Trengwainton, eight miles from Land's End, enjoys perhaps the most favourable
gardening conditions in mainland Britain.
In Cornish it means the "settlement of spring" in honour of the temperate
climate with which it is blessed. But even by these standards, the spring of
2007 is proving exceptionally fecund.
With two weeks of winter officially still to run, the gardens of the National
Trust house in the west of Cornwall are a riot of colour after one of the
warmest winters on record.
Gardeners at Trengwainton House taking part in a survey by the trust across
Devon and Cornwall recorded 426 varieties in flower, nearly twice the number as
at this time last year. The gardens' Magnolias, Camelias and Rhododendrons have
already sprouted while the South African bottle brush is exhibiting its spiny
red blooms three months ahead of schedule.
But the warm winter has thrown up some unexpected difficulties for the gardening
team. Lawns have had to be mowed all year round for the first time and the
machinery has struggled to cope with the volume of grass. Other plants such as
the garden's varieties of Hydrangeas have also not stopped growing.
It was a similar story across the South-west. In Devon, hundreds more varieties
were logged. The National Trust believes the 93 per cent increase in flower
varieties it found showed that an earlier and warmer spring has arrived. The
variety of flowers has convinced them to start opening many of their gardens.
Ian Wright, the head gardener at Trengwainton, conceded the survey was more
anecdotal than rigorously scientific but the findings reinforced what many
horticulturalists have been observing. "We have only seen one significant frost
over the winter and spring is already here," he said.
According to the Met Office this winter, of 2006/7, looks set to be one of the
mildest on record.
Already flowering
* Primula vulgaris: the primrose, a perennial spring flower, is a much-loved
harbinger of the warmer weather. Often found in woodland
* Callsitemon citrinus: Bottle brush are dense cylindrical flowers carried on
the end of willowy branches. It was introduced from South Africa plant and
flourishes in the heat
* Clianthus puniceus: The lobster claw or parrot's bill, from New Zealand,
usually grows against a wall
* Tibouchina urvilleana: Glory bush comes from Brazil and requires greenhouse
conditions in the UK. It is in bloom in Antony and Glendurgan in Cornwall.
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