Bournemouth Rockery

Bournemouth’s renowned rockery adapting to climate change and introducing exotic species.

The magnificent Grade 2 listed rockery in Bournemouth Lower Gardens is regarded as the largest municipal rockery in the United Kingdom, and since it was first created in the 1930’s by the esteemed Vietch nurseries to entice holiday makers down toward to seafront, it has had to continuously adapt to cater for the changing tastes of it visitors.

Built using traditional Welsh Limestone, the rockery still retains some of its original features but now it isn’t just the changing tastes of the visitors that is having an impact on the rockery. As the threat of global climate change is increasing, the rockery in the Lower Gardens is now forced to adapt to our increasingly warmer UK weather conditions too.

For the first time the gardens are going to be home to exotic species such as Proteas cynariodes the “ King Proteas” from South Africa, Comprosa, the “Christmas Bush” from New Zealand and the Bird of Paradise plant, normally found in the warmer climates of California, South Australia and Chile.

Local meteorologist expert Charles Thomas has been tracking the weather patterns of the Bournemouth region and he has reported that Bournemouth has just experienced the fifth driest and the eighth sunniest month of April in Bournemouth since local records began in 1879.

He said, “The Earth has been heating up and cooling down since it began over 4600 million years ago. Whilst climate changes are not a new phenomena, the increase of CO2 emissions in our environment is speeding up the warming trend which is gathering pace a lot quicker than it would in ‘normal circumstances”.

It is expected that this trend is set to continue so Bournemouth Borough Councils Parks Gardens and Countryside team have been looking at ways to benefit from the hotter and drier weather conditions by introducing more hardy and resilient plants into its parks areas.

Inspired by the tropical planting success at Tresco Gardens on the Isles of Scilly, experimental horticulturalist and manager at Kings Park Nursery, Chris Evans is excited at the prospect of bringing new and exciting plant species into the rockery.

Innovative and pioneering

He said;“We have always tried to be innovative and pioneering with Bournemouth’s unique gardens, and this is another example of us taking the lead. The conditions resulting from climate change have allowed us to experiment with planting techniques and we are growing different species from various climatic regions. We have been simulating the cultural conditions for germinating Proteas and are now on the cusp of developing tropical, Mediterranean and South American species to introduce into Bournemouth gardens.

The tropical gardens in Alum Chine, which were renovated in 1996, are home to some of the most unusual and tender tropical species and these are really thriving in our warmer climate. We are hoping that the rockery in the Lower Gardens will see similar results"

Of course growing perennial plants that thrive in these drier conditions also have ecological benefits in that the water consumption is greatly reduced due to the plants more resilient nature and desire for a more arid soil.

The Rockery Restoration Group has been busy preparing the rockery beds to receive these new species and are absolutely thrilled to be working on this project.

Rosie Barclay a local volunteer who has been working with the Rockery Restoration Group for five years is really looking forward to bedding in the new species.

She said;“I have always wanted to work with plants such as the Bird of Paradise, Olive Trees and Date Palms. I never thought we would be able to have these in our rockery as the conditions have not always been right. These new plants will make it a really special place to visit and I am looking so forward to seeing the exotic blooms grow and develop. The colours and textures will be just stunning and we are expecting a rainbow of citrus yellows, oranges and deep crimson flowers with spiky green, grey and blue leaves ”

The Rockery Restoration Group is managed by local volunteers and anyone interested in finding out more should contact Community Parks and Countryside Officer for the town centre, Nick Shearer on telephone number 01202 437822.

FACT BOX

Species being grown in the Bournemouth Lower Gardens Rockery include:

Bird Of Paradise - Strelitzia regina
Olive Tree - Olea europea
Date Palm - Phoenix canareris
Agave - Agave
Christmas Bush - Comprosa
King Proteas - Protea cynariodes