Environment

Jekka McVicar encourages gardener participation in climate change research project

In her capacity as the Vice President of the RHS, Jekka McVicar appealed to gardeners across the country to participate in the research project to ascertain how climate change is affecting plants in gardens.

Jekka McVicar on BBC Breakfast

From her garden and herb nursery in Bristol, the expert organic grower of herbs, author and broadcaster, Jekka McVicar spoke to BBC Breakfast about the project run by the The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), University of Sheffield and University of Reading that aims to gain insight into how climate change has affected gardens across the country.

Gardeners are being asked to take part in a climate change survey to provide the research teams with invaluable insights into the effects of global warming on plants in gardens.

As Tim Upson, the Director of Gardens and Horticulture at the RHS, explains: “Tapping into the observations of the UK’s 30 million gardeners, many of whom will have noticed longer-lasting blooms or waterlogged perennials, will help us in better understanding how our gardens need to evolve to ensure they continue to provide the environmental and health and wellbeing benefits we currently enjoy, ten, twenty and thirty years from now.”

By means of the new data, researchers will be able to ascertain what grows well from year to year and from place to place, in aid of helping gardens to ‘future-proof’ the garden plant diversity across the UK.