Tree Species for a Changing Climate

Our industry is facing substantial changes in the face of climate change, one being tree species that were once suited to our climate will no longer thrive. At the Palmstead conference ‘Thinking Outside the Pot – How we can work both together and within our own businesses towards a more sustainable, carbon-neutral future’ one speaker, Tony Kirkham from the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew presented a number of species that should be tolerant to the UK’s changing climate.

Kirkham set out a list of potential candidates, including:

• Acer opalus;

• Aesculus indica;

• Aesculus californica;

• Diospyros lotus;

• Liriodendron tulipifera;

• Metasequoia glyptostroboides;

• Quercus agrifolia;

• Quercus canariensis;

• Quercus coccinea;

• Quercus palustris;

• Quercus rubra;

• Styphnolobium japonicum;

• Tilia tomentosa ‘Petiolaris’;

• Tilia oliveri; and

• Toona sinensis.

Here are five of the species mentioned, selected for their ability to be hardy as well as a defining attractive feature. Some are more appropriate to urban conditions/gardens, and there is a wider conversation to be had about the appropriateness in certain situations. We are not proposing that these replace native species planting in the wider landscape. But food for thought, certainly created a debate amongst team members as to what makes an attractive tree or not…