Kate Middleton has ordered more than four tons of foliage – including eight, 20 foot high trees - to recreate a lavish English country garden inside Westminster Abbey.
Under the guidance of her so-called ‘floral artistic director’, Shane Connolly, half a dozen English Field Maples have been installed in the historic church to create a ‘Living Avenue’ under which guests will walk to their seats.
Each of the trees have been placed in a planter personally designed by Mr Connolly and handcrafted by artisans on the Prince of Wales’s Highgrove estate.
The entire scheme is believed to have cost up to £50,000 – not quite the ‘austerity’ wedding St James’s Palace originally had in mind.
According to royal sources, the idea was suggested by Mr Connolly as a way of mirroring the Abbey’s famous medieval arches.
Kate fell in love with his suggestion but agreed on the environmentally-friendly proviso that the trees were seasonal and could be re-planted.
Mr Connolly said: ‘These wonderful curved ceilings are supposed to reflect the branches of trees and that was what I thought of when I thought of having trees in the abbey,’ he enthused.
‘It is a huge honour, but even more than the honour, it is a delight to work with somebody who has been as lovely and interested as Catherine has been.
‘She has been a complete joy throughout so that has been the real treat.’
Last night the maples, wrapped in purple ribbons, were delivered in two articulated lorries to the Abbey’s Great West Door.
Four workers struggled for more than half an hour with a miniature forklift truck to take the first tree into the Abbey, but were forced to turn it on its side as it wouldn’t fit through the door.
Two pyramid-shaped ornamental Hornbeams were also delivered and are being used to create a leafy ‘frame’ around the choir.
The rest of the historic Abbey will be bedecked in armfuls of cream and white flowers including blossoms, azaleas, rhododendrons, euphorbias, beech, wisteria, lilac – and even Chinese gooseberry (actinidia) which has distinctive tear-shaped, white-splashed leaves.
Not a single bloom has been left to chance, say palace aides.
Miss Middleton, 29, who studied history of art at St Andrew’s, has devised a theme which she says ‘pays tribute to the Language of Flowers’ - an idea that is bound to have gone down well with her gardening-obsessed father-in-law, Prince Charles, who famously admitted that he talks to his plants.
She has worked closely with London-based designer Mr Connolly, who has a royal warrant from Prince Charles, and is directing a team of the country’s best florists including several borrowed from Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.
Kate and William have insisted on using only seasonal, organic British flowers incorporating as many growing plants as possible rather than cut ones.
Many have been sourced from royal estates including Sandringham and Windsor Great Park.
The spectacular avenue of trees has been created by the team at Tendercare Nurseries, who also provided much of the foliage for Charles and Camilla’s wedding.
The 15-year-old trees – each weighing half a ton - have been grown on the firm’s 26 acre site near Uxbridge, Middlesex.
Owner Andrew Halksworth told the Mail that Kate originally had other trees in mind but when she found out that they were not seasonal, plumped for English Field Maples and Hornbeams.
‘Kate has been very hands on throughout the process,’ he said.
‘She devised a theme, the Language of Flowers, and has picked everything around it
‘She was very clear that she wanted them to be British and seasonal as opposed to anything that was being deliberately hot-housed for the big day.’
English Field Maples are a native tree, whose wood is favoured for making harps. In medieval times it was used to fashion loving cups and its distinctive leaf shape was carved on many English cathedrals of the time.
In the language of flowers it symbolises humility and reserve – not a word that necessarily applies to Kate’s extravagant floral arrangements.
Hornbeam, also known as Ironwood, are found in some of the country’s most ancient woodland. It represents resilience as it has one of the hardest wood of all trees and is almost impossible to damage
‘Both of the trees Kate has chosen are very pretty, leafy trees and it was her express wish that they be in tune with the seasons,’ Mr Halksworth explained.
‘The maples are going to be used to create an avenue for the congregation to walk under while the hornbeams, which are of a contrasting, somewhat pyramidal shape, will be situated by the choir.
‘Everything has been chosen relative to the scale of the Abbey so it will not be dwarfed by its surroundings.’
After the wedding, the flowers and plants will be left in position in Westminster Abbey for a week in order for members of the public to view them.
Most of the trees will then be taken to Highgrove Gardens where they will be planted as a lasting memorial to the couple’s big day.
Any cut flowers will be donated to charity while all the growing vegetation will be re-planted.
Under the guidance of her so-called ‘floral artistic director’, Shane Connolly, half a dozen English Field Maples have been installed in the historic church to create a ‘Living Avenue’ under which guests will walk to their seats.
Each of the trees have been placed in a planter personally designed by Mr Connolly and handcrafted by artisans on the Prince of Wales’s Highgrove estate.
The entire scheme is believed to have cost up to £50,000 – not quite the ‘austerity’ wedding St James’s Palace originally had in mind.
According to royal sources, the idea was suggested by Mr Connolly as a way of mirroring the Abbey’s famous medieval arches.
Kate fell in love with his suggestion but agreed on the environmentally-friendly proviso that the trees were seasonal and could be re-planted.
Mr Connolly said: ‘These wonderful curved ceilings are supposed to reflect the branches of trees and that was what I thought of when I thought of having trees in the abbey,’ he enthused.
‘It is a huge honour, but even more than the honour, it is a delight to work with somebody who has been as lovely and interested as Catherine has been.
‘She has been a complete joy throughout so that has been the real treat.’
Last night the maples, wrapped in purple ribbons, were delivered in two articulated lorries to the Abbey’s Great West Door.
Four workers struggled for more than half an hour with a miniature forklift truck to take the first tree into the Abbey, but were forced to turn it on its side as it wouldn’t fit through the door.
Two pyramid-shaped ornamental Hornbeams were also delivered and are being used to create a leafy ‘frame’ around the choir.
The rest of the historic Abbey will be bedecked in armfuls of cream and white flowers including blossoms, azaleas, rhododendrons, euphorbias, beech, wisteria, lilac – and even Chinese gooseberry (actinidia) which has distinctive tear-shaped, white-splashed leaves.
Not a single bloom has been left to chance, say palace aides.
Miss Middleton, 29, who studied history of art at St Andrew’s, has devised a theme which she says ‘pays tribute to the Language of Flowers’ - an idea that is bound to have gone down well with her gardening-obsessed father-in-law, Prince Charles, who famously admitted that he talks to his plants.
She has worked closely with London-based designer Mr Connolly, who has a royal warrant from Prince Charles, and is directing a team of the country’s best florists including several borrowed from Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.
Kate and William have insisted on using only seasonal, organic British flowers incorporating as many growing plants as possible rather than cut ones.
Many have been sourced from royal estates including Sandringham and Windsor Great Park.
The spectacular avenue of trees has been created by the team at Tendercare Nurseries, who also provided much of the foliage for Charles and Camilla’s wedding.
The 15-year-old trees – each weighing half a ton - have been grown on the firm’s 26 acre site near Uxbridge, Middlesex.
Owner Andrew Halksworth told the Mail that Kate originally had other trees in mind but when she found out that they were not seasonal, plumped for English Field Maples and Hornbeams.
‘Kate has been very hands on throughout the process,’ he said.
‘She devised a theme, the Language of Flowers, and has picked everything around it
‘She was very clear that she wanted them to be British and seasonal as opposed to anything that was being deliberately hot-housed for the big day.’
English Field Maples are a native tree, whose wood is favoured for making harps. In medieval times it was used to fashion loving cups and its distinctive leaf shape was carved on many English cathedrals of the time.
In the language of flowers it symbolises humility and reserve – not a word that necessarily applies to Kate’s extravagant floral arrangements.
Hornbeam, also known as Ironwood, are found in some of the country’s most ancient woodland. It represents resilience as it has one of the hardest wood of all trees and is almost impossible to damage
‘Both of the trees Kate has chosen are very pretty, leafy trees and it was her express wish that they be in tune with the seasons,’ Mr Halksworth explained.
‘The maples are going to be used to create an avenue for the congregation to walk under while the hornbeams, which are of a contrasting, somewhat pyramidal shape, will be situated by the choir.
‘Everything has been chosen relative to the scale of the Abbey so it will not be dwarfed by its surroundings.’
After the wedding, the flowers and plants will be left in position in Westminster Abbey for a week in order for members of the public to view them.
Any cut flowers will be donated to charity while all the growing vegetation will be re-planted.
