What The Mildest Winter For Half A Century Means For The Gardens Of The UK

Believe it or not we are in the thick of winter and all of this peculiar whether we have been experiencing seems to be the new normal – and although thermals, gloves and scarves are not a combination the nation is missing this Winter, we looking for more normality in our gardens as they are well and truly confused! As reported by meteorologists, the average temperature for this time of year is 6C warmer than usual making it the highest for half a century.

Do you think we will see any snowdrops this year?

The unseasonably warm weather has affected the gardens of southern England the worst with gardeners claiming they have experienced spring, autumn and winter all in one season. With autumn-flowering camellias, which naturally flower in October and November, are finishing their season, but with their departure we are seeing the arrival of the spring-flowering camellias – four months early! The worry is that, if and when the cold weather does arrive, the flowers now emerging will be ruined before Spring officially arrives. Every flower bud that is currently showing colour will be damaged if I cold spell comes our way, gardeners all over the UK are hoping for the weather to gradually go cold to keep hold of any hope for flowering spring plants. Gardeners in the east of the UK are finding that the mild weather is the reason why the grass is growing as it were early autumn, making maintenance particularly challenging.

Up north where the weather is a little cooler than the rest of the country gardeners seem to be panicking a little less, of course the weather is not the norm, but so far there have been no reported obvious ill effects of the milder temperatures – for example the insects all seem to be hibernating away nicely. Gardeners in the north have seen an increase in fungi with the waxcap mushrooms running riot through the lawns in the north, good for the mushrooms not so good for the gardeners! Unfortunately the north is yet to see a scattering of snowdrops but fortunately nothing is flowering out of season like it is in the south.

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