Updated

Updated · BBC.com · Jul 19

Essex Couple's 200 Banana Plants Fruit After 15 Years as UK Heatwave Lifts Tropical Gardens

Updated

Updated · BBC.com · Jul 19

Essex Couple's 200 Banana Plants Fruit After 15 Years as UK Heatwave Lifts Tropical Gardens

Q: With bananas now fruiting, which traditional British crops are facing local extinction?

The traditional British crops identified as declining are **gooseberries and rhubarb**. That comes from Guy Barter, chief horticulturist at the Royal Horticultural Society, who said warmer UK conditions are helping heat-loving plants such as bananas, olives, figs and apricots, while some long-established British crops are doing less well. In the reporting provided, he specifically cited gooseberries and rhubarb as examples of crops in decline. There is no evidence in the material that bananas themselves are causing those crops to disappear. Rather, the shift is linked to **climate change**: hotter summers, milder winters and more frequent heatwaves are making the UK more suitable for tropical and Mediterranean plants, while reducing the advantage once enjoyed by cooler-climate crops. So the direct answer is that **gooseberries and rhubarb are the traditional British crops mentioned as facing decline, in some places to the point of local disappearance**.

2 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jul 19

Peter and Emma Stav said their collection of 200 banana plants in Rayleigh, Essex, has produced fruit for the first time after 15 years.
The breakthrough followed a recent heatwave and milder winters, with Peter saying the nearly 3m plants were no longer wrapped and had benefited from walls that trap warmth in a garden microclimate.
Royal Horticultural Society horticulturist Guy Barter said warming conditions are helping heat-loving plants such as olives, figs and apricots, while some traditional British crops including gooseberries and rhubarb are declining in some areas.
A 76-year-old gardener in Suffolk also reported first-time banana fruit, and botanist James Wong said bananas are now very easy to grow in hotter parts of the UK, though Musa basjoo fruit is generally not prized for eating.