Signs of Spring ?

[Leigh]

I apologise to anyone still sitting in two foot of snow (and if this in the wrong place)

But in the past week i've had a bit of time out in the garden doing odd jobs as you do, i think they call pottering around and i've noticed

1) My cordy has flower spikes coming out of it's two heads ??
2) A Honysuckle coming into leaf
3) A Clematis coming into Leaf
4) Hostas poking new bud's up out the soil
5) A Flag Iris in growth even though the small pond it's in is frozen
6) The Frogs in the bigger pond are doing there thing
7) Seen two Ladybirds (Harlequin's unfortunately)

On my travels around the Town the crocuses are up in place's ( If you read this Nathan,take a look along Holbrook road near the Lake road roundabout) and the Magnolias are starting to come into Bloom and watched a few bird's popin in and out gap's in houses (maybe looking for nest site's ?)
All this even though average day time temps around 6 and night time temps hovering on around 0.

As Dave B said in my introduction post we do have a good micro climate down here in Pompey but with the weather we've had even i'm surprised that thing's are happening this fast ??
As i said in the begining Sorry if you are still suffering the white stuff but spring is on it's way (i hope )

[Dave Brown]

Cosham was about 3 weeks ahead of here in other years and Portsea Island is maybe earlier still. I'lll have a good look tomorrow to see what situation is here. I know the Brunnera 'Jack Frost' which surprised me by being evergreen, has numerous new shoots appearing now, so some plants don't care about temps, just lengthening days.

[delboy12]

came out of the house were iam working at huddersfield all the birds singing at dusk.bloody hell spring is coming looked over to the moors still snow on them maybe not yet but were getting there

[stephenprudence]

Last year I has coversation with one of the wagon drivers, as I worked on the back door with Tesco, and he said sometimes the leaves in Wirral can appear as early as three weeks ahead of Manchester way.

Of course if you live where you do and don't travel around much, you just assume your area is exactly the same as everywhere else.

some of the signs I've seen here:

Crocus in woodland, snowdrops in woodland
Daffodils and Narcissi bulbs poking their heads out
Daisies in clumps
Some deciduous bushes with leaf buds on
Trees swelling ready to produce lead buds
Some Camellia flowering
some early Rhododendrons flowering
early flowering Cherries out

Most of this is fairly typical of the time of year though, it's no earlier or different than it was in previous years.

[Jellybob]

Bluebells are coming up....small washy spear pulled today.

[Dave Brown]

When we went to Wisley at the end of Jan, there were loads of Camelia in flower. Seemed a bit odd as the ground and ponds were frozen. It was not an isolated plant. I always thought of Camelia as spring flowering as they are in my garden, but as there were masses of flowers it looks like they had been flowering for a couple of weeks at least

[stephenprudence]

Camellia flowers can literally pop out overnight Dave, given the right conditions, so they probably have been there for a few weeks.

The last 5 years Ness Gardens reported Camellias having flowered in January so maybe a bit behind this year but more in line with reality.

[Nick]

Daffs are coming up, that's the only sign of spring I've seen so far.

[Nigel Fear]

Some Camellia's do flower in winter as opposed to the ever popular spring flowering Camellia 'Japonica' types Dave, even as far back as November.

If interested, try Camellia Sasanqua's they have variants in similar colours to the spring ones, but flower from Autumn to winter.

[Hmm! must get one myself]

[Nathan]

I apologise to anyone still sitting in two foot of snow (and if this in the wrong place)

But in the past week i've had a bit of time out in the garden doing odd jobs as you do, i think they call pottering around and i've noticed

1) My cordy has flower spikes coming out of it's two heads ??
2) A Honysuckle coming into leaf
3) A Clematis coming into Leaf
4) Hostas poking new bud's up out the soil
5) A Flag Iris in growth even though the small pond it's in is frozen
6) The Frogs in the bigger pond are doing there thing
7) Seen two Ladybirds (Harlequin's unfortunately)

On my travels around the Town the crocuses are up in place's ( If you read this Nathan,take a look along Holbrook road near the Lake road roundabout) and the Magnolias are starting to come into Bloom and watched a few bird's popin in and out gap's in houses (maybe looking for nest site's ?)
All this even though average day time temps around 6 and night time temps hovering on around 0.

As Dave B said in my introduction post we do have a good micro climate down here in Pompey but with the weather we've had even i'm surprised that thing's are happening this fast ??
As i said in the begining Sorry if you are still suffering the white stuff but spring is on it's way (i hope )

Hi Leigh, nice to see another Portsmouth member on here (especially today after beating Saints 4-1, sorry Ade )

I guess you must be in the Tipner area then? I'm surprised you say it got to -6C where you are, as it dropped just below that up in Horndean where my Mum lives & I only dropped to -2.5C here in central Southsea Maybe you have a dodgy thermometer as your garden looks small & sheltered like mine...

I have noticed lots of signs of spring around here & two weeks ago I noticed Daffodils flowering in a couple of gardens in North End! It has been a very cold winter for here & certainly the most snow I can recall seeing in my lifetime too... Lets hope the last couple of winters are just a cold "blip" & we carry on with the mild winters n future...

[Nick]

you and all of us a like wish for that.Who knows whats in-store for us, in coming winters
nothing like these last two I hope :aha!: :aha!: when I saw the score last it was 1-0 turn my back while I do a job and all hell is let lose and it's 4-1 well done pompy.

[redsquirrel]

its getting lighter at night too,wont be long and i'll have an hour or so to phart about in the garden.

[Darlo Mark]

It's still cold up here-about 5-6 degrees although good spells of sunshine recently.
Day length is improving -almost 10 hours light now. Snowdrops are out and daffs are pushing up. Spring probably 3-4 weeks away.

[Nick]

Darren that maybe so but it's still to cold to be outside for more than 10 Min's

[redsquirrel]

i have a nice warm jacket and a hat nick.the more i get cleared up sooner,the less i will have to do later and maybe spend more of our weekends travelling around picking up bits to fill the gaps