Great news!

The RHS say that people will be mowing their lawns more than ever before in the coming years, due to the effects of climate change.

Terrible news!

The RHS say that people will be ripping up their natural lawns and replacing them with synthetic surfaces in the coming years, due the effects of climate change.

Those were the somewhat conflicting interpretations which emerged in coverage of the publication of a new report entitled Gardening in a Changing Climate from the Royal Horticultural Society this week.

To be fair the report does talk of a North / South UK split in predicted weather patterns of the future - but the way differing media outlets chose to present these findings was fairly extreme.

The report itself looks at both the impact the increase in global temperatures is currently having on plants and gardeners and the future of gardening as temperatures increase.

The report is a collaboration between the RHS and academics from the universities of Sheffield, Reading and Coventry, with input from experts from the Met office.

The RHS say it is the first in-depth analysis of the effects of climate change on UK gardening in more than a decade - they last investigated the issue in 2002, when they worked with the UKCIP and the National Trust to produce the Gardening in the Global Greenhouse report.

You can download the full report to read for yourself from the RHS website, but in summary the report authors believe it is possible that in the north of the UK the combination of increasing temperatures and rainfall is extending the growing season, whereas the extent to which the growing season can extend in the southern regions is limited by an increasingly dry climate.

Based on average temperature and precipitation maps, Northampton appears to be roughly located on the boundary between the warmer and drier south of England and the cooler and wetter north.

This geographical split which the report foresees led to some starkly different reporting in the media this week. The Independent chose to headline their article with the frankly scaremongering "UK garden lawns will be replaced by synthetic grass due to climate change, predicts Royal Horticultural Society" with The Times going for a similar "Climate change will put the lawn out to grass, says RHS."

Meanwhile Yahoo News chose to emphasise that change could mean an increase in mowing, with the Yorkshire Post going so far as to headline their piece "Why Yorkshire gardeners will now have to mow all year long".

I guess this illustrates how the whole notion of climate change is still argued over and interpreted in various ways by individuals with different agendas.

One thing which does appear to be indisputable though from the point of view of specialist outdoor machinery dealers, is that the weather is routinely cited as the number one factor influencing sales in their businesses. So will we, as the RHS predict, begin to see a situation where mower sales and servicing are noticeably increased in the North?

If the South does become hotter and drier, will artificial lawns indeed become more common sights?

My gut feeling frankly is probably not. I have just returned from visiting family in California, a state which until very recently has been technically living under drought conditions for more than a decade. So yes, you do see more artificial front lawns than one is used to in the UK. But more so, you mainly see different, more drought-tolerant varieties of grass used. Bermuda grasses and the like.

They look slightly different to what we're used to - but they still need mowing!

Clearly this whole issue is ongoing and will need close monitoring from the industry. As we always say, independent dealers are a hardy and adaptable bunch, and if change is required, new approaches can and will be found.