1200
individual alpine sow-thistle plants reintroduced to the wild
Protect our botanical world, before it stops protecting us
Today's actions, tomorrow's resilience
Donate Today
The climate crisis is already reshaping Scotland’s landscapes. Your support will be put to work where it is needed most. Your gift could power urgent plant recovery and nature-based solutions to protect our future.
Save Scottish Species
You can make a difference today
Scotland’s plants are under threat
Storms, flooding, and rising temperatures are disrupting fragile habitats and endangering species that have grown here for centuries. Our towns and cities are also feeling the pressure, with flooding and heatwaves becoming the new normal.
You can help nature fight back
With your support, our scientists and horticulturists can rescue threatened species, restore habitats, and create nature-based solutions that make our towns and cities more resilient. Together, we can protect Scotland’s plants and the balance of life they sustain.
Meet the team saving Scotland’s wildlife, one species at a time
Take a peek inside of the nursery where Erin, Pablo, and Jenny are working diligently to preserve some of Scotland’s threatened species. Led by Aline Finger and Rebecca Drew, the team spreads their efforts across the nursery, the laboratory, and the field to plant these native species back where they belong.
50000
seeds of small cow-wheat collected in 2024
5100
apple and elm trees planted in 2025
Plants are key to human life and wellbeing. And yet, 2 in 5 species are in decline around the world. In Scotland alone, many hundreds of plant species are of conservation concern. This requires urgent action.
Dr Aline Finger
Are we ready to weather the storm?
Edinburgh, historically known for its wet and cool climate, is starting to experience incredibly dry, drought conditions during the spring and summer months. In August of 2025, only 4 days qualified as “rain”, an anomaly for a coastal city based in Scotland.
Winter is now starting to become the wettest months, and spring has become dry and hot in its wake. This change in the predictability of the climate is changing the way we work with plants. Botanists have begun recommending the beginning of autumn as ideal planting weather. These changes are also altering the way we experience rainfall as a resource, as a problem and as a benefit in our cities.
The massive excess of water we experience during a storm doesn’t immediately run into our drains. It hits flat pavement ladened streets (abundant in urban landscapes) and pools together, immediately overwhelming its environment, including the people in it. After persistent flooding on a major, accessible pathway in the Edinburgh Garden, the Nature-Based Solutions team decided to do what botanists do best- tackle the issue with plants.
Introducing the Rain Garden
No watering from the horticulture team, no irrigation, no human intervention past the point of planting whatsoever. The Rain Garden has adapted, shifted, and changed to best suit the needs of its environment over the 7 year period it has been featured in the Edinburgh Garden. The result? A beautiful visitor attraction and a flood-free zone that handled the storm in July 2021 like a drop in the bucket.
Through plants, we've created a beautiful garden space and helped solve flooding, a common urban problem. When we learn about the way plants change their environment, those discoveries can be implemented to help solve problems for humans.
Rain Gardens: Nature's Solution to Stormwater
Caitlyn Johnstone, Nature Based Solutions Scientist, explains the ins and outs of Rain Gardens. Where beauty meets functionality, implementing certain plants strategically in urban environments can help reduce many climate based issues, such as stormwater flooding.
What we do today shapes Scotland's tomorrow
Innovation and preparation doesn't stop at enhancing what we already have. We are exploring what we could do, even years down the road.
With people like you, real change is within reach. Your support today fuels vital conservation efforts across Scotland. Together we can nurture seedlings and plant with a purpose.
Help safeguard the future of Scotland. For both its plants, and its people.
Save Scottish Species
From the mountain slopes of the Highlands to the edges of our lochs and coasts, Scotland’s native plants are under threat. Many stand on the brink of disappearing forever.
But there is hope, and it starts with you.
Seagrass images © Jake Davies, Project Seagrass
