Clippings

Climate change sparks flowering confusion

Gardeners have reported summer flowers blooming in mid-winter for the first time as global warming continues to drive up temperatures to record highs. The seven years to 2021 were the hottest on record, and this year has continued the trend by clocking up the UK’s warmest-ever New Year’s Day. In Poole, Dorset, tropical plant enthusiast Mike Clifford was astonished to see his South American bromeliad Aechmea recurvata in full flower outdoors in December. “It’s one of the hardiest forms, but for it to flower in December is bizarre,” he said.

The annual New Year Plant Hunt, run by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI), chalked up over 900 species in bloom) in flower in Kent, outside its normal late-summer season, as well as summer wildflowers like cornflowers. “We don’t know if we should be delighted or worried,” said the BSBI’s Louise Marsh. “If plants and pollinators become out of sync, how is it going to pan out?”