According to research from Halifax Home Insurance, British garden centres have witnessed a dramatic increase in customers reporting the death of well-established traditional British plants.
Three-quarters (76%) of centre managers said they have witnessed an increase in demand for exotic specimens such as bamboos and palms over the last 12 months.
In response, 44% of the respondents said that they have started to stock greater varieties of plants suited to a Southern European climate.
The Halifax also says that four-out-of-five (80%) garden centre managers report increasing numbers of customers with subsidence concerns in the last twelve months.
It is now urging green-fingered Britons to carefully research the impact of planting exotic species, with their water-sapping root systems, could have on their gardens and homes.
The Halifax's results are from a sample of 104 garden centres across Britain, surveyed via telephone from April 14-16, 2007.