Recent mild temperatures and wet conditions have encouraged some plants that should have gone dormant for the winter to come back to life, experts said, potentially disrupting nature’s cycles. The apparent second spring came after the UK recorded an unprecedented 10 months of above-average temperatures following a record-breaking summer heat wave. “Recent mild conditions and abundant rain will have encouraged unseasonal plant growth,” said John David, head of horticultural taxonomy at the Royal Horticultural Society. He added: “This summer has caused many plants, shrubs and trees to lose their leaves or die to survive the heat and drought. It was remarkable that when the rain returned in September, several plants produced new leaves that would not normally have done so at this time of year, and some flowered again.’ David said the autumn has so far been “remarkably mild” and that RHS Garden Wisley, in Woking, Surrey, has yet to experience any frost. “The mild weather looks set to continue as we experience a series of deep low pressure systems moving across the Atlantic bringing warm, moist air,” he said. Many trees were slow to lose their leaves, such as those photographed in St James’s Park, London, on November 22. Photo: Steve Taylor/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock Northern England also had unusual weather, with a gardener at a National Trust property there reporting fuchsias and dahlias blooming in October. Since then, a frost had “turned things upside down,” he said. “We certainly saw some extremely mild weather around October and that kept pushing things along,” he added. “It can be problematic if you don’t have a proper dormant period at some point during the winter.” Powis Castle and Garden, near Welshpool, Wales, said its Arbutus unedo strawberry tree – one of the largest and oldest in the country – had produced twice as much fruit this year, the first time the horticulture team had seen such an increase . Ned Lomax, head gardener at Bodnant Garden, Conwy, said: “We have some plants that flower out of season, mainly rhododendrons, but also a few other things. “Some plants are actively growing or flowering now in response to the mild and wet weather following the long, dry summer when growth was not possible due to the harsh conditions.” The most important stories on the planet. Get all the week’s environmental news – the good, the bad and the must-haves Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Gardener Alice Fowler said many plants “get a second chance” at flowering. “I have a bar in my garden that does just that,” he said. “And roses will often throw a flower or two in winter if the weather is mild. Many plants are opportunists – if the temperature is right and the day length is right… they will make it. I guess there is some evolutionary advantage to that. Are we seeing more of it because of climate change? Yes definitely.” Plants genetically predisposed to benefit from current climate conditions did so, Fowler said. But plants that depended on colder temperatures could suffer and there will be negative effects along the ecosystem. “If you’re a pollinator with an evolutionary dependence on certain plants or temperatures that are predictable at a certain point in time, then warm autumns are problematic,” Fowler said. “You don’t hibernate at the right time or you wake up too early without eating anything. Like all the peacock butterflies right now.” More rain is expected in the UK in the coming days, Met Office forecasters say, with temperatures expected to drop closer to the usual average, so the second spring may not last. But its effects can be far-reaching.
