Gardens and Landscaping

Climate change has already and will continue to affect plant communities through altered temperature and precipitation regimes. This tool provides background on the effects of climate change on gardens and landscapes throughout the Midwest. Fortunately, creating new green spaces and retrofitting existing gardens can help us adapt to and mitigate climate change while also providing direct benefits to the community. This tool lays out several climate actions that can be taken at the community level while also presenting local case studies of regional groups that have successfully implemented some of these approaches. This resource can be used on its own to gain a better understanding of the interaction of climate change, plants, and community; it also pairs well with a plant-related climate action activity such as the installation of a fruit or vegetable garden, cultural heritage garden, or other community greenspace.