UK gardens are likely to be ablaze with colour this week as plants all break into flower simultaneously.
This 鈥渃ondensed spring鈥� follows much dismal weather: the UK spring has seen snow, twice the usual amount of rainfall and temperatures that are below average.
鈥淐old has held spring back by two weeks, so suddenly everything will come out in a rush,鈥� says at the Royal Horticultural Society, which has .
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Plants need a period of cold to kick-start genetic programs for flowering. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like a sort of dosing,鈥� says at Harvard University. 鈥淓ach day brings a plant some dose of cold or warmth, and once they鈥檝e got the full dose of the two requirements they can flower.鈥�
Warmer winters caused by climate change could pose more of a problem for certain plants than cold snaps. In 2012, Wolkovich found that because warm winters don鈥檛 supply enough cold. That could harm these species and animals that rely on them.
Barter agrees that could be more problematic than colder ones, because lack of cold prevents some plants from flowering properly. 鈥淲e might find crops like cherries and some apples have to be grown further north if the winters become too mild in southern England,鈥� he says.
