The UK’s charming Royal Botanic Garden at Kew in London is 250 years old.

To celebrate this anniversary our hereditary ruler the Queen and her consort the Duke of Edinburgh are visiting, and the former will be presented with a new specially bred thornless rose called the Kew Gardens.

In an event the UK’s republican types will doubtless consider symbolic, the pair will also plant two living fossils at the gardens, according to the Daily Telegraph:

The Queen will plant a Ginkgo, an ancient tree known as a “living fossil” which is now native only to a small area of central China. Prince Philip will plant a Wollemi pine, also known from fossil records. It was thought to be extinct until it was rediscovered in Australia in 1994 and it is now part of an international conservation programme.

It is to be hoped that these planting go better than the royal couple’s last additions to the gardens, as the Times notes:

The royal couple’s last official visit to Kew Gardens was 50 years ago for its 200th anniversary when they both planted trees. The swamp cypress planted by the Duke in front of Kew Palace is doing extremely well, but it is understood that the Queen will learn only today that the walnut tree she planted was a victim of the 1989 storms.

Even Google is getting in on the celebrations, with a special graphic on its UK homepage.