"From Deluge to Drought: Gardening in a Changing Lakeland Climate" by Doug Stewart

From Deluge to Drought: Gardening in a Changing Lakeland Climate

Gardening for the weather we have yet to experience explores how gardeners can prepare for a climate that is becoming not simply warmer, but increasingly unpredictable. This talk looks at how we can create genuinely climate-resilient Lakeland gardens capable of coping with heat, drought, intense rainfall, waterlogging and increasingly damaging storms.

Doug Stewart, horticulturalist and author, will explore how plant selection may need to change, moving from right plant, right place towards right plant, future place. This includes the importance of plant provenance, climate analogues, genetic and functional diversity, and ecological concepts such as Grime's competitors, stress-tolerators and ruderals.

The lecture will include how to read plants rather than simply memorise plant lists, recognising the characteristics that can indicate resilience to drought, flooding, heat and wind.

The talk will also introduce stormscaping (designing gardens so that extreme weather loses some of its energy before causing damage) and consider how rain gardens, vegetation, shelter, topography and water storage can help us manage both storms and drought.

Below ground, Doug will look at creating climate-resilient soils, treating soil as a sponge capable of capturing, infiltrating, storing and gradually releasing water.

Finally, Doug will consider the idea of plants with jobs: plants selected not only because they look beautiful, but because they provide shade, cool the garden, intercept rainfall, slow runoff, shelter other plants, protect soils and support biodiversity.