Spring arrives officially

Spring begins on the Vernal Equinox, March 21, in the Northern Hemisphere, and at last it's here!

In recent decades season creep has been observed, which means that many phenological signs of spring are occurring earlier in many regions by a couple of days per decade. This year has been no different and many plants are now in flower that we would not have expected to see for weeks during my childhood. However, it is significant that this first morning we will have temperatures of 0C (32F) at 6am this morning. Welcome to spring.

The Claines Canna Collection is growing in the soil, protected and heated by polytunnels. About 30% of the plants are now shooting out sprouts, and there is a different smell in the tunnels, compared with mid-winter.

Several chores have to be performed in the next few weeks, the first being to spray the plants with a fungicidal health dose, we use Physan 20. This is billed as a bactericide, fungicide, viricide, and algaecide and we picked up the product from friends who collect and grow orchids, and who swear by it. We used it for the first time last year, and we had no problems, so another dose this year is called for. The other task is to remove all of the old dried stems, as the new young stems appear. The old stems were retained to provide support for the fleece covering and to act as a marker.

However,according to the Meteorological Office spring is already here.

It classes the first day of spring as 1 March, saying March, April and May are regarded as the spring months. But traditionally spring has started on the night of 20/21 March and a row has erupted over the official date.

"You would not regard the first three weeks of June as spring, yet historically summer does not start until 21 June," says a spokesman for the Met Office. "Equally, the bulk of people now regard 1 March as the first day of spring."

But disgruntled MPs are questioning "on whose authority" the date has been changed. This is a joke, they have no training or authority to decide when spring starts, but these dysfunctionals think that they should decide!

Spring forecast 2009

The Met Office in the UK have published their Spring weather predictions for Europe, which can be summarized as...

Rainfall

For the UK and much of northern Europe precipitation is likely to be average or below average.

In contrast, average or above-average rainfall is likely over southern Europe and the central Mediterranean.

What do we mean by average rainfall?

We base our average rainfall measurements on readings taken between 1971 and 2000. In the UK for March to May, this is 231.7 mm.

Temperatures

For the UK and western Europe spring this year is likely to be cooler than last year, with mean temperatures either near or below average.

In contrast, mean temperatures are likely to be near average or above average over much of eastern Europe.

What do we mean by average temperature?

As you would expect, temperatures are usually higher at the end of spring than they are at the start. So we take the average of the whole season and measure against that. The average for March–May from 1971–2000 is 7.4 °C.

Future updates

An update to the spring forecast will be issued at 10 a.m. on 25 March 2009.

A first outlook for summer 2009 will be issued at 10 a.m. on 31 March 2009.

Spring arrives early in UK

Spring is on the way, with Britons having enjoyed a weekend of sunny weather and forecasters predicting that the bitter, snowy conditions of the past few months are gone.

Much of the country basked in sunshine and unexpected warmth on Saturday with temperatures reaching a peak of 57F (14C) in Durham.

With daffodils, crocuses and snowdrops now in flower and farms reporting their first lambs of the year, it appears that the weather has finally turned.

A Met Office spokesman said that the mild conditions would continue for the next week, with no return to the blizzards and freezing weather that brought parts of the country to a standstill earlier in the month.

"The temperatures were not unusually high for this time of year; it's just that the weather has been so cold of late that it came as a pleasant change," he said.

"For the next week it will be a bit more mixed with a bit less sunshine but temperatures will remain mild and there will be no return to the wintry weather.

"There will be some wintry showers over the north of Scotland but nothing like what we have seen over the last few months."

The Met Office defines spring as beginning on March 1, although it officially starts on the night of March 20 into March 21, the vernal equinox, when the day and night are of equal length.

In the meantime many nurseries in the South West of England are counting the damages caused by the extended freeze, particularly amongst those specializing in palms and other tropical plants.

Temperatures in the polytunnel are rising and shortly we will know which Canna stock plants survived the winter. It is amazing how we are affected by sunshine, just a few warm days and so much negativity evaporates with anticipation of what is to come.

Getting ready for the spring

175 different cultivars huddled together in a polytunnel and starting to sprout new growth

At Claines Canna we are struggling a little to stay ahead of the weather. The collection is still happily growing in the ground protected by a polytunnel, and the beds in which they will grow have been cultivated, manured and not a weed in sight. That will soon change!

Meanwhile, the breeding programme has really suffered from last summers torrential rain storms, and months without sunshine. As a result of that we had so many of our new seedlings failing to flower last year. We normally expect to carry forward about fifty seedlings through into the next year, destroying those that are not up to standard. However, this year we have had to improvise, and we have 200+ large pots containing last years seedlings stacked three high in a 7 metre (21'9") long polytunnel. They are separated by wooden lathes to keep air circulating, but new growth is going to find it difficult! They have been protected from the winter by thermostatically controlled electric heaters and I dread to think what our electric bill will be for the winter months!

200+ seedlings from last year, stacked high and deep and starting to sprout new growth!

Some of the plants in the stacked pots are now starting to sprout new growth and it is obvious that while this strategy will get them through the winter, we are still in deep problems as they need space, and we dare not leave them outdoors until mid-May, when we can be comfortable that we will have no more frosts.

Luckily, we partner with Keith and Christine Hayward at Hart Canna, and they are coming to our rescue next weekend with their giant white van. Keith has offered to grow at their nursery as many of last years seedlings as we can load in the van and we can, of course, visit them to see how they progress, and Keith has also offered to send us photographs and his opinions as well. So, our year has been rescued, and we can now also look forward to starting some new seedlings from previous years, plus seeds sent to us from several other of our Canna friends. Thanks to all of you, you know who you are.

Gardeners are always optimistic, and we are looking forward to a superb year, where all the travails of last year will be eclipsed by superb growing conditions and our Cannas will amaze us with superb growth!