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Britain is blessed with a temperate climate, that means many plants can be grown here, that could not survive in parts of the USA, that get hotter summers, but colder winters. Most parts of Britain are at least 8a cold hardiness (the higher the more tropical), in contrast states in the USA with similar or hotter summers, such as New Hampshire, due to their snowy winters, can only grow plants that can survive to 5b. This means we can grow quite tropical plants, that have a bit of cold hardiness, that would not grow in places like New Hampshire as they would not last the cold winters. 

Coastal areas, such as Cornwall, are even milder, with a classification of 9b. That is the same, or even higher than many parts of Spain!

Here are some plant ideas for a temperate tropical garden.

Cold hardy tropical plants (gardenandgreen.co.uk)

If you have long dreamed of having a garden pond, but thought it might be too expensive, or hard work, this preformed medium pond is a perfect entry level pond. It is super easy to install; simply dig a hole, add the pond, then some native aquatic plants. Suddenly, you will have a mini wildlife habitat in your garden, that can attract birds, as well as frogs, toads, and even possibly newts, plus aquatic insects. All for £66 including UK courier delivery.

Available here - 

Preformed Pond - 3 sizes plastic garden pond wildlife pond ready made – Gardenis.co.uk

As well as green, the 168 litres and 227 litres water butts can now be ordered in grey plastic. The 100 litres barrels can now be ordered in green or black.

I was just thinking earlier that it doesn't seem to have rained that much this winter, and also there seems to be a lot less wind. Where I live in Northumberland, It's always breezy (or gale force!), a still day is a rarity in autumn and winter. However, unless I am just imagining it, there seems to have been a lot of very still days and nights. No windy sounds over the roof at night.

Although, further north than the rest of England, it doesn't rain that much, like Cumbria to the west. The summer drought map showed the eastern half of the country was yellow regardless of whether it was north or south, and the west was greener. However, there is still plenty of wet days in winter, but this year it doesn't seem to have rained much. 

I just did a search in the news section, and there is a report from Norfolk, stating that, there might be hosepipe restrictions this summer, if it doesn't rain more soon. North Norfolk News 9th Feb 2023 - 'Data on the water authority's website shows reservoir storage is below target for this time of year, being 80.6pc full, and groundwater sources are said to be ‘below normal’.'

Last summer it went crazy with orders, when the govt announced a drought in parts of the country. After just a few days I had to stop selling for weeks (unfortunately), as the manufacturer was trying to keep up with making new ones, and these are not eggcups, they are big and bulky, and take time to move about warehouses, and the country. So, if you are considering getting water butts this year, my top tip is to order now or early spring, when it is a lot quieter, rather than wait until the grass is brown, the news is talking about hosepipe bans, and there is a big wait for delivery slots.

Unfortunately all the retail prices of the water butts and composters have gone up quite a bit last week. This is because the UK manufacturer has had a massive increase in energy costs over the last year, as making them is energy intensive. Melting all the recycled plastic, and then the moulding machines. On top of that delivery costs, which make up a chunk of the total prices on the site has increased.

The timber products, such as the sheds, are all a lot more expensive than they used to be. This is mostly due to the large rise in price of timber. Russia is the world's largest producer of timber, and with sanctions, it means, the global supply is limited, so what is available from everywhere else, such as Sweden, is more expensive. This comes on top of past increases due to demand, and supply issues during the pandemic.(I have not heard a single media publication or news report eve mention the increase in timber, and that affects housebuilding etc. They just talk about the price of gas, and sunflower oil

Everything seems expensive now. The once humble Heinz soup that was always about 90p for a can, was £1.70 the last time I looked in two supermarkets. Even the own brands that were 60p in November, are now 90p. That's a 33% increase in just 2 months. At this rate people might need wheelbarrows to carry money to the shops, as inflation increases, so perhaps I should start selling those?!

Did you know there is a few different palm trees that are cold hardy and can grow in British gardens? The Chusan palm, also known as Chinese windmill palm, is the most common, but there are others. All can survive sub zero winter temperatures. So if you are planning on creating an exotic/jungle style garden this year, make sure you read this article!

https://www.gardenandgreen.co.uk/cold-hardy-palm-trees