In our tiny gardens of the future, at least our grass will always be green, writes Jane Powers
Twenty years from now, thirtysomethings Kate and Conor are in their small town garden watching the robotic lawnmower perambulate slowly across their tiny rectangle of green. True, it's January, but in the last few years they've found that lawn maintenance is a year-round job, now that the warm, wet winters promote almost constant growth. Yet since the tortoise-like automatic grasscutting machines - extravagant luxuries at the start of the 21st century - are now bargains at Argos, mowing is no longer a chore.
While the lawn mows itself, the couple are cocooned in their heated Diarmuid Dome (also available in Argos) shopping on the Internet for something to replace their topiary lollipops which were hit with box blight, a now common disease. She'd like a pair of tree ferns, but he objects: dicksonias are so last century. Instead, they opt for a couple of Canary Island date palms in recycled-tyre pots.
Then, they check out the price of a new lawn made from the drought-resistant rye grasses bred recently by British scientists. Although their grass is lush now, the lack of summer rain makes it impossible to keep green during the dry months - without paying a fortune in water charges. The great thing about the new, tough grass is that although it is rather coarse, it stays green even when it is dead.
Of course, none of the above fantasy may come to pass, but it might not be far off the mark (and the "staygreen" grass bit is true, by the way). Twenty years hence, new gardens will certainly be small (for those who are lucky enough to have them), and will often be used as extra living spaces. Technology (lights, heating, wireless communications) will be commonplace outdoors, and while many people will still enjoy actually working in the garden, some - such as our couple - will opt for as little labour as possible. Garden furniture will be sturdier and wider, as today's overweight, under-exercised children become tomorrow's sedentary consumers.
But being a consumer will have its price: getting rid of one's waste will be costly, and many people will be compelled to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle. Every garden will have a composting facility, for disposing of clippings and dead vegetation; and more households will have wormeries, to deal with kitchen waste. Green technology will advance in several areas: composting will become a more exact science; larger properties will have wetland and reedbed sewage systems; and some householders will opt for eco-friendly swimming ponds, where the water is purified by aquatic and marginal plants.
Recycled materials will be used more often for hard landscaping. Increasingly, decking will be moulded from reclaimed plastic and timber; path surfaces will be made of crushed and bonded recycled glass; and old tyres will have a new life as rubber gravel and child-friendly paving.
Organic gardening will become more widespread as the EU continues to withdraw chemicals from use, and as the old guard of chemically-dependant gardeners dies out. Greener means of pest and disease control will be employed. Predators and parasites will be used to wipe out pests, although this may have adverse consequences, as some biological controls turn traitor. (Currently, Britain is seeing its first harlequin ladybirds, a species used in the US to destroy aphids on crops. Unfortunately, when the harlequin has eaten all the aphids, it turns to its attention to other insects - such as good-guy ladybirds and hoverflies.)
The instant garden will be the norm for many households, as mature specimen plants, including large trees and perennials on the point of flower, will be mass-produced in European (and perhaps north African) nurseries. And some of these plants will carry passengers: pests and diseases from their country of origin - which, with our continually warming conditions, will have a chance of survival.
While all of this will present challenges to gardeners, it will also offer excitement. Plants that now grow only in the warmest Irish gardens will be cultivated throughout the country: palms and pomegranates, exotic climbers and shrubs, grapes and citrus, agaves and other succulents. Twenty years from now, we could see bougainvillea blooming from Bantry to Birr to Ballycastle - if, that is, we can deal with our winter rains and summer droughts.
Water management will be paramount: preventing soggy conditions and flooding in winter (with raised beds, and added grit for drainage), and conserving moisture in summer - by collecting water, planting drought-tolerant species, mulching the soil, and reducing or jettisoning the lawn. Traditional border plants such as phlox and delphinium, which like a moist and fertile soil in summer, will be more difficult to grow. Indeed, the old-fashioned, tiered herbaceous border will be phased out in all but the grandest gardens, and will be replaced by naturalistic plantings of species requiring less moisture - and less time.
The warmer, wetter winters, however, will favour existing fungal diseases, and will make a welcome environment for the new pathogens that are currently appearing (probably brought in from hotter climates). In summer, warm-climate pests that exist only in greenhouses will move into the garden, reproducing merrily in the heat. And potentially-invasive, tropical aquatic plants (such as giant salvinia and water hyacinth) that now can't survive the winter, may jump from garden ponds into our waterways, causing untold environmental damage.
Meanwhile, all may not be rosy in the kitchen garden, despite the ripening figs and grapes. Certain temperate fruits - varieties of apple, cherry, plum and strawberry - require a prolonged chilling to form flower buds. Warmer winters could diminish these crops. And some of our best-loved ornamental plants needing cooler summers or winters may also suffer: rhododendron, primula, snowdrop and birch, to mention a few.
All of this is pure speculation, of course. The scene could be entirely different. Imagine, for instance, if the Gulf Stream failed. Then we'd be back to growing heathers and conifers.
YOUR GARDEN IN 2025
Smaller, multi-purpose space.
More technology, both electronic and green.
More organic and more sustainable.
Mature plants readily available.
Warmer all year round, with drier summers, and wetter winters.
More droughts, floods and storms.
More need for water management: good drainage in winter, and conservation in summer through mulching and water collection.
Longer growing season, making maintenance more time-consuming.
New pests and diseases thriving in the warmer conditions.
Certain plants will do better: grape, fig, citrus, palms, succulents, tender shrubs and climbers, perennials and annuals from warm climates. Some heretofore well-behaved plant species may become invasive nuisances.
Other plants that require cooler conditions will suffer: temperate fruits, and ornamentals such as primulas, rhododendrons, snowdrops, alpines and birch.