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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Donna Ferguson

Turning over a new leaf: historic English gardens adapt to the changing climate

A road going through green gardens with yellow flowers
Wakehurst now has an ‘American prairie’ of rare grasses, black-eyed susans and mountain mint. Photograph: @RBG Kew August 2022

Rare succulents, palm and monkey puzzle trees, beaked yucca and oriental hornbeams are just some of the new features in the historic gardens of England, as head gardeners get to grips with the changing climate this summer.

In the historic Grade I-listed landscape at Sheffield Park and Garden in Sussex, designed in the 18th century by Capability Brown and Humphry Repton and famed for its rhododendrons and azaleas, the National Trust has planted a “more resilient” garden. It features drought-resistant flowers and trees from South America, Australasia and the Mediterranean.

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