Gardening in a changing climate
Further information & resources
Books
Books are available to buy online from RHS Mail Order Online
RHS New Gardening
RHS New Gardening - how to garden in a changing climate is by Matthew Wilson and published by Mitchell Beazley. New Gardening reflects and imparts the practical experience Matthew has collected over the years as a gardener and Curator of two RHS gardens.
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RHS New Gardening won the Garden Writers' Guild Practical Book of the Year Award 2007.
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The Emerald Planet
David Beerling, Oxford University Press, 304pp 2007, ISBN 9780192806024, RRP £14.99.
The evolution of plants over the past 500 million years and their interaction with climate and geophysical forces.
Plants are not only affected by climate but are a major force for change in the planet’s atmospheric balance. Plant fossils provide evidence of their role, both in contributing to dramatic increases in carbon dioxide and oxygen and, in turn, modulating extremes.
Using a wide base of research from the 17th century to the present day, David Beerling skilfully integrates evidence from many related fields of science. He clearly demonstrates the two-fold argument of this book. First, that integrating plant physiology into palaeobotany allows us to recognise plant fossils as new entities - exquisite tachometers of the earth’s history. Second, that plants are themselves significant geological forces of nature.
The author avoids unnecessary scientific jargon, developing his argument against the timetable of successive geological eras. This book might have benefited from more illustrations and requires the reader’s concentration, but the effort is well rewarded. It is of great value and relevance to all interested in plants, climate and, equally, the future of our ‘emerald planet’.
Review by John MacLeod, RHS Professor of Horticulture
The Self-Sustaining Garden
Peter Thompson, Frances Lincoln, 192pp 2007, ISBN 9780711227187, RRP £16.99.
An intelligent manifesto for naturalistic garden planting and management
This is an updated and revised version of a book originally published in 1997. The first version developed a cult status among ecologically-leaning planting designers and gardeners due to its promotion of the concept of matrix planting.
To use the author’s words, matrix planting ‘is a way of gardening that allows plants in our gardens to form self-sustaining communities, similar to those in which wild flowers live naturally’.
Peter presents an alternative gardening philosophy, in favour of complete coverage of the ground with competitively balanced plantings. The book covers a range of garden planting situations, proposing natural, low-maintenance solutions for each, with suitably refreshing suggestions for plants. The author does not believe that only native plant species should be used in ecological planting, but is cosmopolitan in his selections.
The section on shrubberies is particularly innovative and applies the same ideas to shrubs and mixed plantings that have been widely adopted for the naturalistic use of perennials and grasses.
Review by Nigel Dunnett, Reader in Urban Horticulture at the University of Sheffield
Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet
Mark Lynas, Fourth Estate, 358pp 2007, ISBN 9780007209040, RRP £12.99.
An easy-to-read distillation of the predicted effects of a changing climate for a non-specialist audience
There are many books on climate change (for more, see below), but few if any have drawn on such a wide range of scientific sources, or include such up-to-date research material.
The ‘six degrees’ of the title refer to the best- and worse-case scenarios for average global temperature predicted by the climatic models of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), based on varying assumptions of future greenhouse gas emissions. Six degrees may not sound much, but as the author shows even a one degree rise produces profound changes, from melting ice sheets and rising sea levels to droughts and storms of increased severity and frequency (and a 0.8°C rise has already occurred).
Based on thousands of scientific papers translated for a non-technical audience, each chapter looks at another degree rise, and spells out the probable global and regional effects. Perhaps the most worrying conclusion is that if we can keep the global rise to around two degrees, the UN’s stated aim, the climate may stabilise, but if warming goes beyond that, many positive feedbacks kick in so that a runaway rise to at least six degrees by the end of the 21st century may be inevitable.
Six Degrees does not set out to be scare-mongering, but realising its contents are derived not from environmental pressure groups but from hard facts established by the scientific community - including its climate sceptics - makes it essential reading for anyone wanting to know more about the probable results of climate change in the coming decades.
Review by Jon Ardle, Technical Editor for The Garden
Other books
Beth Chatto’s Gravel Garden: Drought resistant planting through the year, by Beth Chatto, Frances Lincoln, 2000, ISBN 9780711214255.
Climate Change: Turning Up the Heat, by A Barrie Pittock, Permanent Publications, 2005, ISBN 9781844073009.
Designing and Maintaining Your Edible Landscape - Naturally, by Robert Kourik, Permanent Publications, 2004, ISBN 9781856230261.
Dry Gardening - Sustainable drought-proof gardening from the soil up by Jonathan Garner. Published by Murdoch Books. 978 174045 9662.
Holistic Life: Sustainability Through Permaculture, by Ian Lillington, Permanent Publications, 2007, ISBN 9781856230377.
Permaculture Plants, by Jeff Nugent and Julia Boniface, Permanent Publications, 2004, ISBN 9781856230292.
Plants for a Future: Edible and Useful Plants For A Healthier World, by Ken Fern, Permanent Publications, 1997, ISBN 9781856230117.
Rain Gardens: Sustainable rainwater management for the garden and designed landscape, by Nigel Dunnett and Andy Clayden, Timber Press, 2007, ISBN 9780881928266.
The Atlas of Endangered Species (Revised Edition), by Richard Mackay, Permanent Publications, 2005, ISBN 9781844072880.
Weather in the Garden, by Jane Taylor, John Murray Publishers, 1996, ISBN: 9780719557267.