Rupert (W.Yorkshire) wrote:

Thanks for bringing me back to reality.. IIRC last year we had a miserable
late spring so perhaps it's best to wait.

Rupert, last Feb was the worst of the winter months by far - here the
average was 2C. colder than December & January, which were themselves
rather colder than previous years. In most years February is the
coldest month or at least equal to the rest, so hold your horses,
especially that far north.

Some of the more exotic stuff
(for me) has hardly gone dormant and even some stored canna tubers are
starting to sprout. I know that further South (London area) some of the
exotic plant folk are reporting things growing that would have seemed
totally impossible in previous years.

Yes, all sorts of silly things are happening here as well, but if
previous years are anything to go by, the great 'leveller' could come
in a few weeks time. It doesn't do much to hardy plants apart from
stopping them in their tracks, but they get going again as soon as the
weather improves. However, the kind of plants that I prefer (and
presume you do too) are so badly hit that they take an age to resume
growth. Last year my Hedychiums started as normal, then we had several
weeks of bitingly cold winds. It brought them to a juddering halt and
there was no discernible growth until late May!