What is the unsung plant hero of summer 2026?

Visitors and their dogs among the grasses and borders at Chiswick House & Gardens

While we struggled through heat, and worried about our parched, bleached gardens, there was one plant across the nation applying climate adaptation to ridiculously impressive effect

Guest blog by Rosie Fyles

It gave the appearance of death; in some cases, it disappeared. If there was a prize for the most obvious, stark indicator of drought, it won that too.

My plant hero of summer 2026 is grass, in its most common, often overlooked form. Despite its pallor, ongoing dormancy and absence from our gardens, it is resurrected after very modest rain. Lawns all around the worst-hit gardens, in terms of drought and wear and tear, are going green again as grass proves it’s alive: its roots were resting and waiting for moisture.

The green is augmented by ‘weeds’, of course, runner up prize of summer 2026 to the dogged yarrow (Achillea millefolium), also called ‘hundred leaved grass’…

CHISWICK: The Long hot summer has caused the grass at Chiswick House and Gardens to go almost completely white.. Gardens at Chiswick House and Gardens show the effect of the heatwave, as The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England publish a new study revealing that the UK’s historic parks, gardens and cemeteries are increasingly vulnerable to climate change and that most managers are unprepared for its severe impacts, urgently needing more guidance and support to save them. Photograph by Chris Gorman / Big Ladder For the National Lottery Heritage Fund.. IMAGE FREE FOR USE. Image shot Thursday 6th August 2026

Chiswick House and its grounds from above

What does this mean for our existing lawns in our future dry summers?

Anxiety levels about grass’s ability to return can fall. I don’t think they can vanish because grass does too good a job of implying a desperate, grief-filled situation. It will continue to fool us and make us doubt its persistence. Let’s have more confidence in the ‘perfect groundcover plant’ as my RHS tutor called it. We might need to tolerate and rest easy with more yellow in our landscapes too.

However, I don’t think that we can accept that ‘English grass’, the mix of ryegrass, fescue and bent as we know it, gives us the type of future we need. If you close your eyes and think of your 2050 garden visit, and what you would feel reassured by, where you will find beauty and solace, the colour green surely must be heavily involved underfoot. Without anxiety.

The new Learning Hub in the gardens at Chiswick House & Gardens

That’s just one reason why this year and next the team at Chiswick House & Gardens will be trialling lawn alternatives: better for wildlife, soil quality and water retention, and green. Look out for more information on this as we Remake the Italian Garden, testing areas of ‘lawn’ in shade and sun with different approaches.

We will share what we are using and how we are taking care of it too: we are looking for options that over time require less care and water. Our goal is to find an alternative to grass that offers pollinators a source of nectar, can be walked on and sat on if you fancy a rest, might have flowers at certain times, and needs to be a groundcover planting we can keep short by mowing. Are we asking too much? This time next year, we find out.

Sign up to the Chiswick House & Gardens newsletter here.

Contact Rosie if you have a question: rosie.fyles@chgt.org.uk

Rosie Fyles is Head of Gardens at Chiswick House & Gardens, and writes on plants, nature, seasons: the latest from our local green haven every month.