Cacti, palms and exotic planting: London's Royal Parks to be reimagined for a changing climate
The Royal Parks charity publishes its first Horticulture Vision, revealing four major new planting projects in newly released images.
The Royal Parks charity has revealed a transformative new direction for how London's eight Royal Parks are planted and cared for.
It is the first time a single vision has been established across all eight parks, and it will shape what visitors see and experience for years to come.
Visitors will see unusual planting styles in the Royal Parks: hardy cacti, succulents and palms in Hyde Park, and permanent jungle planting elsewhere. It is a response to a climate that no longer supports the parks' traditional planting.
Central London's heat island effect has produced a microclimate closer to the Mediterranean than to the rest of Britain, while drought, wetter, milder winters, flooding and increasingly unpredictable weather mean the planting that served these parks for a century must change. The Vision marks a shift from the Victorian palette these parks inherited towards a modern, more exotic and climate-resilient one.
Led by Matthew Pottage, Head of Horticulture and Landscape Strategy, the Vision responds with more diverse and resilient planting that needs less water and copes better with weather extremes. It also focuses on soil health, as healthy plants and parks start with the soil.
As part of the Vision, four bold horticultural projects are revealed today in newly commissioned images, giving visitors a first look at what is coming to Hyde Park, The Green Park, Kensington Gardens and Greenwich Park.
A vision in pink: the Hyde Park Rose Garden
The Rose Garden's planting will be reimagined with Rosa persica varieties, an unusual rose tracing its origins to the Middle East and seldom seen in UK gardens. Its Middle Eastern origins give it resistance to heat and drought, and it flowers repeatedly through the season.
The roses will be planted among 20,000 diverse plants and up to 100,000 bulbs in vibrant pink and purple tones, with a new meandering path leading visitors through the planting. The garden's existing pergola will be replanted with an unusual variety of wisteria, chosen for its exceptionally long flowers, turning it into a tunnel of scent and colour and the longest wisteria walk in London.
The public are being invited to take part. A donation of £25* will plant one of the new roses, and everyone who gives can add a name to a celebration board in the garden, to mark a milestone, remember a loved one or celebrate their support. The board will remain in place throughout spring 2027.
A river of blue over a lost London river: The Green Park
The Green Park was once home to the River Tyburn, one of London's lost rivers, long since piped underground, hidden from sight and lost from memory.
The charity will make a horticultural nod to it by flooding a river of blue flowers through the park, planting thousands of camassia, a climate-resilient perennial bulb. The park will be enlivened by a bold brushstroke of blue each April, flowering for the first time in 2027.
Palms and exotics: the Italian Gardens, Kensington Gardens
The Italian Gardens, said to have been a gift from Prince Albert to Queen Victoria, will be planted with exotic species from warmer parts of the world.
Drawing on historical photographs of planting, the charity will bring back theatre and spectacle back to the space. The magnificent urns, pools and fountains will be surrounded by heat-loving plants, and the pools will become a showcase of waterlilies, lotus and other sumptuous water plants. The crowning glory will be two bold Chilean wine palms which are set to flank the ornate pumphouse.
A valley of blossom: Greenwich Park
Already in the ground on the hillside between the Grand Ascent and One Tree Hill, 130 Prunus 'Sekiyama' cherry trees* will mature into a naturalistic valley of blossom over the coming years.
The trees will give visitors a two-week spectacle of vibrant pink each spring, honouring Greenwich's tradition as a blossom-viewing destination.
Matthew Pottage, Head of Horticulture and Landscape Strategy at The Royal Parks, said:
"I am delighted to launch the Royal Parks' Horticulture Vision, which sets out the most ambitious planting these parks have ever seen. We want visitors to stop in their tracks and see something memorable, whether that is a river of blue flowers over a lost London river or a tunnel of scented wisteria in Hyde Park.
"At the recently opened Queen Elizabeth II Garden at The Regent's Park we pioneered the use of crushed concrete from the site itself as a growing medium, and the same spirit of innovation runs right through this Vision.
"We are taking bold steps to adapt to a changing environment, diversifying species and experimenting to find what copes with extremes of heat, drought, frost and flooding. Central London gives us growing conditions found almost nowhere else in Britain, and we intend to use them”.
Dr Linda Yueh CBE, Chair of The Royal Parks said:
"The Royal Parks charity is the custodian of the most famous collection of urban parks in the world. These historic landscapes have been shaped and reshaped for centuries, and every generation has had to reimagine what comes next. For us, that means responding to a changing climate, and it calls for real ambition.
"Our parks are free to enter and are visited tens of millions of times a year, by many people who have no garden of their own. Planting of this ambition is usually found behind a ticket barrier or a long journey out of London. Here it will be on their doorstep, free for everyone, Londoners and visitors alike. This Vision is about making sure that these parks of national significance continue to flourish for generations to come."
The Horticulture Vision 2026-31 is available in full at Horticulture Vision.