Kew Gardens to fell rare trees ahead of Victorian greenhouse renovation

Kew Gardens in south-west London is preparing for a major renovation of its Victorian-era Palm House, a project that will require some of its most treasured trees to be cut down. Palm House manager Will Spoelstra says difficult moments lie ahead, as many of the roughly 1,000 plants housed there will need to be relocated, while others cannot be saved.

The renovation is needed because the building's ornate ironwork has rusted and its 16,000 glass panes have warped and become damaged, making it increasingly hard to maintain the hot, humid conditions the rare plants require. Some of the specimens are critically endangered, and in certain cases Kew holds the only examples in existence.

The giant palms, whose fronds stretch to the building's roof, cannot be transported and will have to be felled. Staff have already begun clearing the beds around the Palm House, which is expected to remain open to visitors during the renovation, tentatively set to begin in 2027 pending fundraising. Plants are being transferred to a behind-the-scenes tropical nursery, where they can adjust before eventually returning to the restored greenhouse.

Conservation breakthroughs

The project has also created opportunities for notable conservation work. One tree, the Ravenea Moorei from the Comoros islands, must be felled, but since Kew's specimen is male and cannot produce seed alone, researchers travelled to the Comoros and located a wild population. This success allowed the tree to be propagated, and ten young plants now grow in the tropical nursery.

Specialist movers who normally handle fragile artworks have been brought in to help relocate delicate specimens, including the world's oldest pot plant, an Eastern Cape giant cycad that has grown at Kew since 1775.

Kew will launch a fundraising campaign this October to help save what it calls "London's rainforest." If all goes as planned, the renovation will take about 50 years, meaning plants being nurtured today will still be thriving in the Palm House generations from now.