It’s been the mildest winter in Ireland for decades and Irish gardeners have been noticing some really unusual flowering times.
Records collected by Met Éireann show average temperatures for December 2015 were more than three degrees above average – more usually the warmth you’d get in April. And that meant many spring flowering plants were tricked into thinking spring had arrived.
The Woodland Trust has reported its earliest sightings of snowdrops at the end of December on the Ards Peninsula, a week earlier than last year’s then-record of January 2. More have now been spotted in Belfast, Coleraine and Londonderry. And for gardeners it’s meant daffodils at Christmas and mowing in January.
Many shrubs and trees in unseasonal flower now will recover and flower again, though that’s it for daffodils till spring 2017. And without a cold snap we may be looking at a poor year for apples, blackcurrants, strawberries and rhubarb – all of which depend on a good frosting to produce their crop. Pests, though, are in for a bumper year: they’ll survive a mild winter and return to attack this year’s plants. Be prepared, and stock up on pest protection from insect-proof mesh to sprays from our garden centre in Athlone so you’re ready for the onslaught.
