Following on from Pat’s ’10 Jobs…’ tips on coping with drought and heat, we asked CABAHS members to share which plants had proved to be ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in the recent extreme weather, to help us all make climate-change-appropriate choices in the future.
A summary: After the spring AND summer drought of 2025 (with four of the previous five years being the warmest on record), we experienced a cold November and a wet winter (the 4th wettest on record for Southern England), with the addition of unusually low light levels in early spring. We have now had extreme drought (no rain at all since early June and counting – and there were long dry periods before that too) and, so far, several heatwaves (which is counted as three or more consecutive days over 28 degrees in London – all have been in the 30s). Of course, the heatwaves may have counted six times (starting on 22 May, 19 June, 4 July, 28 July, 2 August and 9 August respectively) but the weather hasn’t exactly cooled off much in between. In addition, Thames Water declared a hosepipe ban beginning on 23 July (though watering cans and drip-feed systems are not banned) and there’s precious little rain showing in the forecast even now.
Continue reading Weather winners and losers
Charlton and Blackheath Amateur Horticultural Society 