[nicko31]

I was in Shannon 2 weeks ago to find the daffs were in full flow, it really felt like spring.
Back in Oxfordshire, despite a coldish winter the lack of hard frosts made me think things were actually ahead of normal in mid-Feb. The last months cold and laden skies has led to little progress and we must be behind now. Still last years early March warmth was a disaster for soft fruit like gooseberries, cherries and blackcurrant, so maybe not such a bad thing. Just hope like 2006, a delayed spring gives us a decent summer..

[Ian Williams]

nicko31, on 19 March 2013 - 10:42, said:

I was in Shannon 2 weeks ago to find the daffs were in full flow, it really felt like spring.
Back in Oxfordshire, despite a coldish winter the lack of hard frosts made me think things were actually ahead of normal in mid-Feb. The last months cold and laden skies has led to little progress and we must be behind now. Still last years early March warmth was a disaster for soft fruit like gooseberries, cherries and blackcurrant, so maybe not such a bad thing. Just hope like 2006, a delayed spring gives us a decent summer..

I posted in the Natures Calendar thread that daffs were in full bloom in Saltash on 31st January, but i guess since a cold Feb/March things have slowed right down for other Spring Flowers. Winter here was bang on average with a warmer than average Dec, an average January and below average February and now a below average March looking more than certain, so I guess for down here at least the weather tricked the poor old daffs into blooming then threw its cold at it!

This post has been edited by Ian Williams: 19 March 2013 - 11:02

[Les]

Saw a few Daffs in full flower in Edinburgh,non yet in Midlothian.

[Chris Alder]

Daffs out down here but not alot else, given temps are likely to struggle to get much above 10C in the next two weeks I can't see much changing. Should be spectacular if we get a sudden warm up in April......

[Donki]

Blooming Spring not happened in Herefordshire as yet. Plenty of daff buds about but very sporadic in bloom

Some sunny south facing patches in woods near me have Primroses in flower and a few Wood Anemone, Early Purple Orchid clump I have visited for about 6 years have pushed their leave's up with flower stalks but no flowers yet.

They normally flower end of March so they seem to be on time.

This post has been edited by Donki: 19 March 2013 - 12:01

[Dave K]

I saw one cow parsley with flowers this morning but like the one I saw back in January obviously an anomalous individual.

Seems to me that plant growth has been encouraged in the very short periods of milder and brighter weather only to get stunted by the late frosts, snow.

[akkan]

I'm not that far from you and things are not too far behind here. Plenty of daffs, crocuses, irises etc out, leaves on elders, primroses out, flowering cherries out, blackthorn in flower. Keck and blubell leaves are out too.

Various shrubs in the gardens I do have leaves in various stages of growth and all kinds of plants are coming up. Crown imperials and madonna lilies have fully developed leaves and are several inches tall, not just buds poking out of the soil. Ribes odoratum has flowers and leaves, ribes sanguineum has flowers (sorry about the latin, but you can look them up and check their flowering times which you will find to be March to April). Forsythia coming into flower, chenomeles is flowering in some gardens. Bleeding hearts are coming up fine and not affected by the frost recently.

My back garden is not representative because it seems to be a heat trap despite being open to the west and getting battered by the wind, but I have half hardy fuchsias and petunias in pots that survived the winter without protection and a hardy fuchsia which has put out a new shoot with leaves. I didn't fleece it over the past week and it still seems OK. I also have a wiegela in full leaf on a south facing fence. In my cold east facing front garden which gets no sun between Nov and March I have two arisaemas which have survived the winter without protection - I thought the wet summer had killed them so I didn't bother mulching them, but they are putting up shoots too.

[Adam D]

No daffs in flower here in Livingston.

My Hellebores came up in early February and bloomed, but they keep wilting in the frosts and now they are buried under 5 inches of snow, grrr!

[scrapemedic]

Daffs are up, Iris come and gone, same for crocuses, and the false start of the blossom at Stockley has now resumed, righ about on schedule despite the cold weather.

[Dave K]

Still have dozens of snowdrops in flower in the garden on the vernal equinox. I don't keep a note or remember from the past years but seems very late for snowdrops to still be more or less at their peak.

[Halo]

I seem to remember that last year the snowdrops seem to last for ages as well and remained quite healthy.

[John Mason]

Everything very late here - the usual hedgerow flowers are localised to S-facing aspects so far. Daffodils starting to bloom; still many snowdrops around. Should be an explosion in activity come April if things warm up as charts suggest back to near normal temps.

[Uskys]

2012 v. 2013

Grass growth lacking too.

Photos: march 19th 2012 , March 19th 2013 , April 12th 2013

Attached thumbnail(s)

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[Andy Mayhew]

Grass showing no need for cutting here as yet. A couple of daffs in flower and primulas have been flowering for a while. Grape hyacinth still not in flower though and they're usually all out by now in my garden - just a handful of rather pathetic looking flowers. The consistently wet ground, despite below average rainfall so far this year, can't have helped but I guess lack of sun and depressed daytime temps are the main reason.

[Dave K]

The snowdrops in the garden are starting to die back here now, some bluebell and grape hyacinth shoots just coming through but a long way from flowering. Spring squill looks a long way behind.

[Adam D]

My dad lives close to Portsmouth and he told me that the daffs have been out for weeks.

Still no sign of anything yellow, except the imports in nurseries and garden centres, around here, sigh!

[Uskys]

Some Daffs are out up to around 700 - 800' but not up here.

The landscape around the Brecon Beacons somewhat resembles the South of France in Summer. The grass is not growing and what is there is mostly brown and patchy with patches of bare earth inbetween the plants. Its worse the higher you go up and above 900' the land looks baron instead of lush green as it usually does at this time of year.... In fact I cannot ever remember seeing it so colourless even during the dry August of 2003.

[Pete Roberts]

Palacefields, Runcorn

The daffs here are just opening their flower buds. I'm in the New Town, about 60m (200 feet) above sea level.

Pete

[John Mason]

Daffs & Celandines coming into flower now; wild Garlic leaves are up. All well late.

[Uskys]

Flowering dates for full bloom for April:

April 2nd: White Violet

4th: Crown Imperial

7th: Anemone (wood)

8th: Ground Ivy

9th: Polyanthus (red)

11th: Dandelion

12th: Saxifrage

13th: Narcissus

16th: Yellow Tulip

19th: Garlic

23rd (St. Georges Day): Harebell

24th Blackthorn

27th: Great Daffodil

30th: Cowslip