Did anyone see this news item just a few weeks ago about gardens of the future in the UK possibly having to change?

The news report stated that gardeners are being advised to start thinking about planting different types of plants and trees compared to what they are normally used to - due to Global Warming.

The hotter summers and drier winters means that the traditional gardens we are used to may become a thing of the past.

Here are just a couple of plants being mentioned for `tomorrow`s garden.`

Bottle Brush plants belong to the Myrtle family, taking their name form the resemblance of the head of flowers to a bottle brush. They are well known also as greenhouse shrubs.

The other one which was mentioned is the Eucalyptus Tree of which there are reckoned to be about 500 species. Not too sure about the Koalas though. :lol:

dex, I dug back and found the BBC News item on this topic of future gardens. Here`s the full report:-

The English cottage garden with its lush green lawns is under threat from climate change, according to the government. Should gardeners then be pulling up their traditional plants and growing Mediterranean varieties instead?

Gardeners are being urged to adapt to climate change now or face a bleak future where their prized lawns and herbaceous borders could become a thing of the past.

Environment minister Ian Pearson has warned that the drought conditions some gardeners have faced over the last 18 months - and particularly during this July's heatwave - will become commonplace in future.

"If the majority of scientific opinion is right, and I think it is, these conditions will become commonplace in future," he said in a speech at the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.

"They will put gardeners in the frontline of climate change."

He warned that average temperatures would probably increase by 5.4F (3C) by the 2080s and gardeners will have to respond by thinking now about planting more Mediterranean varieties that can withstand dry, hot summers.

The environment minister even went as far as suggesting which plants gardeners should consider such as marigolds, petunias and geraniums.

And he said they should restrict water use and think about imaginative garden design.

Experts at Kew have also advised gardeners in the UK to adopt water conserving measures such as mulching.

They say they are finding it harder to protect their 14,000-strong tree collection because of the effects of global warming.

Change in lifetime

Rebecca Matthews-Joyce, of the Royal Horticultural Society, welcomes the government taking an interest in the issue but is cautious about adopting a broad approach.

"It is inadvisable for everyone to plant Mediterranean plants. Some gardens will not have the right conditions."

"One of the most important things to realise is that things are changing in gardeners' lifetime.

"Even 20 years ago garden designers could be confident in knowing what the seasons would be."

But now gardeners can no longer expect that a tree they plant will last for several generations.

"You don't know how the climate will change. You don't know what it will be like in your locality," says the principle environmental policy adviser for the charity.

"Gardeners are going to have to work harder and know more about the plants they are planting. Is it drought tolerant, can it cope with waterlogging?" she warns.

But she emphasises again that a one size fits all approach will not work for all gardeners.

Her local garden centre, for example, had a sign up recently saying September was the time to do the planting, but she says in her corner of the south west of England the ground is so hard she cannot even get her fork into the soil.

Dr Mark Spencer, botanist at the Natural History Museum, said it was important for gardeners to prepare for climate change, but he added: "We can't really predict what is going to happen."

There are different climate change models, with one saying that it is going to get hotter in the long term while other evidence suggests that it is going to get colder and wetter in north western Europe.

It looks, on balance, like gardeners will have to consider planting more drought-resistant plants in the near future, he says.

"Thinking about the average lifetime of a British gardener they will need to consider the aesthetic value of gardens, whether it will look parched and how to reduce water usage."

But he agreed there were wide regional differences, with some parts of the British Isles seeing drier summers and winters, while others were experiencing wetter conditions.

He predicted horticulturalists would plant more Mediterranean plants over the next couple of decades, such as rosemary and thyme.

Whichever way climate change goes, he says focussing on the issue is essential and not scaremongering.

"We have to prepare for climate change. It will have a dramatic effect on our society and our natural history."