Kew to Fell Rare Trees to Save Victorian Palm House
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- Kew Gardens will fell giant trees inside its Victorian Palm House during a renovation slated to begin in 2027, because the palms cannot be moved and the building's 16,000 glass panes and ornate ironwork are rusted and warped.
- The Palm House holds roughly 1,000 plants, some critically endangered with Kew holding the only known specimens; staff are collecting seeds and cuttings to propagate replacements, conceding some specimens will be lost.
- Kew scientists traveled to the Comoros islands near Madagascar, located a wild population of the Ravenea Moorei (previously believed to exist only as a single male specimen at Kew), and have now propagated 10 young plants in the tropical nursery.
- The Eastern Cape giant cycad — the oldest pot plant in the world, grown at Kew since 1775 — will be relocated with help from specialist movers who normally handle rare works of art.
- Kew will launch an October fundraising drive branded "save London's rainforest," with the renovation expected to last roughly 50 years.
- The upheaval has already produced wild translocations: Kew-propagated Ramosmania rodriguesii have been returned to Rodrigues, Mauritius, where the species had been reduced to a single surviving tree.
Why it matters: Kew's Comoros expedition reversed the presumed extinction of the Ravenea Moorei in the wild, and the 50-year overhaul reframes the garden as a hub for translocating propagated plants back to native habitats — not merely curating them behind glass. Palm House manager Will Spoelstra acknowledges staff will lose favourite specimens in the process.
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