Interviews with the stars
Phil Woolas, Minister for the Environment
"I applaud the care and sensitivity of the RHS and its members, especially the foresightedness for the prediction and aims towards the prevention of the effects of climate change. At Chelsea I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of the gardens and all the plants, and the environmental messages that are running alongside them.
"We are a nation of gardeners and nothing is making people realise the reality of climate change more than the changes that we are seeing in our gardens. That's only going to increase in the future, and we need to adapt our gardens to new conditions -- frost-free growing seasons, drier summers, milder but wetter winters and the increase in extreme weather events. The Climate Adaptation stand at Chelsea shows how we need to change the way we plan and plant our gardens. As a keen gardener myself, I'm already looking at the different kinds of plants my garden's going to want in the years ahead.
"All gardeners need to think about how we manage and store water, and to find ways to make it go further. We need to think about how our demand for the perfect lawn or the most impressive flower bed affects our natural environment, and how our decision to use decking, paving or cement affects how our gardens drain."
"Gardeners can rise to the challenge of a changing climate – and the English country garden will be even stronger and more iconic for it."