The Royal Horticultural Society has unveiled emergency plans to protect its five public gardens across England from future water shortages. The environmental charity will invest in water capture and management projects in 2026, responding to last year's severe droughts that included the driest spring in 132 years and the hottest summer since records began.
The measures affect the RHS's gardens at Wisley in Surrey, Hyde Hall in Essex, Rosemoor in Devon, Harlow Carr in North Yorkshire, and Bridgewater in Greater Manchester. The organization is increasing water storage in tanks and lakes, installing ebb and flow benches in retail centers, and investing in rain garden installations. Research teams will focus on soil health and quantifying water use across different plant types and landscapes.
Appeal to home gardeners
The RHS is urging Britain's 34 million gardeners to adopt similar water-saving measures this winter and spring. The charity recommends preparing soil through hollow tining, chop-and-drop techniques, and mulching. Gardeners should also consider creating rain gardens, installing rainwater storage facilities, and reassessing where plants are positioned.
Several areas affected by last year's droughts are still recovering in January. Global warming is increasing volatility in the water cycle, leading to more frequent years of below-average rainfall alongside a growing flood risk in the UK.
Balancing resilience and plant health
Tim Upson, the RHS's director of horticulture, explained the challenge facing gardens. «Water is the lifeblood of any garden – important not only to human health and wellbeing but the broader environment and wildlife – and we, like the UK's 34 million gardeners, are having to adapt to the new normal; prioritising collection, storage and management of rainwater as well as relocating and reassessing our collections to future-proof them,» he said.
Upson emphasized the delicate balance required in water management. «There's a sweet spot between building plants' resilience to withstand drier periods by providing less water but then there's the potential of stressing a plant and leaving them susceptible to plant health issues, not to mention reduced floriferousness, which has a knock-on effect for wildlife and humans,» he explained.
The RHS is recording water use across various garden landscapes, including trees, herbaceous borders, lawns, and vegetable gardens, to predict future patterns and inform planting strategies as climate change accelerates. The organization is shifting its approach from solely mitigating emissions to actively adapting to climate impacts. «That's the reality of the situation that we need to prepare for and we would be foolish not to,» Upson said.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
