‘The stresses of our changing climate’ - Award-winning gardens in North Yorkshire replace trees damaged by storms and disease

During National Tree Planting Week, November 27 - December 5, the garden team at the Himalayan Garden & Sculpture Park in North Yorkshire, will be replacing trees and shrubs in the garden.

In 2021, the Forestry Commission identified large swathes of larch trees which were diseased with Phytophthora Ramorum.

Two hundred trees were felled from inside the garden and a large larch woodland on the edge of the park which also needed felling.

The unusual summer heat caused trees to wilt and resulted in the loss of a prized 100-year Hungarian Oak Tree set in the centre of the garden.

The increase in winter storms has also taken its toll, resulting in significant losses in February 2022 and again this month with Storm Debi.

The gardens team now face the challenge of dealing with the immediate visual impact to the garden and surrounding landscape, including how to plant for the future of an ever-changing climate.

Head Gardener, Joel Dibb said: “There is a lot to be said about trees and the ongoing impact on them from diseases and the stresses of our changing climate.

“It is something we, and other gardens and parks open to the public, need to be very vigilant about when finding creative ways to mitigate against it.

“For us, this has been planting different trees and shrubs in different places and starting to develop a new tree canopy for the future, which as it matures will provide shelter for the other plants around them”.