Research areas at RHS Science

Based at RHS Hilltop, the UK’s first dedicated research centre for gardening science at RHS Wisley, our science teams are carrying out pioneering research to combat global challenges such as the climate, biodiversity and health crises, promote sustainability in horticulture, and help improve the health of the environment, people and nature

Meet the teams

Current projects in Environmental Horticulture

Dr Raghavendra Prasad

RHS Transition to Peat-Free

Leading the UK horticultural industry's transition to more sustainable growing media

Dr Elisabeth Larsen

Small Trees, Big Impact

How gardeners can mitigate adverse effects of climate change through tree planting choices

Dr Chloe Sutcliffe

RHS Sustainable Gardening Fellowship

Measuring pro-environmental gardening behaviours and investigating drivers of, and barriers to, the adoption of more sustainable gardening practices

Dr Marc Redmile-Gordon

Soil Health Project

Equipping gardeners to work efficiently with soil microbial communities to optimise soil health and sustainability

Dr Marc Redmile-Gordon

Peat-Free Carnivores

Growing carnivorous plants without peat

Dr Tijana Blanusa

Hedges for Urban Restoration

Putting the ‘Green’ into Green Infrastructure: maximising hedges’ potential for urban restoration

Dr Nicholas Cryer

Maximising water use efficiency in domestic gardens

Quantifying water needs within UK domestic gardens and promoting rainwater harvesting and use

Dr Nicholas Cryer

Maximising water use efficiency in RHS Gardens

Using sensors to inform irrigation, building models to optimise water use at landscape scale and using greywater to demonstrate alternative water sources

Environmental Horticulture team

Wellbeing Garden Blueprint

How wellbeing benefits of gardening can be maximised and developing the first wellbeing garden blueprint

Current projects in Plant Health

Plant Health team

RHS Plants for Pollinators

Researching the best cultivated, wild, native and non-native plants to provide for UK pollinators

Plant Health team

Pollinator FIT Counts

Collecting data on pollinator visits to target plants via Flower Insect Timed Counts, as part of our review of the Plants for Pollinators lists

Plant Health team

Bumbles on Blooms

Community science project to determine important floral food sources for bumblebees in spring - results now available

Plant Health team

Honey Fungus

Coming soon

Plant Health team

Green Walls and Biodiversity

Coming soon

Plant Health team

Courgette Powdery Mildew

Coming soon

Plant Health team

Finding Fungi

Coming soon

Plant Health team

Tilia Koch’s Postulate

Coming soon

Plant Health team

Nematodes in Gardens

Coming soon

Current projects in Cultivated Plant Diversity

Dr Kálmán Könyves

Genomics of Narcissus and Amaryllidaceae

Coming soon

Dr Kálmán Könyves

Systematics of Hyacinthinae, the little blue bulbs

Coming soon

Dr Dawn Edwards

Updating The Hillier Manual of Trees & Shrubs

Coming soon

Yvette Harvey

Historical aspects of the RHS Wisley Herbarium

Coming soon

PhDs

Cultivated Plant Diversity team

Do unrelated plants growing in the same region look similar due to climate adaptation?

RHS and University of Reading

Cultivated Plant Diversity team

Development and evolution of diverse corona structures in Narcissus (Amaryllidaceae)

RHS and University of Portsmouth

Environmental Horticulture team

Impact of peat free compost alternatives on the physical, nutritional and sensory quality of kale

RHS and University of Reading

Environmental Horticulture team

Maximising the noise-reducing impact of garden hedges

RHS and University of Salford

Environmental Horticulture team

Peat-free propagation media

RHS and Coventry University

Environmental Horticulture team

Impact of planting choices and management on delivery of multiple ecosystem services in gardens

RHS and University of Reading

Environmental Horticulture team

Applying behavioural science to design strategies to support the transition to peat-free

RHS and University College London

Environmental Horticulture team

Comparing the structure and function of urban ecosystems under real and artificial turf

RHS and Northumbria University

Plant Health team

Identifying and quantifying resistance to Armillaria root rot

RHS and University of Reading

Plant Health team

Native and invasive ladybirds in a changing UK climate

RHS and University of East Anglia

Plant Health team

Evidence-based companion planting for protection of garden plants

RHS and University of Warwick

Plant Health team

Investigating symbiont impacts on natural enemy susceptibility in ladybird beetles

RHS and University of Liverpool

Plant Health team

Environmental and genetic determinants of Brassica crop damage by agricultural pest Diamondback moth

RHS and Southampton University

Plant Health team

Host plant relationship of Philaenus spumarius, a UK insect vector of Xylella fastidiosa

RHS and University of Sussex

Plant Health team

Control of bacterial diseases caused by Pseudomonas species

RHS and University of the West of England

RHS Science Strategy

From 2020-2025, we’ve been focussing our scientific work on garden plants: their diversity, their health and their effect on people’s wellbeing.

This five-year RHS Science Strategy focuses on ensuring that the UK’s 27 million gardeners have the tools they need to address the horticultural and societal challenges they face now and in the future.

Find out more

RHS Science Strategy

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The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.