Our speaker on 15 May was Chris Day, talking to a good crowd of members about Gardening in a Changing Climate, looking at the way we garden, the plants we grow and how we deal with climate change. Obviously, a huge topic to cover in an hour and very topical as we all had tales of the plants that had not survived through the winter.
Chris reminded us that trees and plants take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, so the greening of our own spaces is a good idea. Small changes like growing a hedge in our front garden rather than fencing, means that the plants will capture pollution particles, as well as providing a wildlife corridor and somewhere for birds and insects to feed and shelter.
We should be looking at conserving water and making sure that we have water butts around the garden. This has the added advantage of saving rainwater going in to our already hard-pressed sewerage system.
Chris’s top six resistant plants are Eryngium Big Blue, Verbena bonariensis, Stipa gigantea (not for the faint hearted!), Origanum vulgare, Sedum matrona and Stachys byzantina Big Ears. I’m sure we can all come up with our favourites.