Scottish gardens await exotic future

LONDON - They have long been known for their luxuriant thistles, abundant heather and the most aggressive midges in northern Europe. But a more exotic future lies in wait for Scottish gardens, according to a study by plant experts.

Banana trees, olives and other heat-loving species can now survive as far north as Glasgow, they have concluded - further evidence that the climate is slowly warming. Even as far north as Manchester plant lovers can recreate the arid deserts of Mexico with blue fan palms and the agave cactus or evoke a sun-scorched Tuscan hillside with olive trees.

In a year-long study, Gardening Which? magazine conducted the first UK-wide trials to test how tropical and exotic plants survived the winter. It involved planting a dozen different such plants in gardens at five different sites, from Dorset to Glasgow. Over the past 50 years, average British temperatures have gone up by as much as 1.5C, and winter temperatures by as much as 1C.

- INDEPENDENT