Evidence-based gardening takes gold

Kat Austen, CultureLab editor

(Image: Michael Leckie/Leeds University)

Diverging from its stereotype of landscaped gardens and conservatories, this year's Chelsea Flower Show in London is going urban. Urban greening, that is.

Occupying a corner of the show's famous Great Pavilion, the Environment section sports planters made from reclaimed wooden doors and recycled bottle acting as irrigation systems. "We want to encourage people to plant, wherever they are," says Eoin Redahan of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), keepers of the British gardening flame and organisers of the annual show.

It has long been known that increasing foliage in our cities can help reduce the increase in temperature that results from urbanisation. Gardening in the city is becoming increasingly important, says Redahan, especially as 25 per cent of the urban surfaces is gardens.

So the RHS has compiled a report on the evidence that urban greening can increase biodiversity, decrease pollution, prevent flooding and cool summertime city scorchers. They have also been carrying out research at their new research facilities in Wisley, UK. There, horticultural scientist Tijana Blanusa and her team have been researching which typical garden plants are best at providing heat insulation in buildings, for example, and work is about to begin on their pollution-trapping qualities.

The Gardening for Champions! stand from the University of Leeds, UK, which today won gold at the show, puts what we know already into action (see photo). The green-fingered scientists suggest small changes such as slowing down water by installing permeable paths and planting vegetation on your roof, composting, and leaving things a little wild. That way you can encourage wildlife, and make cities more hospitable for us big animals too.

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