Rosie Fyles, Head of Gardens, at Chiswick House and Gardens, writes about gardens, nature, plants and people every month.

This month, she writes about climate change and how it has changed the work that gardeners do.

Written for The Chiswick Calendar

This week I have been quoted in the media talking about the impact of climate change on historic gardens. A report by National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England, which Chiswick House and Gardens contributed to, reports that historic gardens are very vulnerable to climate threats and currently, ill-equipped to deal with the impacts.

I might put it more candidly – historic gardens, open to the public, are experiencing the impacts of climate change this summer in a visible, dramatic, unavoidable and undeniable way that will alter how these gardens are presented, planted and operate permanently. Our 65 acres are a case study in climate impacts.

The long hot summer has caused the grass at Chiswick House and Gardens to go almost completely white. Gardens at Chiswick House and Gardens show the effect of the heatwave, as The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England publish a new study revealing that the UK’s historic parks, gardens and cemeteries are increasingly vulnerable to climate change and that most managers are unprepared for its severe impacts, urgently needing more guidance and support to save them.

The grass that historically would have been quite lush and beautifully green (even in August) is a dusty yellow, soil is becoming sand. The distinctions between turf and path are lost as faded mustard becomes the one dominant colour. While many trees offer shade and cooler moments, many are also stressed, leaves dropping, die-back appearing, likely to drop limbs and become less safe as they are needed more. Every single person that visits the gardens can see the impact the weather this summer is having. It’s stark.

And that’s why there is hope. I have never had so many grateful comments for the work that gardeners do. I have never been asked so many detailed questions about tree health, water use, gardening plans, what to plant, how we use history to inform today and tomorrow. Understanding is shifting, people are having conversations and taking action. There’s a sharing of experience and knowledge going on at an extraordinary pace. So, while this summer is the most difficult I have ever had in the job, it also has the most potential to build community, become informed, consult and discuss, and make joint decisions for the future that have real, lasting, positive social and environmental impact.

My hopeful message would be that how we garden – or how we look after the nature immediately around us – has needed to change for a long time, now it’s starting to happen, and everybody knows why.