Two Months Premature

[poliphilo]

We've been getting reports from around Kent that the daffodils are out and yesterday I saw some for myself- along the road in Biddenden and down on Romney Marsh. Daffodils in January is very wrong. Ask Shakespeare; he'll tell you-

"........ daffodils
That come before the swallow dares and take
The winds of March with beauty..."

Comments

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

See my pics of Rome in early December- oranges!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It makes liars of all the old poets.

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

Don't you have a microclimate in Kent though? Here in Yorkshire the noses of the daffodils are peeking out of the soil, but certainly no flowers yet.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I suppose Kent is generally warmer than Yorkshire but This early spring is something I haven't experienced before- anywhere.

Our house is on higher ground and our daffodils haven't flowered yet, but I don't think they'll be long.

[davesmusictank.livejournal.com]

We have had the warmest December moth since 1910 according to Auntie Beeb today.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

What we don't know yet is whether this is a blip or a sign of permanant change.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

We finally got some sustained frost - daytime as well - during these past few days. Perhaps that will keep my daffodils from flowering until mid-January...

But it really is an odd winter this year.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm told we have colder weather coming- but maybe only for Scotland and the north of England.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

Out rabbiteering yesterday, I noticed buds well underway on many of the trees. They don't seem mature yet, though. At least it did all make for a surprisingly active set of warrens, and one or two photos perhaps worth preparing for Flickr. ^_^

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

So what's going to happen if we have a frost? or, indeed, what's going to happen if we don't have a frost? What will the actual spring be like if all the leaves and flowers and so on come out now?