England’s climate is changing and our planting must change with it | Letter
We are trying to keep a pre‑industrial flora alive in a post‑industrial climate, writes Richard Eltringham Your report (Half of England officially in ‘exceptionally serious’ drought, 29 July) makes me...
By Guardian Staff · The Guardian Opinion
We are trying to keep a pre‑industrial flora alive in a post‑industrial climate, writes Richard Eltringham Your report ( Half of England officially in ‘exceptionally serious’ drought, 29 July ) makes me think that perhaps it’s time to admit what horticulturists have whispered for years: the native‑plants‑only doctrine has had its day. We can keep insisting that every garden, park and verge must resemble a 1790s botanical inventory, or we can face the obvious – the climate those plants evolved for no longer exists. We are trying to keep a pre‑industrial flora alive in a post‑industrial climate. Oak saplings are crisping, beech woods are browning, and “rewilded” meadows are going from hopeful to tinderbox in a single heatwave. Meanwhile, drought‑tolerant non‑natives – Mediterranean shrubs, prairie perennials, desert grasses – sit ready to do the job: hold soil, feed pollinators, stay green, stay alive. Continue reading...