Notices

The Times, Nature Notes, June 2026

Jonathan Tulloch’s Nature Note on the magnificent London Plane, reminding us how lucky we are to have such wonderful and beneficial trees in the Garden.

Melissa Harrison and Jonathan Tulloch

17th June 2026

London had its umbrellas up, but not for rain protection — on the hottest day of the year people were using their brollies to escape the searing sun. On such scorching afternoons the capital’s many plane trees are essential. To step under these gentle giants is to experience immediate relief: the feels-like temperature drops by up to 15 degrees. London planes, a hybrid between sycamores and oriental planes, work as natural air conditioners by being “cool pumps”. The hotter it gets the more water the trees suck up from the subsoil; this moisture is then evaporated through their leaves, considerably cooling the air. As heatwaves increase, we need to be planting as many of these arboreal benefactors as possible.

Jonathan Tulloch

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Source: The Times, Nature Notes, June 2026. Scroll to entry for 17th June.

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