Out on the h-edge for an annual trim at Powis Castle
It took seed before the British Empire and is older than the United States, but the 46ft tall yew hedge is still wowing visitors to a National Trust property – thanks to a dedicated team of gardeners.
This week the team of horticultural experts at Powis Castle in Welshpool have started their annual trimming of the 300-year-old giant yew trees.
Using hedge cutters and with the aid of cherry pickers and ear defenders, the team expects to be working on the trees for several weeks.
It's not a job for the faint-hearted, but head gardener David Swanton has a head for heights and loves the challenge.
He said today: "It's a huge job to trim all the high yew topiary. Before the introduction of powered hedge trimmers it used to take four gardeners four months to clip the hedges, all while balancing on very long ladders. Definitely not for the faint hearted.
"These days it takes two gardeners six weeks to trim the box, two gardeners 12 weeks to cut the formal yew and one gardener – usually me – working in the cherry picker up to 10 weeks to cut the high topiary."
The 14 yew trees, named "the tumps", were planted in the 1720s by the second Marquess. They were kept intricately clipped for about 100 years, until in the early 1800s, Powis passed first to the son, then the grandson of Robert Clive, the man who brought India into the British Empire.
Under their care the garden was returned to "the most complete and perfect state of repair" and the yews were allowed to become informal small trees, left to themselves to grow and spread.
A great deal of work was carried out in the early 20th century to restore the gardens after they had endured a period of neglect. Lady Violet, the wife of the fourth Earl of Powis, who was responsible for restoring the gardens, said they had the potential to be "the most beautiful in England and Wales".
Now the yew trees have grown so large that they form passages and arches over the paths, with the trees have fused together over hundreds of years.
Centuries of clipping have given them an uneven appearance which some visitors have tried to find shapes in, including a giant sleeping, and a dog curled up.
Mr Swanton said:
"They remain in the mind long after a visit is over, not only because of their sheer size, but because they are such a major element of the garden."
