‘Sad moments ahead’: Kew Gardens to fell rare trees in race to save Victorian greenhouse

The Palm house at Kew Gardens. The team have already begun emptying out the beds around the site. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

It will be a gut-wrenching moment for the horticulturalists at Kew Gardens when some of the magnificent trees in the Palm House have to be felled.

“There are some sad moments ahead,” said Palm House manager, Will Spoelstra, who knows all the plants inside the cathedral-like greenhouse.