We may be the best part of three weeks away from the equinox and a month from Easter but some of the loveliest gardens in England and Wales are already basking in the sights and scents of spring with horticulturists reporting they have never known flowers out so early.
Magnolia trees in gardens in the south of England and parts of Wales are blooming four weeks earlier than usual because of a largely mild winter and a particularly balmy, if wet, February, the National Trust said.
Camellias and rhododendrons are putting on wonderful shows and hedgerows in many places are already turning bright green with fresh foliage.
Andy Jasper, the director of gardens and parklands at the National Trust, said some of the early flowering was spectacular but a sign of the climate emergency.
He said: “As long as we don’t now experience any prolonged sharp dip in temperatures, we should be able to look forward to a very drawn-out blossom season with ripples of blossom spreading across the country, from the south-west and Wales through to Northern Ireland, north-east England and Scotland.”
“These blooms are a very visual sign of how our seasons are shifting, and the consequences of a rapidly changing climate. The prolonged period of largely wet and mild weather for many areas of the country, has meant our trees and plants haven’t really stopped growing or had a particularly long period of shut down.”
One of the earliest trees to burst into blossom is the 18-metre (60ft) tall magnolia tree at Glendurgan on the Helford River in Cornwall. Last year, it and neighbouring magnolias reached their peak in late March but are four weeks earlier than that this year.
Not far away, at Trengwainton, a 103-year-old champion magnolia has already begun to drop its flowers. Over at Trelissick, the Cornish red rhododendrons are in full bloom.
John Lanyon, National Trust garden manager for four Cornish gardens, said: “It has been so mild that some of the varieties of rhododendrons that we care for have been blooming since late November, and not properly shutting down. We have been very surprised to see some of our notable magnolias already at their peak, particularly those at Glendurgan, which are four weeks ahead of their typical blooming schedule. This is the earliest I’ve ever known them to bloom.”
A little further east at Coleton Fishacre in south Devon, azaleas are flowering early and some agapanthuses continued to flower throughout the winter amid milder conditions.
At Bodnant Garden, north Wales, its renowned collection of magnolia and rhododendrons is also blooming several weeks ahead of last year. The soft pink blossom of apricot is already out at Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales.
The head gardener there, Chris Flynn, said: “Even the apple trees in our orchard are starting to bud up, which is exceptionally early. There is plenty of food for our white-tailed bumblebees, of which we have seen quite a few flying around already.”
In the south-east of England, early blooms include the peach and almond blossoms in the kitchen garden at Ham House in Richmond, Surrey.
The head gardener, John Myers, said: “Thanks to London’s buildings and infrastructure turning the city into a bit of a ‘heat island’, we always see things flowering earlier than many other parts of the south-east, however even by our standards this year has felt very early.”
