Handy Plants for Climate Change

Graham Blunt, from Plantbase in East Sussex, with a selection of beautiful, but tough, plants from around the world that will cope with extremes of weather. - 22 August 2025

I don’t like the phrase climate change, as some people like to argue that all the change is quite natural (after all we’ve had ice ages and hot periods). So, I prefer to talk about the sum total of human activity and how its effects on our planet. To prove that mankind does have the capacity to change the planet, I use two examples. Firstly, cast your minds back to the ‘80s where, with one group of chemicals (CFCs), we were tearing huge holes through the ozone layer, to the point if we hadn’t done something about it, we would have irradiated the entire planet and be walking around like the Ready Brek kids advert (one for the oldies!). At that time, the global population was half what it is now. Secondly look at our towns and cities; they are consistently warmer than the surrounding countryside, whereas if they share the same topography, they should be the same. But we have covered the area in brick, tarmac stone etc and changed the climate, therefore effected climate change.

What does this all mean for gardeners? Well, in a nutshell we are increasingly experiencing more prolonged weather events, instead of the changeable seasonal weather we have been used to.  For example, this summer we've experienced a hot and dry summer, preceded by a dry spring, with warm days but cool nights. Yet last year the spring was very wet, and our gardens responded in a completely different way. Perhaps the most extreme example in recent years was 2022, with a record-breaking hot, dry summer, followed by a long and mild autumn, but then a very cold winter that started with a brutal cold spell in December.

for our gardens, this means that our plants are increasingly going to have to put up with prolonged periods of drought or wet, heat or cold. Every plant can handle one of these, most can handle two, some can handle three, pretty well none can do all four. There are three solutions, to this problem:

Firstly, we can reverse climate change. This is difficult and long-term, and not something that can be achieved by gardeners alone!

Amorpha fruticosa. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Secondly, we can plant as many different species of plants as possible, the more biodiverse, the better for the wildlife. This can include both native and non-native plants; native pollinators are attracted to a wide range of plants and will choose anything that they deem suitable. Bumble bees, for example, love Eucalyptus and bottlebrushes,  and honey bees would sell their own grandmother for Amorpha fruticosa (the North American bastard indigo), for example. Also, the wider the choice of plants and their personal likes and dislikes, the better the chance of most of your garden surviving a prolonged weather event (hedging your bets, if you pardon the pun!)

Eucalyptus flowers are loved by bumble bees!

Thirdly, (and finally we get to the normal planty bit) choose plants that can either handle all four prolonged weather conditions, in other words those that are as tough as old boots. Here are some of my favourites.

Callistemon viridiflorus

This is the absolute climate change king, a small shrub from Tasmania, only about a metre tall with lime green flowers. I have grown this shrub underwater in a bath for 12 months (obviously not the one in our bathroom, ‘er indoors would have had my guts for garters), so it can take flooding, and being Tasmanian heat is no problem,. Also, if it is in the ground absolute drought is not an issue. (As a side note, most Australian plants don’t have the ability to wilt, so they are martyrs to desiccation and if they dry out in a pot, it’s curtains for them). And we have clocked it down to -23 C in the Ardennes, and finally, being a myrtle, it's beloved by bumble bees.

 

Gomphostigma virgatum

This is a slightly bigger shrub from South Africa, hardy to around -18C, and tolerant of anything and the funny thing is that, although it is silver leafed and grows in sandy areas, it is quite happy in wet conditions, thus proving that there is an exception to every rule!

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Sempervivium

The humble house leek, sempervivum of various descriptions. If it is in full sun, on a slope or fairly well drained, it’s not bothered by the weather.

Delphinium uliginosum

This is a water-loving glaucous succulent from American desert. You can’t get much more contrary than this. These guys rest when it’s hot and dry.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Potentilla fruticosa

Cultivars of this are as tough as old boots shrub, reliable, floriferous and dead easy to grow, and  not fussy about most conditions. Seen as being a bit of old hat and boring but it does the job admirably.

Weigela

There are many cultivars and again they are as tough as old boots shrub. Always go for varieties that have been around for years, not a brand new one as there is a reason the old ones are around and many of the new offerings haven’t been tested properly or have been manipulated in a laboratory. Again, easy to grow and not fussy.

Opuntia polyacantha

Yes, I’m not kidding! This cacti hails from the Rocky Mountains in the USA and grows as far North as Alaska. If it is on a slope ,or in well-drained soil, and full sun it can rain for 40 days and 40 nights, it doesn’t give a monkeys.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons 

This is just a sample of some of the plants that are suitable for prolonged weather events. The key take away is be diverse in your planting and try all sorts of different plants (preferably from my nursery!)

Graham Blunt owns and runs Plantbase Nursery, in East Sussex, specialising in exotic, unusual and rare plants, a good number of which are of which are not listed anywhere else in the UK.

Website: www.plantbase.co.uk