
Climate Change & Your Garden
Over the last few years I have noticed some significant changes, which make my job more challenging. I want to share my observation with you.
Around the time of Covid I noticed a significant increase in the Box caterpillar. At my home in Winchester I had them visit several times but managed to save my own box hedging with Xen Tari. However I noticed, especially in commercial areas where box hedging had been used that there was utter devastation. I had been specifying box hedging for over 15 years without worry. The domestic situation can be managed if you have the time to be observant and treat it straight away. However I have found most of my clients have busy lives and this isn’t an option. Therefore I have now decided to specify alternative small leaf evergreen shrubs that can be neatly pruned to form an edge to other planting.
Winter 22/23 was a shock to plants, not just newly planted gardens but long established plants. We had considerable rain in October 22 followed by a deep December freeze followed by rain / freeze and repeat. I observed plants such as Hebe and Pittosporum dead, reliable plants used for many years. Having spoken to the nurseries they lost thousands of £s worth of stock, I know of one nursery on the south coast that lost all their big Pittosporum.
However, I like to give plants a chance to recover, sometimes they just go into dormancy. I have observed this with Acacia (Mimosa), I even cut one down to a stump and left it out of the ground for 3 months and then saw it shooting again. I planted it and it grew into a tree once more. I have seen Eucalyptus burnt to the ground in Portugal regrow from their root system. I think plants like Pittosporum, Abelia and Ceanothus will simply act like our deciduous plants when our climate is unfavourable, therefore don’t be too quick to dig up and dispose of these.You can check for signs of life by scraping away a tiny bit of bark, if you find green, please give your plants a chance.
Winter 23/24 rain, rain and more rain…..Porcelain paving is very on trend, because it is low maintenance, with its small grout joints rather than bigger pointing gaps and available in so many options. However I’m concerned about run-off, it has no porosity and I have observed that plants are very unhappy with being flooded through the winter. I will still specify porcelain if this is what the client wants but adequate drainage must be in place. Typically I have been able to specify falls into beds, a natural stone will absorb some of the rain fall, so please bare in mind the additional cost for drainage construction if porcelain is your first choice.