Tim Perry writes

K;813425 Wrote:
I thought I'd start the usual autumn 'things flowering at the wrong
time

of year' thread. (Actually, I know someone has already started that
with
the twice-flowering Magnolia).

Anyway:
About a week ago, my water lilies finally started flowering - on the
same day as the first of the Cyclamen hederifolium.

The day before yesterday, I picked my first Viburnum bodnantense.

And the indoor jasmine which scented our porch in April, and which I
put
outside for the summer, is about to open its flowers again.

Finally - one of our Clematis alpinas is in full bloom again, but I
think that's usual, isn't it?

Hello Kay, Do you know what causes this out of season blooming ?
Has anyone come up with any likely explanations ?
I know it may sound a little strange ( I've been called worse ), but I
find this very interesting. Does anybody do anything to deliberately
cause this to happen, and if so, what ?

I don't do anything (though professionals tinker with things to alter
blooming times for flower shows). Presumably it's all to do with the
natural triggers. For instance, something flowering in the spring may be
triggered by a period of short days (and will be relatively unaffected
by weather). But another spring flowerer my be triggered by a long wet
spell, in which case after this summer it's thinking spring is half way
through! Or it may be temperature that triggers flowering (I think I
read that cymbidiums are triggered by a 20 deg between night and day
temperatures), or a long dry period (which is why some bulbs like to be
baked in the summer).

Water lilies like warmth and sun - and I've had a bit of an over-growth
of water forget-me-not which has kept the water below cool, and that,
added to having no sun, means the water lilies are late. The viburnum
starts in autumn, as does the cyclamen, so presumably both assume the
amount of rain we have had recently means it already *is* autumn.

I haven't a clue what the jasmine thinks it's doing!

I've bought quite a few things from Scotts Nursery in Somerset, and I've
found that over the first 2 or 3 years with me they've changed their
flowering period to cope with our late spring. For example, tayberries
which fruited in June in their first year have long since settled into
July-August fruiting. And that synchronisation is I think why my
wisterias were as good as ever this year, whereas the Devon-Cornwall
contingent were saying their's had been affected by late frosts.



--
Kay