Signs of Spring already!

[Clover]

Today the weather here(South Wales) has been awful, high winds and a lot of rain. Yesterday when I was able to venture out I noticed a lot of green shoots poking up where bulbs are planted. We may be in for some months of winter but the bulbs have faith Spring will come 😀

[Daisy]

Clover, the seasons have gone mad here as well. Our Cannas are still producing flowers when I should be thinking of wrapping them in fleece for the winter. Clematis, roses, salvias, passion flowers, hardy geraniums, philadelphus, lavender, verbena bonariensis and tradescantia are all flowering here. Don't they know the frost will be out to get them very soon!

I hope your bulbs are ok. Most of our Spring bulbs from last year have been eaten by "something".

[Gemini]

We saw a buttercup in the middle of the lawn the other day!

Bulbs are such an optimistic thing aren't they clover?

[Oma]

Bulbs have a mind of their own, I have seen bulbs coming through the snow before .
Our garden is just a riot of orange and red leaves, they are coming off the trees like confetti,
B was out with the garden Vax yesterday sucking them all up, this morning it's just as bad.

[Daisy]

Oma, we haven't got loads of trees around us like you have, but every morning I find myself teetering on the edge of the pond with a child's fishing net getting leaves out of the water. It's quite therapeutic, chasing the ones that try to hide under the plants!

[Nanto2girls]

Oma, our garden is full of fallen leaves as well.
As fast as we clear up, another lot fall.

[Sum1Ls]

It’s very worrying. I record the plants on my local Common and I found 21 flowering wild plants. This is unprecedented, but the most concerning was seeing the cherry plums in flower. This usually happened at the end of January and early February and they fruit in June.
If - and it’s a big if - the frosts don’t kill them, they will fruit in March!

Of course the pollinators are no longer there to fertilise the plants, the birds and butterflies will find their food appearing in the wrong months and the impact of climate heating will be severe and dramatic.

The shifting of the seasons, the scorching summers and lack of rainfall in the summer, together with excessive rainfall in the winter months will shorten flowering time and leas to flooding and will have huge impacts on all plants including trees as well as wildlife.

[Gemini]

Scary stuff Sum1!

[Daisy]

Sum1, I saw your photos on Facebook, and couldn't believe how many flowers there were at this time of year. We still have a few pollinating insects around, but I agree it's very worrying. I know this summer has been unusually hot and dry, but if this trend continues our seasons will shift dramatically and the impact of that is a big worry.

Our crab apple tree is usually stripped by now, but nothing has touched it yet. So either the usual birds have other food to feed on, or sadly, are not around to enjoy it.