Thursday 18 August 2022

Future Proofing Grass?

Sussex's wild Wakehurst garden is 'future proofing' itself against climate change (https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/aug/16/sussexs-wakehurst-garden-future-proofs-with-american-prairie-grassland). Wakehurst's 535 acres have been re-seeded with prairie grass and associated plants. The logic behind this is that these North American plants are more resistant to the changed conditions. Hot spells with less reliable rainfall are increasingly likely. The downside will be, however, the loss of the indigenous plants. A naturalistic situation is effectively being replaced by 'alien' flora. There must also be limits to what one can future proof, unless one accepts desert as the new normal?

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