Support RHS Science

As the UK’s gardening charity, RHS Science tackles climate change, biodiversity loss, and pressures on health and wellbeing. Each year, over £6 million is invested in scientific research, which feeds into practical advice for gardeners, helping improve water management, garden resilience, soil health, carbon storage, wildlife-friendly planting and more.

Research shows that gardens can cool homes and cities, reduce flooding, improve air quality, support pollinators, and boost physical and mental wellbeing. This is planting with purpose. Gardens that do good, as well as look good.

Building on this work, the aim is to continue growing the world’s leading centre for gardening science, combining pioneering research, important plant collections and trusted horticultural expertise. RHS Science is currently working in collaboration with 18 UK universities to ensure research is rigorous, relevant and translated into practical guidance.

With your support, climate change advice can reach 27 million UK gardeners and research can improve water management and resilience. It can help phase out peat, promote healthy soils and wildlife-friendly gardening, inform government policy and enhance wellbeing.

Based at RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, RHS Hilltop – The Home of Gardening Science is the UK’s first research centre dedicated entirely to gardening science. Fundraised and built to advance horticultural research, the centre hosts around 130 scientists, specialists and students, supported by university partnerships across the UK. Research undertaken here shapes advice for gardeners, informs the horticultural industry and underpins evidence submitted to government. All advice, including responses to around 115,000 gardening queries each year, is grounded in robust science.

Launched in 2023 and supported by The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, Plants for Purpose is a science programme that brings together research, plant collections and data to create a living knowledge bank of UK cultivated plants and the benefits they provide for people and the planet. The multi-year programme focuses on identifying plants with valuable traits, including plants that cope with drought or help mitigate flooding, trees and hedges resilient to climate change and plants that support cleaner air, human health and biodiversity.

Discover how the RHS Science Circle helps advance pioneering research, conservation and scientific discovery, while offering opportunities to get closer to the science your gift helps make possible. Learn how supporters are helping shape the future of gardening through RHS Science.