Don’t replace struggling plants ‘like for like’ as temperatures rise, RHS says

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The Royal Horticultural Society’s “extreme heat survey” conducted in July after the record-breaking heatwave shows that plants across the country suffered damage. The RHS’s principal horticultural adviser Leigh Hunt warned gardeners not to replace plants like for like as temperatures become more extreme, saying green-fingered householders could still keep an English-style garden in the face of climate change with their plant choices. Dry gardens don’t have to mean gravel-gardens, you can keep an English-style garden by swapping plants, for example, exchange rhododendrons for grevillea Leigh Hunt, RHS Mr Hunt said: “As temperatures become more extreme don’t replace like for like – if a plant is struggling in your garden you can plant something better suited to the space. “You can make good use of the longer seasons as many plants including asters and salvias are now providing a brilliant show well into November.” The charity urged gardeners to make sure they were planting the right varieties in the right place, improve their soils with home compost so it holds more water and harvesting the rain in water butts could all help gardens cope with the changing climate.