Sussex’s Wakehurst reveals its ‘future-proofed’ American prairie grassland

Isabel Milligan, a researcher at Kew, looks at the seeds and plants in the American prairie. Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Rapidly rising temperatures have led Wakehurst, which describes itself as “Kew Gardens’ wild garden in the country”, to take decisive action to future-proof its 535 acres in Sussex.

Last year it created a new American prairie grassland, with 12 million seeds, 110 different plant species and more than 50,000 live plants sown into six acres of landscape, and now one year on the results are on display.