National Trust raises awareness about climate change and the effect on gardens in the UK

In March, the National Trust launched a traveling exhibition called ‘A Plant in Time’. It is a joint National Trust and Yorkshire and Clydesdale Banks initiative and will tour National Trust gardens across the country until September 2010. The exhibition features three paintings that illustrate how British gardens and what is grown in them could dramatically change if temperatures rise over this coming century.

The Trust cites research from the Met Office suggesting that a 2C rise could make the climate in southern England similar to south west France; while a 4C rise could expose gardens to conditions more like southern Portugal.

Mike Calnan, the National Trust’s Head of Gardens and Parks, said that the exhibition was a “wake-up call to how changes in our climate could threaten our great horticultural collections and ultimately the character of the British garden”.

‘A Plant in Time’ tells the story of plant hunters and the specimens they brought back to Britain from around the world. Also included is information about the Trust’s current project to catalogue all the important plants in its gardens – the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken in the UK.

The National Trust is asking as many people as possible to make paper flowers to help celebrate the real plants growing in its gardens and raise awareness of how climate change may affect the UK’s gardens in the future.

‘A Plant in Time’ will travel to16 National Trust gardens between March and September 2010. Flower making workshops will be held at many other properties as well. For more information, please visit www.aplantintime.co.uk or call 0844 800 1895.