If so should we be thinking of new strategies to cope with our gardens?

With the high snow falls and consistently low temperatures we witnessed last December it’s not surprising questions are being asked.

Some believe that as the globe has become warmer this has contributed to colder and more extreme UK winters.

Historically UK winters have been milder than other countries on the same latitude due to the effect of the Gulf Stream.

But the melting and erosion of the ice caps in Greenland could potentially shift this.

Whilst this maybe an interesting theory, the last three colder winters for us, have also been colder in other parts of the Northern hemisphere, and these countries would not be protected by the Gulf Stream.

Whatever, if we all thought that with global warming comes the promise of more tropical gardens and less hardy plants then we may need to rethink strategies, and also plan for greater protection come the winter of 2011/12.