The UK is expected to have a spring of beautiful blossom, after a heatwave followed by a cold early February set the trees up for peak condition blooms.
Gardeners at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) have been studying the buds on the trees in their gardens across the country. They say buds suggest trees will be floriferous with blossom this spring because of the perfect conditions last year for bud formation, and also because early flowering has been prevented by the cold this February.
This means the blooming season will be potentially longer lasting. Hopefully the risk of them being “got at” by frost will lessen as the season progresses, and there will be more fruit as a direct result later in the year.
Guy Barter, the chief horticulturist at the RHS, said: “Spring blossom is special each year but this year the light and heat of last summer has promoted a very promising crop of flower buds indeed. These buds had plenty of cold this winter, which they require (officially called the chill factor expressed in hours at about 6C) to ‘release’ them to flower once spring warms up.
“Ornamental cherries, arguably the best of all flowering trees, tough out any spring frosts and are reliably glorious. Apples and other fruit blossom, however, are very vulnerable to late frosts. This cold February means fruit trees won’t flower early. This is good as it means they are more likely to escape any late spring frost that can prevent fruit forming.”
Some were concerned the intense heat and drought of last year could have weakened the trees, but they managed to weather it well, perhaps because of their deeper roots. The trees also benefited from extra warmth and light. Other plants with more shallow roots were not so lucky, and some trees, including apple trees, did not have enough “chilling hours” in the early winter, because it was mild in September and October, to produce good fruit.
However, cherry blossoms and other trees are expected to thrive because the beginning of February, in particular, has been colder than usual in Britain. The RHS expects the flowering cherry season in April to be especially luxuriant as the trees respond rapidly to change to spring conditions from mid-March to early May, depending on the cultivar, and are in some cases protected from a late frost. Each cultivar will flower for about two weeks.
