One of the rarest, most endangered species of fir tree has 'coned' for the first time in decades at a Welsh garden attraction.
The Abies Bracteata (Santa Lucia or bristlecone fir), is growing with two others at Hergest Croft Gardens a 70-acre estate in Kington, and one of the UK's most important horticultural sites.
Seeds from the 18-metre high tree have been harvested and sent to the arboricultural centres across the UK and Europe, for propagation and cultivation to support the survival of the species.
(Images : www.hergest.co.uk)
The last recorded time that an older specimen of this tree produced a cone was in the early 1960s.
The Abies Bracteata is a native of Monterey, California where its natural habitat is less than a 30 square kilometre area in the Santa Lucia Mountains and is regarded as an endangered species.
While there are several other trees of this species growing in selected gardens in the UK, a 'coning' is a very rare experience.
Hergest Croft Gardens has been owned by five generations of the Banks family who have planted exotic trees and gardens there.
The estate has more than 130 'Champion Trees' and 5,000 rare trees, plants and shrubs together with National Collections of Maples, Birches and Zelkovas.
Held as one of the finest collections of trees and shrubs in the UK, the estate also has the third tallest trees in Great Britain - a Douglas Fir standing at 200 feet and more than 160 years old.
Hergest Croft Gardens is a member of MWT Cymru, which representsmore than 600 tourism and hospitality businesses across Powys, the Welsh Marches, Ceredigion and Southern Snowdonia.