07/08/2026
This has been the year to radicalise me when it comes to gardening. Only the most blinkered could claim climate change is not impacting our lives. For someone who plans, plants and tends gardens, my work must evolve to keep up with the changes our climate is bringing: extreme heat, drought, but also prolonged winter rain.
Most of us are familiar with the concept of drought-tolerant planting. Many famous gardens have embraced this type of planting, whether that’s the Resilient Garden at RHS Wisley, the Delos Garden at Sissinghurst, or the Walled Garden at Knepp. These gardens are packed with tough, yet beautiful plants, often hailing from the dry, rocky terrain of the Mediterranean.
The real challenge, for a garden designer working in London, is how these ideas translate to urban gardens, often with heavy clay soil and shaded by large trees, fences and buildings. It is rare to find a garden in London that could be described as ‘full sun’ with sharp drainage, lending itself to a classic gravel garden. So how do we design for those areas in shade, with heavy soil that will still be affected by drought?
Which areas of the world might give clues to the type of plants we need to use? How do we best work with the soil we have? How can we support biodiversity more as the natural environment continues to struggle? This is the current focus of my research, leading me to explore Mediterranean forests and the steppes of eastern Europe. I am thinking more about materials used as mulch, and which of these is most sustainable. I am working out how best to establish and maintain gardens without using drinking water to irrigate them.
Most of all, I am thinking about how to communicate all this to my clients and steer them away from the idea of a classic English garden. This is the time to take a few risks, to gently challenge people’s ideas and encourage them to embrace a wilder, drier kind of beauty.
