New tool will help gardeners move away from thirsty English classics to drought-resistant plants
Summary
A coalition of UK horticultural and heritage groups is developing a free online tool to estimate how well plants may cope with future climate conditions at a chosen location. The tool is intended to help gardeners plan ahead as drought and heat affect gardens, though its public release date is uncertain.Key Facts
- The Garden Climate Assessment Tool is being developed by the Future National Gardens Group, which includes the RHS, National Trust, English Heritage and the Royal Botanic Gardens.
- The tool will assess plants using factors such as average annual temperature, natural distribution, winter cold and climate dryness.
- Professional gardeners were invited to test the tool and provide feedback.
- The system currently holds information on up to 80,650 plant types and data from 289 UK gardens, with plans for continued updates.
- The tool builds on a climate assessment tool launched in Australia in 2022 that focused only on trees.
- The coalition hopes eventually to make the tool available to the wider gardening public, but has not set a release timeline.
- Gardeners are reconsidering plant choices amid drought in most of England and recent hot summers.
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