RHS Garden With climate change talks taking take place in the UK later this year, we turn a green spotlight on the COP26 feature garden

This year there are two RHS feature gardens on Main Avenue. The 20m x 20m RHS COP26 Garden, designed by Balston Agius, shows how gardens can be adapted to protect biodiversity and be more resilient in extreme climates. Divided into four sections, it can be viewed close up from all sides along a curving walkway of recycled scaffold boards. Lead designer Marie-Louise Agius reveals its messages

What are the changes gardeners need to make to protect the planet?

The garden is all about managing and mitigating the extremes of climate change through horticulture and design. For example, one way of handling storm events is to use raised planting in beds that are free draining. We must start from the ground up, and use ways of capturing and storing water more productively. We should also think about trying more resilient plants. Research shows that people don’t like change and that the classic English garden is what they love to see, but our garden will show how you can achieve a romantic look by using plants that are tougher and hardier.

What are the best things to do if you only have a small garden?

Find out how to improve your soil to best support your planting, whether it’s in a flowerbed or container. Regularly improving the soil with compost and organic matter can help to ensure that it has a greater capacity for absorbing rain, and a mulch will help to reduce evaporation in hot weather and retain the moisture in the soil. Also, try to grow some plants that will support pollinators and other wildlife throughout the year. If you only have a windowbox, you can make it a wildlife corridor for bumblebees and other pollinators by your choice of plants. Our garden will show the yin and yang: the grey front garden, which is paved and pointed with mortar and forms an impermeable surface where water runs off and leads to flooding, versus the green one, where the paving has open joints to allow water to filter through, and the planting encourages wildlife.

Are there bomb-proof trees we should be planting now?

I’m not sure there is such a thing as a bomb-proof tree but there’s a lot of research being undertaken as to which trees are more resistant to fluctuating seasons and extremes of heat and flooding, as well as to increasing numbers of pests and diseases. We’re hoping to include examples of these trees in the garden, such as Koelreuteria paniculata and Cladrastis kentukea.