Latest news with #succulents
The Guardian
18-07-2025
- The Guardian
Gardens for the future: UK landscapers switch to drought-resistant planting as climate changes
Rare succulents, palm and monkey puzzle trees, beaked yucca and oriental hornbeams are just some of the new features in the historic gardens of England, as head gardeners get to grips with the changing climate this summer. In the Grade I-listed landscape at Sheffield Park and Garden, an historic English landscape in Sussex, designed in the 18th century by Capability Brown and Humphry Repton and famed for its rhododendrons and azaleas, the National Trust has planted a 'more resilient' garden – featuring drought-resistant flowers and trees from South America, Australasia and the Mediterranean. Where once there was just a grassy clearing, there is now a Garden for the Future full of purple and blue salvia, yellow aloes, palm and monkey puzzle trees, rare beeches and other exotic and subalpine plants. Historic English gardens are being forced by the UK's changing climate to increase the resilience and diversity of their living collections and plant displays, and the results are fascinating. Next week, for example, visitors to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, will get a chance to see Montpellier maples, beaked yucca, rare succulents and oriental hornbeams when the Carbon Garden opens there on 25 July. The design also invites visitors to journey from a planting of cool purple and blue herbaceous perennials towards bright red crocosmia and achillea, to illustrate the dramatic rise in global temperatures over time, inspired by climate stripes. It includes a dry garden and a rain garden, as well as wildflower meadows, grasslands and carefully selected resilient trees, such as Mediterranean cypresses and Persian ironwood. 'We're trying to be more positive in our thinking about how we adapt gardens and habitats to the threat of climate change and the carbon cycle, and highlight some of the solutions – or at least the mitigations – that we can make to manage some of the impacts of climate change,' said Simon Toomer, curator of living collections at Kew. Strategies include growing more diverse and drought-resistant plants, prioritising water capture and biodiversity and using shade planting to shelter Kew's most vulnerable flora and fauna. 'The Carbon Garden will give us an opportunity to do that at a concentrated level,' Toomer said. Further south, Kew is already reaping the benefits of climate-resistant planting. In Wakehurst, formerly the grounds of an Elizabethan mansion and now home to Kew's millennium seed bank, an 'American prairie' of rare grasses, Black-eyed Susans and Mountain Mint is thriving this summer. Planted with hundreds of thousands of wild prairie seeds from North America in 2020 as an experiment, horticulturists say as many as 85 different species – well over 40,000 plants – are now successfully established in the Sussex landscape, boosting biodiversity in the area. Earlier this year, gardeners even discovered a prairie plantain – which has thick, rubbery leaves, is adapted to living in very dry conditions and can grow up to five feet tall – flowering for the first time. Susan Raikes, director of Wakehurst, said prairie plants have been 'very happy' in the 30-degree heat this summer. 'The root systems of most of them extend a meter underground, so they tap into the water table below, which makes them really resilient to the kind of hot summers we're experiencing now. Their deep roots also mean they capture and store a lot of carbon in the soil.' She hopes the beauty of the flowers in the summer will also inspire visitors to plant prairie species in their own gardens. 'Some are fabulous for pollinators – they are the sort of plants we're going to need to plant in the future in this country to protect our pollinator population.' However, she warns that prairies die back in winter. 'It isn't a landscape that looks beautiful all year round.' In the future, historic gardens may have to separate their planting into winter gardens which can flourish in wet, cold and windy conditions and summer gardens which can survive hot dry conditions, she said. 'Plants are adapting, but we're going to have to adapt as well. What we can expect from our gardens and landscapes will have to be different in the future.' A few miles away, award-winning garden designer Joe Perkins used raised, mounded beds to address this problem when he created the Garden for the Future for the National Trust this summer: the first major change to Sheffield Park and Garden since the charity started looking after it in 1954. 'It is predominantly heavy clay soil throughout the site and that poses real problems for the existing trees because it dries up and cracks in the summer, which splits apart their root system,' Perkins said. 'And there's no point planting very drought-tolerant plants in heavy clay, because they're going to die in the winter, when the soil holds a lot of water.' Since plants that can cope with drought 'don't like sitting with their feet in the water during the winter' a lot of the plants in the new garden are in raised planting beds, he explained: 'The soil we've put in those beds is a mixture of recycled, finely crushed brick, soil and compost, to make it very free-draining.' Historic English gardens should not be viewed as set in stone: they are a living part of our heritage and must be allowed to experiment and evolve to address the climate emergency, he argued. 'They've got to be progressive – and places like Sheffield Park were always progressive. It was always a garden of exotic plants, and it needs to be able to adapt to the conditions we are facing.' Newly published scientific research into the trees that have the best chance of withstanding changes to the climate at Kew in the future has been used to inform the 35 new trees that have been planted in the Carbon Garden. Kew's scientists also used cutting-edge light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology to figure out which tree species are the best at capturing and storing carbon, with visitors invited to look through binoculars in the garden and view a 3D LiDAR model of a nearby tree. Toomer said: 'There's a high likelihood that up to half of the trees at Kew will be suffering and not thriving towards the end of this century,. So we're responding to that by planting different kinds of trees.' Perkins thinks it's vital that historic gardens, working with scientists, are open to such changes. 'We need to experiment, to move our gardens forward, to be more resilient for the future,' he said. 'If we don't push boundaries, we won't learn – and we need to learn fast.' BOX Which plants work for gardens in a drought Parry's agave, a flowering succulent perennial native to Mexico and Arizona. Beaked yucca, a tree-like shrub native to Texas and Mexico. Euphorbia niciciana, a semi-evergreen perennial with narrow, lance-shaped, widespreading, glaucous green leaves and clusters of yellowish to lime-green flowers. Verbena bonariensis, a herbaceous perennial that can grow to 2m tall. It thrives alongside other drought-resistant plants such as lavender and has clusters of lilac nectar-rich flowers that attract pollinators, while birds will eat its seeds. Santolina - also known as cotton lavender - has silvery, hairy leaves that reflect the sun's rays, enabling it to survive high temperatures. Deciduous agapanthus, which are native to South Africa, have delicate flowers in shades of blue, violet and white. Aloiampelos striatula, a bright South African succulent, can store large amounts of water in the leaves. Eryngium, commonly known as sea holly, is a dramatic, spiky and drought-tolerant plant with metallic blue, purple or silver flowers that are highly attractive to bees, butterflies and ladybirds. Sesleria autumnalis – a hardy, long-lived grass which grows white flowers in summer and has golden green autumn foliage. Salvia, such as the dark purple 'Nachtvlinder' from Mexico, are colourful, hardy and attractive to pollinators. Hesperantha, native to South Africa, has crimson flag lily flowers that bloom in late summer into autumn, providing colour to fading borders and nectar for late flying pollinators. Compiled with help from Kew Gardens and the National Trust.
Times
28-06-2025
- General
- Times
Heatwaves are hell in my new-build nightmare flat
'Whew, it's like stepping off a plane in a hot country,' said a friend last weekend as she entered the corridor that leads to my flat. I commonly have to reassure guests before we've even arrived at my front door that I don't live in an actual oven. What I actually live in is a new one-bedroom flat in southeast London. It has much to recommend it, not least its energy efficiency. My flat is so well-insulated that I haven't turned the heating on since I moved in seven years ago, saving me thousands of pounds in energy bills. There's just one sweltering downside: summer. The flats were not built with summer in mind, particularly not the kind of 25C-30C days that we're sweating our way through. • Best tips on how to sleep in the heat Millions of us are in the same boat. Ask anyone who lives in a house or flat built in the past 20 years and they will tell you that between June and August, they may as well live on Mercury. Through a combination of building regulations, net-zero goals and property developers packing in as many flats as they can, new homes are significantly hotter and harder to ventilate than older properties. The flora is suffering. I tried to keep a basil plant this summer, for sprinkling elegantly on tomato salads, but it died in two days. Sadly it seems only succulents will survive. A stalk emerged from one of my succulents recently, which I sent proudly to a green-fingered friend. 'You must be keeping it in an optimal climate,' she said. I looked it up, and the plant in question is native to north Africa. I had an impromptu summit about the problem in the lift the other day, when I squeezed in alongside two clammy neighbours. 'It's never less than 30C in my flat,' one of them dead-panned. 'I think I've acclimatised and I don't feel anything any more,' the other said. (She's got a point about acclimatising — everyone else's homes feel freezing to me now.) This is all a trade-off. Most people don't believe me when I say that I've never had to turn the heating on, but it's true. In fact my flat is so well-insulated that I've never heard the newborn babies who apparently live either side of me. But with the number of days in which the temperature reaches above 28C doubling since 1990, this trade-off is becoming a rather sweaty one. Annie Moore, 33, and her partner used to own a new two-bedroom flat that overheated in the summer. This meant 'essentially not wearing many clothes, we rarely had the duvet on, and there was lots of standing in the fridge with the door open'. • Heatwaves above 40C are the future, says Met Office While most office workers were reluctant to return after Covid, Moore was desperate to be back in to take advantage of the air conditioning. Two years ago, she moved to a draughty Victorian terraced house and prefers being cooler and spending more on heating. 'We often think of the people who bought our old flat on hot days like this and feel very bad,' she says. Ventilation is another big problem with new builds. Cramming as many flats as possible into buildings means a lot of them are single aspect like mine (with windows only on one side) so it's impossible to create a through-draught of air to cool the place down. This is the reason the majority of new builds are fitted with MVHR systems (mechanical ventilation with heat recovery), in which pipes circulate air flow through the flat. This, however, does not keep you cool on the hottest days. And that wave of hot air that knocks you out in the corridors? This is down to communal heating pipework that is usually run down the centre of the building. The prevalence of glass on new buildings can also create a greenhouse effect that contributes towards the high temperatures inside. A friend who is also in her thirties, Ophelia Oakham, bought her new flat in 2017. 'By the summer of 2018, it felt like we were living in a slow-cooking oven,' she says. 'We tried everything. Fans that just blew hot air around, damp paper towels, cold flannels in front of the fan, blackout curtains kept shut all day; you name it. The building's design meant no breeze ever got in.' So what can be done to cool these furnaces down? Air conditioning is one option. But it costs. Portable units (units in more ways than one) are between £400 and £600 for a good one. Because air conditioning is so energy intensive (and expensive to install), many new blocks such as mine aren't built with it. Blocking out the morning sun is the most important remedy, especially if you're east-facing as I am. Owners of flats usually can't install external blinds, so instead I have good quality blackout curtains that I don't open until around midday when the sun is above the building, not in front. Reflective window film is a good buy too. Invest in a decent fan. I have an 18in chrome contraption in the lounge that knocks paintings off the wall on its strongest setting. In the bedroom, there's a Dreo silent tower fan that has eight speeds and a silent mode on a timer at night. I do think it's great that we're pushing for energy efficiency in our building regulations. But if we're going to build 1.5 million homes in the next five years, as the government assures us that we are, then we need to make sure they are ready for a warming climate too. • Rising humidity is making heatwaves worse In 2023, my friend Ophelia caved and moved into a Victorian house. 'These new-build flats must come with proper cooling,' she says. 'Insulation is great in winter, but in summer it's unbearable. People can't sleep, everyone's miserable, and the world is only getting hotter. I feel very passionate about this. It's not a luxury, it's a necessity.' Melissa York is assistant property editor of The Times and Sunday Times
Times
19-05-2025
- Times
A succulent masterpiece at Chelsea Flower Show
The last thing you might expect to see at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a family of South African quiver trees standing high over an escarpment of ancient stone and surrounded by very English show gardens — filled with fragrant tea roses, giant allium heads and sunset-hued bearded irises. This is the offering of the Newt in Somerset as it marks its last year as the flower show's headline sponsor. The gardening teams from both the hotel's Bruton estate and its South African sister hotel, Babylonstoren, have come together to bid the world-famous event a dramatic farewell. The Karoo Succulent Garden pays homage to the South African roots of the Newt's owners, the tech billionaire Koos Bekker and his wife, the former magazine editor Karen Roos, and its connection to the majestic Western Cape landscape that surrounds Babylonstoren. This was their first hotel — they now have six in their boutique group, including outposts in Amsterdam and Tuscany — which they opened in 2010 after buying and restoring an old farm and 17th-century Dutch Cape house located in the Franschhoek area of the Cape Winelands, an hour's drive from Cape Town. • Chelsea Flower Show 2025: 23 gardens to look out for For inspiration for the triangular 45 x 15m Chelsea garden, the Newt's estate architect Katie Lewis has taken cues not only from Babylonstoren's topography, but also from the nearby semi-desert eco region of Karoo. Here, many of the country's most beautiful and resilient succulents thrive against the odds of heat, drought and wind. Lewis has filled the garden with 'vignettes' of everything she saw while visiting the Karoo last summer, guided by the master botanists at Babylonstoren, Ernst van Jaarsveld and Cornell Beukes. Six biomes have been sculpted at different heights in layers of sandstone, shale and quartz to replicate the rocks the South African succulents nestle among. 'It all starts with stone since stone begets soil,' says Van Jaarsveld, a renowned ornamental horticulturist who joined Babylonstoren after four decades of curating the Botanical Society Conservatory at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden in Cape Town. There are the 6,000 plants, including rare specimens from 15 plant families, found across the Cape Floral Kingdom region. A long winding path runs through the middle of the garden, 'like a dry riverbed,' Lewis says, allowing visitors to get closer to these otherworldly species. Elegant fan aloes and bushveld candelabras jostle alongside the 6ft-plus quiver trees (so named because the local Khoi and San people hollowed out the side branches to carry their quivers). 'I don't think the majority of people will know they are a succulent, not a tree,' Lewis says. There will be varieties of fragrant pelargoniums and an abundance of what Van Jaarsveld calls his favourite cliff 'huggers, hangers and squatters' (that is, succulents that either hug the cliff, hang from their stems or squat between the rocks). On lower levels, gem-like succulents in peculiar shapes such as horse's teeth, baby's toes and bunny heads sit on a shimmery bed of quartz. Meanwhile, handmade pots filled with eccentrically named succulents (spirals of slime lily and frizzle dizzle, cathedral window and fairy washboard haworthias, ox tongue and warty gasterias) hang from two faux quiver trees to show just how easy — and delightfully decorative — succulents can be to grow at home. • Ask Alan Titchmarsh: readers' questions ahead of Chelsea Flower Show 'People will recognise some of the succulents from ones they possibly grew on a windowsill when they were kids — like mother-in-law's tongue with its blade-like leaves, the yellow-flowered pickle plant and the lithops that camouflage themselves like small stones to avoid being eaten in the wild — and then there are ones that are fairytale weird,' says Lewis. 'Gorgeous but strange.' Many have been grown at the Newt or in nurseries around the UK and a couple were sourced from Italy. But the quiver trees were tenderly and protectively wrapped by Van Jaarsveld and Beukes before being flown by plane in the cargo hold from Babylonstoren to London. 'We just couldn't get them of that size and number locally,' Lewis explains. To see these fascinating plants in the heart of leafy Chelsea is one thing, but to experience them up close in the Karoo Desert National Botanical Garden was something else entirely. I visited in early February at the tail end of a long, hot, dry summer. Here we could see first hand what Van Jaarsveld calls plants 'shaped by suffering'. In South Africa's unforgiving arid climate, these plants have found ways to survive. 'Some have chemicals in their spines to ward off animals, others like euphorbia have toxins that sting and burn the eyes and throat, and others turn adversity to good use,' he explains. 'Instead of the plant dying, it goes into a kind of depression and then starts growing again.' That's why, he says, 'succulents make such wonderful house plants, because they're difficult to kill … except if you water them too much with kindness.' On walks, Van Jaarsveld and Beukes would point out white-spotted zebra wart succulents and pencil cactus euphorbia winding its samphire-like tendrils through water-hardy fynbos shrubs. The region's indigenous Cape speckled aloes (aloe microstigma) were all neatly tied up in parcels, their octopus-like leaves protecting the inner crowns from the heat, radiant in shades of blush pink and rusty red. 'In the summertime the aloes put a block on photosynthesis by producing the pigment that turns them into these beautiful colours,' Van Jaarsveld explains. 'For other succulents, like paper rose haworthias (a species identified by the 18th-century British botanist and entomologist Adrian Haworth), their dead leaves form a cover like a dress to protect the inner skin from both heat and hungry animals.' We looked out for the unusual local fauna such as rock rabbits (a bit like chubby guinea pigs), desert chameleons, spotted eagle owls and shrub robins. Delicate aster daisies grow wildly in the rock crevices and we marvelled at the fat, fleshy stems of butterbushes, so named because 'you can easily cut them up'. The red-edged pig's ear — also on show at Chelsea — is intriguing too. The juice from its leaves is useful for soothing mouth ulcers and insect bites, and even helps to remove warts. It is a magnet for songbirds seeking out the nectar in its brightly coloured tubular flowers in the autumn. Back at Babylonstoren, Van Jaarsveld and Beukes play 'father, mother and doctor, and sometimes fun uncle' to the tens of thousands of succulents in hand-coiled pots, made by the local artist Nico van Wyk, that line every surface and shelf in the estate's purpose-built succulent house. 'If they're sick we have to find a solution to make them happy again,' Beukes says. Tiny gecko lizards dart around the plants, encouraged by Van Jaarsveld as a natural form of pest control against the tiger moths whose eggs do irreparable damage when laid in the succulents. • Read more luxury reviews, advice and insights from our experts The botanists make an entertaining duo, especially Van Jaarsveld whose pockets are always full of seeds and cuttings as he walks around the estate in his hiking boots and floppy hat. Together, on adventures searching for new and interesting succulents in Namibia, Angola and Zimbabwe, they've fallen off cliffs and been bitten by snakes, but they have never been deterred. 'I was always interested in nature, growing succulents and aloes as a young man,' Van Jaarsveld says. 'If you love growing things, you will remain a plantsman all your life.' The Newt's Chelsea garden is timely, not only because succulents are increasingly popular for indoor gardening, but also in light of the urgent need to start bringing more drought-resistant plants into our homes and gardens, given a recent climate change study that revealed that London could feel as hot as Barcelona by 2050. Other gardens at this year's show designed by Tom Massey, Nigel Dunnett, Matthew Butler and Josh Parker are following a similar theme of raising awareness of waterwise plants and endangered species. After the show, the succulents will be relocated to the Newt to go on show in its winter garden. 'We want to champion the idea that there's a succulent for every situation,' Lewis says. 'It's about seeing something that's very common but evoked in its natural setting, as well as seeing something really unusual that you've never seen before.' She hopes, most of all, when someone stands in the centre of the Chelsea garden, 'that they will transported a little to the beauty of the South African landscape'. Van Jaarsveld adds, 'I know in Britain the rainfall is completely different, the vegetation is different, but I hope our garden will inspire people to learn more about how these small, tenacious succulents have learnt to survive and thrive.' And maybe we might take away a few life lessons in how to be a little more resilient in these uncertain times. The Karoo Succulent Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show is open to RHS members from May 20-21, and the public from May 22-24. For more information and tickets, visit or
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Newt sources 6,000 plants for Chelsea Flower Show exhibit
ONE of the exhibits at the Chelsea Flower Show 2025 features a Somerset connection and 6,000 rare succulent plants. The Newt in Somerset is a headline sponsor for the show, which takes place from 20 to 24 May with up to 168,000 visitors. For this year's exhibit, 6,000 rare succulent plants have been sourced from South Africa's Karoo Region by the Newt in Somerset and its sister estate, Babylonstoren. READ MORE: Monty Don prepares to unveil dog-friendly garden at Chelsea Flower Show READ MORE: Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal Winner owns Taunton florist It's a mammoth task and a first in the show's history. But it also features a deeper underlying message about the importance of conserving drought-resistant plants in the face of climate change. Thousands of rare plants will be featured in the Newt's 45 metres by 15 metres exhibit area, showcasing the indigenous succulents in a semi-desert landscape among rock formations. The garden is divided into six distinct vignettes, including a 'quiver tree forest' on a shale hill, a collection of succulent bulbs, shimmering quartz fields dotted with small, gem-like succulents, and the famous butter bush alongside fan aloes. The Newt's proposed exhibit at Chelsea Flower Show 2025 (Image: The Newt) Visitors will learn about the relationship between varying rock types and how these waterwise succulents have adapted to thrive. The garden also explores the harsh conditions of the Karoo's micro-climate. A spokesperson for The Newt said: 'The heart of South Africa is immense and mercilessly dry and as the world faces the impact of climate change, we can learn from these small, tenacious succulents, which survive in harsh conditions.' 'Resilient, adaptable, easy to grow and good for indoor air quality, these unique specimens are an appealing choice for urban gardeners. After the show, the garden will be relocated at The Newt in Somerset.' Other exhibits at Chelsea Flower Show this year include a partnership between BBC Radio 2 and Monty Don to create a dog-friendly space. It will be Monty Don's first garden at the event.
Washington Post
13-05-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Yes, you can kill succulents. Here's how to avoid that sad fate.
It's easy to love succulents. They're decorative, compact, inexpensive and readily available. But it's their reputation for being low-maintenance that makes people want to bring home one or three — or a dozen. While it's true that they aren't demanding plants, succulents, which include cacti, do have very specific needs in terms of soil, water and light. And when those needs aren't met, the plant suffers. Then, in an effort to correct the problems, owners often just end up making things worse, or even killing the plant.
