Heat-resistant plants take centre stage at Tulln garden fair

A climate-ready garden is drawing visitors to the International Garden Fair in Tulln, which opened on Thursday, according to ORF. The event is showcasing heat-resistant shrubs and trees after a hot, dry summer affected many private gardens.

Many visitors were fascinated by the flower arrangements, whose abundance was missing from some gardens this year because of the heat. Jürgen Hufnagl from Hagenau said choosing plants that can better withstand dry periods would be “certainly a topic for the future”. He also said collecting rainwater for garden irrigation was important.

Angelika Wurm-Zöchbauer from Maria Anzbach in the St. Pölten district said she wanted to plant new varieties while preserving native ones where possible. She said several of her trees provided shade and that she would not cut down her fruit trees.

Visitors are seeking to make their gardens as close to nature as possible so they become more resilient, said Wolfgang Strasser, managing director of the Tulln fair. Palms and agaves are prominent at the event, while gardeners are addressing climate change with themes such as “fig instead of spruce”.

Fig and olive trees are no longer unusual in local gardens. Other plants also cope well with heat, said Johann Györög of the Austrian Horticultural Society. Plants such as yarrow, mullein and lavender often have more hair on their leaves, which means they lose less water through evaporation and cope better with drought.

Trees with deep roots can also withstand dry periods, said gardener Manfred Haas from Zwingendorf in the Mistelbach district. Common fruit trees would not disappear, he said, although some locations might become more difficult for them. “On the whole, they will remain with us,” Haas said.