Gardens are frontline in protecting biodiversity in face of climate change
Gardens are the UK’s unsung powerhouses of biodiversity and a valuable habitat that should be included in Biodiversity Net Gain metrics
The RHS believes that gardens urgently need to be recognised as a nationally important habitat, with power to conserve, protect and support a wide variety of life, and maintain a healthy planet and people.
Gardeners directly experience the impact of drought, flooding and extreme weather. By cultivating plants, and the wildlife they support, gardeners are also at the forefront of biodiversity, environmental protection and climate change resilience.
In the UK, garden spaces support over 50% of the nation’s butterflies, amphibians and reptiles, and more than 40% of our bird and mammal species.
Gardens and Biodiversity Net Gain
Gardens are recognised in Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) metrics under urban habitat classifications. However, despite their well-documented value to wildlife, private domestic gardens are excluded from post-development gains (factors that feed into the BNG requirement that the post-development space is measurably better state for wildlife habitat) owing to limitations around legal security and public access.
While existing biodiversity features can be recorded, enhancements within new gardens are not counted toward BNG targets. The RHS believes this undervalues the ecological role of gardens, and is calling on Government to recognise gardens as distinct, measurable habitats within BNG frameworks, to reflect their true value and contribution to biodiversity.
The 2025 RHS State of Gardening Report highlights that ‘cultivated plant diversity’ covers an area three times bigger than all of UK’s National Nature Reserves combined, and is a critical yet undervalued resource that supports human health, biodiversity and climate resilience.
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A dunnock feeding on seedheads in the RHS Bridgewater community garden. RHS / Chris Payne
A dunnock feeding on seedheads in the RHS Bridgewater community garden. RHS / Chris Payne
Professor Alistair Griffiths, RHS Director of Science and Collections, says: “When people talk about the biodiversity crisis or nature loss, they [generally] think about loss of wild plants or wildlife.
“They rarely think how cultivated plants and trees are also at risk, and make a significant positive impact to our lives and our damaged planet. There are over 50 million trees growing in UK gardens, forming a vital infrastructure that cools cities, stores carbon and supports wildlife.
“There is growing recognition of plant blindness – people see and care about the fauna, but less about the flora. And the flora is crucial for all life on Earth.”
The RHS Cultivated Plant database contains more than 308,000 entries. The Plant Heritage Threatened Plants Project has assessed over 133,000 cultivated plants – of these, around one in three (48,000) plants in cultivation are threatened, and around one in six (21,000) plants in cultivation are endangered.
“Without urgent action, we risk losing irreplaceable plants – which are not just ornamental, but are also vital for climate resilience, biodiversity, and human wellbeing,” says Alistair.
“Through Bringing Nature Home, we will be championing how futureproofing our gardens by identifying climate-resilient species, preserving propagation knowledge, and embedding cultivated plants and their conservation into Government biodiversity and climate strategies, is essential to ensure this diversity survives and thrives in a changing world.”
Join us in Bringing Nature Home
“We urgently need people of all ages to appreciate the UK’s gardens and garden plants, not only for their beauty, but also how we can use them to help mend our fragile planet for future generations,” says Alistair.
“With over 2,670 species of plants and animals being found in one typical UK garden, there couldn’t be a more appropriate place to ‘Bring Nature Home’ than your own outside space, be it your balcony, doorstep, community, school, work garden, or your own private garden.”
There will be an RHS Bringing Nature Home biodiversity-themed display at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and wider RHS Shows in 2026, which will engage visitors and celebrate how the diversity of plants and features in gardens support an important abundance of other life.
Over the summer at the RHS Gardens, family activities, Flower Shows and more will promote ways to Bring Nature Home. The aim – to encourage hundreds and thousands of visitors, and millions more, to better appreciate that plant biodiversity is the foundation for all biodiversity. From root systems and fungi to trees and shrubs, plants will safeguard the future.
RHS Wildlife Wonders: plants of the month for 2026
