Climate

The climate in the south east of England is temperate, with up to 0.5m (20in) of rainfall and a minimum temperature of -6 to -1°C (20 to 30°F), and so require drought tolerant frost hardy plants. (For the climate of your local area, you can consult a library or local horticultural society.)

Changing the microclimate

You cannot do much to alter the local temperature, rainfall or prevailing winds, but you can modify their effect on the garden to create different plant habitats within the garden.

Creating shelter from the wind is a requirement in most gardens. It can be achieved by building walls or fences and by planting trees and hedges along the garden boundaries or within the garden to make separate enclosures. When planning beds and borders, aim to create south-facing niches between shrubs for smaller, vulnerable plants.

A wall has the advantage of providing a solid vertical surface on which to train climbing plants and, if built of brick, it will retain warmth from the sun and confer some degree of frost protection. This can make all the difference between success and failure with plants of doubtful hardiness. The wall’s warmth also helps to ripen the wood on young shoots, making them more cold resistant.

However, a wall is not a good windbreak as a solid barrier causes turbulence on the leeward (sheltered) side. A semi-open fence, a hedge or an informal belt of tall shrubs is more effective: it can provide effective wind reduction over a distance equal to five times its height.

A small group of trees, or even a single tree in the right place, will create an environment where woodland plants will thrive. A heap of stones covered with a thin layer of soil will provide a site for plants from the Mediterranean and other arid parts of the world. The main requirement for such plants is very well-drained soil, and in a relatively dry site they can survive surprising extremes of cold. It is cold, wet soil that kills them.

If there are barriers in the garden running more or less east to west they will have a south-facing side where one can grow sun-loving plants sheltered from the cold winter wind and a north facing side where shade-loving plants can be grown. Hedges or groups of plants as low as 0.6m (2ft) will provide ample shelter for small plants.