Gardening in a changing climate.
Abstract
This report looks at the various types of gardens and their importance in the promotion of human health and social well-being, supporting the natural environment by helping to sustain wildlife and providing important ecosystem services, such as mitigating urban flooding, urban cooling, building insulation, pollutant capture and carbon sequestration. Global climate change, the future of the climate in the UK, the results of a survey involving the UK gardening public in 2013 supplemented by interviews with professional horticulturists, the interaction between the garden and the natural environment, plant phenology and climate change, and garden management and design within a changing climate are all discussed. The positive and negative impacts of the changing climate on gardens and gardening and their implications for gardeners are presented.