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Difference in climate
Goldie4
Posts: 14
I'm new here and an enthusiastic, but very amateur gardener. I'm based in mid Scotland. Im always amazed at the difference those couple of hundred miles makes in terms of plant life. The only leaves on the trees here are some wee hawthorns, very little else is greening up yet. My hostas are just poking through the soil.
I reckon the south of England is at least a month ahead of my garden. I'm so surprised when I see how much foliage is on some of the plants in your pictures. I took this picture on saturday, you can see how few leaves there are on the trees behind the house. Please excuse my grass, I'm working on it!
How far ahead of me are your gardens?
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We are way down south in the Channel Islands - our daffodils have mostly finished, crocus and snowdrops finished a month or so ago, tulips in full flower. Blossom almost open on the apple trees too.
We had almost a week of fog when most of the u.k. had sunshine, which has held a lot of plants up - but now the weather is great, in fact we need rain.
Hi Goldie! I'm in west Yorks, in the Pennines at about 600ft.
Lots of factors seem to be important when it comes to the earliness (or otherwise) of spring. This year some things around here are way ahead of normal - and we are considerably later here than our son is, in York. He's further north and east, but a lot closer to sea level!
We have leaves on hawthorn, willow and poplar trees here, and flowers & leaves on many shrubs - amelanchier, flowering currant etc. But I've only cut the grass once, last week. I think we might be a week ahead of you, perhaps...
Hi, Goldie - I'm in SW Scotland so at much the same stage as you re plant growth
I am on the south coast. The daffs and tulips are just about finished. The magnolia and camellia have both flowered and beginning to drop. The rhododendrons and azalea are just starting to flower. Plenty of buds on the hydrangeas. Tree lilies about 2 ft tall and the alliums purple sensation have their flower buds and leaves being to die back. The garden is coming to life again.
come the beginning of may the bedding plants will go in the hanging baskets and dahlias will come out the greenhouse and into the beds.
Hi there! I'm located in central Brittany, France.
This beginning of April is unusually warm for the season and a number of plants are flowering earlier than usual in my garden. The table below lists some examples of the dates of flowering beginning for the two years.
By the way, it would be extremely useful in this forum if members could enter their location in their profile and that location would automatically appear next to their name or avatar.
Hi Goldie
Eythroniums, snowdrops, daffodils over now, Tulips in between, hostas emerging, roses starting, some clems a bit ahead (avalanche, willie, rubens)
I am in West London, we could use some rain.
Oooops, double post, sorry.
Last edited: 11 April 2017 01:07:39
Goldie - I've never seen hawthorn hegdes so green, so early, and I've lived in variousparts of west central Scotland my whole life. It's usually early May before trees are greening up properly. I have tulips flowering which are also much earlier than the norm. I think this is the mildest spring in donkey's years here.
It's not just location in terms of north or south, but exposure and height above sea level, which are major factors in plant growth.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I'm in the Midlands and everything is early here. My leptospermum is starting to flower and it doesn't usually until May. I had flowers on a nemesia that survived winter at the beginning of April. It's been warm and sunny for about 2 weeks now!
I love this time of year, it's when everything is at its best in my garden with the new spring growth.
I'm in Devon, up on the edge of Exmoor (about 200m above sea level). The hawthorn is greening over and the willows and birch beginning to break buds. The beech in our garden is still leafless - though the buds are very fat now - and none of the bigger trees are in leaf. Buddleia are varied, hostas just sprouting. Later daffs are still flowering well, primroses all still going but also I have tulips in full flower, which is unusually early for them. Not much other flower here - I can see some fat buds forming on the bearded iris, but alliums are not showing any buds yet (next door's purple sensation are all quite well on though, so that may just be me).
Spring runs quite slowly up hill. I notice on the train to London (which I do regularly) how much further forward things are in the southeast than here.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”