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3 days ago
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Fig and almond trees are thriving in Britain as a result of fewer frosts, the Royal Horticultural Society has said.
The lack of frost, one of the effects of climate breakdown, means plants used to warmer climes have been doing well in RHS gardens. Almond trees from the Mediterranean were planted at Wisley in Surrey several years ago, and without frost this year have fruited well for the first time.
Fig trees can withstand long, dry spells, though are not generally well-suited to the UK’s mild, wet climate. However, at the RHS’s Hyde Hall site in Essex, the team has planted fig trees outside for the first time. They have also planted cacti in the drier areas of the garden.
According to the Met Office, in the most recent decade (2011–2020) there were 16% fewer days of air frost and 14% fewer days of ground frost compared with the 1981–2010 average.
Horticulturalists at the RHS’s four gardens are starting to retire plants that are no longer suited to the UK’s changing climate and swap them for alternatives that may have a better chance of surviving.
Tim Upson, director of horticulture at the RHS, said: “For gardeners, 2024 was characterised by water – too much rather than too little as has been the case in previous years. While many woody plants flourished under cooler and wetter conditions, growing rapidly, more warmth-loving plants that had experienced back-to-back boom years were far less floriferous.
“As we navigate these weather extremes the RHS is prepared for some plant losses. What’s important is that we don’t replace like-for-like but continuously build our knowledge so that what we plant next is more likely to survive the contradictions in weather we’re set to see.”
Climate breakdown in the UK is bringing more extreme and unpredictable weather, so it is not just a matter of planting drought-resistant plants that do better with fewer frosts – the RHS has to use a variety of plants that can be hardy in all weathers.
“Instances of air and ground frost are in decline but we saw sun-loving hebes wiped out by a severe and unexpected frost in recent years when we had been starting to think they might be the answer. As always in a garden, experimentation and adaptation is the name of the game,” said Upson.
There was some record-breaking rainfall and flooding in 2024, so the gardeners have been adapting the planted areas to avoid them becoming waterlogged.
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At RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate, landscape designers have built new attenuation pools to manage and control excess rainwater. It is on a sloping site, so leaky dams have also been built to hold back water so it does not flow too quickly into local rivers and streams and lead to flooding. Horticulturalists have also used aquatic plants to soak up the excess water and slow the flow.
At Wisley, the RHS has dug a large lake that collects water to be used in the garden during droughts as well as reducing flooding. It holds the equivalent of 42,000 domestic water butts. RHS Garden Rosemoor in North Devon is in a valley, that can become waterlogged. Here, garden designers have created a “cool garden”, which uses excess rainfall to fill a water feature that is a focal point of the space, which has been planted with species such as cat-mint and geranium in shades of purple, white and blue.
In 2025, the RHS will build more “rain gardens” to channel rainwater down into soil, where it can be stored. At Wisley, horticulturalists are also creating a seasonally water-logged garden, like a bog, to test for plants that survive well under soggy conditions. These can then be used across the sites and recommended to gardeners.
