{"id":588765,"date":"2026-08-10T09:30:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T09:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/588765\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T09:30:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T09:30:41","slug":"englands-climate-is-changing-and-our-planting-must-change-with-it-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/588765\/","title":{"rendered":"England\u2019s climate is changing and our planting must change with it | Plants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Your report (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2026\/jul\/29\/half-england-officially-drought-environment-agency\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Half of England officially in \u2018exceptionally serious\u2019 drought, 29 July<\/a>) makes me think that perhaps it\u2019s time to admit what horticulturists have whispered for years: the native\u2011plants\u2011only doctrine has had its day. We can keep insisting that every garden, park and verge must resemble a 1790s botanical inventory, or we can face the obvious \u2013 the climate those plants evolved for no longer exists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">We are trying to keep a pre\u2011industrial flora alive in a post\u2011industrial climate. Oak saplings are crisping, beech woods are browning, and \u201crewilded\u201d meadows are going from hopeful to tinderbox in a single heatwave. Meanwhile, drought\u2011tolerant non\u2011natives \u2013 Mediterranean shrubs, prairie perennials, desert grasses \u2013 sit ready to do the job: hold soil, feed pollinators, stay green, stay alive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">This isn\u2019t heresy, it\u2019s adaptation. If the choice is plant non\u2011natives or watch landscapes die, then the path is obvious. Clinging to botanical nationalism while ecosystems collapse is not conservation; it\u2019s sentimentality. England\u2019s climate has changed. Our planting palette must change with it.<br \/>Richard Eltringham <br \/>Leicester <\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\"> Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2026\/aug\/05\/mailto:guardian.letters@theguardian.com?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city\/town\/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.\" data-link-name=\"in body link \" https:=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">email<\/a> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/tone\/letters\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">letters<\/a> section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your report (Half of England officially in \u2018exceptionally serious\u2019 drought, 29 July) makes me think that perhaps it\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,61,60,82],"class_list":["post-588765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}