Halls of festive cheer
Royal florist Shane Connolly tells Jacky Hobbs how garden evergreens and hedgerow clippings can make beautiful Christmas decorations
SHANE CONNOLLY is best known for his miraculous transformation of Westminster Abbey for the wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, for which he was awarded his second Royal Warrant. It was an extraordinary feat: he lined the aisle with 23ft-tall English field maples and hornbeams, some of which were replanted in the couple’s garden at Anmer Hall in Norfolk.
Christmas is a celebration of light in darkness, so a bit of gold is good
Anyone who knows the quietly spoken Mr Connolly will know he loves using seasonal British natives to create displays that combine an artless and natural simplicity with awe-inducing results. This year, at the request of Country Life, he put up the decorations at Wardington Manor in Oxfordshire, where The Land Gardeners, Bridget Elworthy and Henrietta Courtauld, are based. In the cutting gardens, the pair grow flowers, shrubby and woodland stems, as well as planting up containers of living bulbs for customers.
A regular visitor to the manor, Mr Connolly created decorations that enhance the ‘Jacobean meets Arts-and-crafts’ architecture and the romantic atmosphere of the 16th-century, Grade Ii*-listed house. The Land Gardeners were up early, picking in the winter garden, before Mr Connolly arrived bearing gifts— a whole ball of mistletoe from his home.