Public awareness of the environment has created a surge of interest in home gardening and urban horticultures and has led to the increased use of landscaping to modify the functional and aesthetic aspects of the surroundings. People in every walk of life are becoming more interested in plants, in the environment, and in quality food for better health. Whether it be for homes, business, or recreational facilities, this awareness has created a demand for horticultural products that make a more natural, pleasing, and functional environment. Almost every home or business has potted plants, shrubs, and trees in the landscape, and sometimes fruit and vegetable gardens. The horticulture industry and related industries play an important role in preserving and enhancing the beauty and productivity of the environment. Gardening—whether backyard or balcony—fills a heretofore unmet need. The growing plants are both therapeutic and recreational in nature.

This uncertainty about the weather has had a definite effect upon the Englishman's character; it tends to make him cautious, for example. The foreigner may laugh when he sees the Englishman setting forth on a brilliantly sunny morning wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella, but he may well regret his laughter later in the day! The English weather has also helped to make the Englishman adaptable. It has been said that one of the reasons why the English colonized so much of the world was that, whatever the weather conditions they met abroad, they had already experienced something like them at home!
And, of course, the weather's variety provides a constant topic of conversation. Even the most incommunicative of Englishmen is always prepared to discuss the weather. And, though he sometimes complains bitterly of it, he would not, even if he could, exchange it for the more predictable climate of other lands.