, and both 
very favourite shrubs in South Devon and Cornwall. A large collec- 
tion of currants and gooseberries, making the genus Ribes, is grown 
here in beds and as isolated specimens. Several of them, like R. 
aureum and R. sanguineum, may be included amongst the most orna- 
mental of hardy shrubs ; others are interesting as the wild types of the 
red, white, and black currants and gooseberries of fruit gardens. 
We now proceed to the other (the north) end of the Temperate 
180 
Mock 
Oranges. 
