Treasure island

In the face of climate change, Tresco Abbey Gardens on the Isles of Scilly is reaching beyond its shores to protect our plants and gardens

- WORDS MATTIE O’CALLAGHAN PHOTOGRAPHS CLIVE NICHOLS

It's difficult to imagine a more isolated garden than Tresco Abbey Gardens. Yet with its towering palms, 12-month growing season and riot of unusual and colourful blooms, this windswept treasure 28 miles off the coast of Cornwall has been making horticultural waves for centuries.

“It’s all about exchange,” says head gardener Andrew Lawson. “We have bonds with gardens from all around the world with which we share our plant range.” Now with climate change bringing new challenges, Tresco’s practice of experimentation, adaptation and forging global connections offers a guide for navigating our way through unsteady waters.

A garden with more than 2,500 species from the world’s Mediterranean climate zones does not just grow by itself. Despite benefiting from a microclimate, generated by the warm air of the North Atlantic Current, there was nothing but the ruins of a Benedictine abbey when Augustus Smith arrived in 1834. With a passion for plant collecting, he built walls to protect his specimens from salty winds, and later a shelterbelt. Wind-tolerant Pinus radiata and Cupressus macrocarpa from the Californian coast allow this subtropical haven to thrive. Six generations later, the tallest pines rise to 18m.