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Cherries and magnolia have been in bloom for around 3-4 weeks. Camellia, laurel, buddleia and rosemary are also in bloom now. Gorse (which you don't seem to have there) usually blooms around Dec-Jan. Smaller flowers such as crocus, daffodil, wild parsley and reseda have been flowering for the last 3-5 weeks.
I noticed you mentioned pampas grass in the picture thread; do people there consider it a subtropical plant as I always thought it was common to oceanic climates.
According to the USDA it is here, but I have never seen it. I know it is heavy on the coast of Oregon and Washington though.
I wouldn't take it as an indicator of "subtropical" as it is pretty cold hardy down to around 0F. Looks far more like a conifer than a broadleaf evergreen.
Gorse is native to central and western Europe and the British Isles, where it is an important component of native heathland vegetation (see Habitat Types and Plant Communities) ([37,45,70] and references therein). Gorse also occurs on abandoned farm land and disturbed forests in parts of its native range ([70] and references therein). Introduced to the eastern U.S. as an ornamental and hedge plant in the early 1800s, gorse established outside cultivation by 1900 [49,50]. It now occurs along the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Massachusetts. Gorse was introduced as an ornamental in Oregon in the late 19th century, and has since spread widely in coastal areas from California to British Columbia and on 2 Hawaiian islands ([15,26,32,37,70] and references therein). It has been reported in the northern Sierra Nevada foothills and in every coastal county in California, from Santa Cruz to Del Norte, although sparingly in southern California [33,37]. Plants database provides a state distribution map of gorse.
Ours flowers throughout the year too, but only likes sandy soil. Our most common or well known invasive tree is probably the rhododendron, which carpets areas of woodland with small trees up to 5-6m tall.
Quite different to here, where gorse is not at all fussy about soil conditions, other than not liking wet feet.
Rhododendron don't spread around here and aren't a common plant. They are a bit of a problem in places like Dunedin and Invercargill though
Cherries and magnolia have been in bloom for around 3-4 weeks. Camellia, laurel, buddleia and rosemary are also in bloom now. Gorse (which you don't seem to have there) usually blooms around Dec-Jan. Smaller flowers such as crocus, daffodil, wild parsley and reseda have been flowering for the last 3-5 weeks.
I noticed you mentioned pampas grass in the picture thread; do people there consider it a subtropical plant as I always thought it was common to oceanic climates.
Basically your part of the UK never has what I consider real "winter". Your coldest avg temps don't happen here until March 8th in Spring, and in Autumn Dec 4th is when we avg colder than your coldest month avg temp of 41F.
Your winter is early Spring here, so it makes sense that so many things bloom in winter. From the garden forum I have learned the same thing happens in Portland, Seattle, etc. I was in Portland once in February and roses were in bloom along with camellias, etc. A lot more green than Philadelphia in Feb.
You need to post some more pics of how Spring is progressing in London. I do think you guys get a quicker jump on Spring than we do cause you just never get as cold in winter. That means your soil temps never get as cold and plants and trees react to the soil temps I think more than the air temps.
I put a couple of pics up the other day, but they seemed to get lost in between my Paris pics and some icy winter location in the Midwest. One of them was a street full of magnolias and cherries blossoming, with mostly evergreen plants in people's gardens. I'll try and take some pics of Eel Pie Island this weekend, as it's full of green.
Lol if you call that winter. When the PV sits over us I can assure you those temps are nothing like that. Are you sure the PV is sitting over the UK right now?
Lol if you call that winter. When the PV sits over us I can assure you those temps are nothing like that. Are you sure the PV is sitting over the UK right now?
Nice pics, wish I was there right now lol. The Tidewater region is definitely subtropical in my opinion. And Richmond certainly isn't Virginia Beach, it has more in common with DC, it doesn't look all that different from here. I began noticing a change around Williamsburg, seeing numerous windmill palms growing out in the open, I even saw a few healthy sago palms, but who knows if they receive protection or not, or if they're still alive.
I'll post some of the pics I have if anyone's interested.
Bro Richmond are NYC not the same. That's like saying Raleigh and Augusta ga or savannah ga are the same. Why do people who don't even live in the south want to paint a portrait of what it looks like. I have no clue why you have the notion that over the 300 mile distance between the 2 cities nothing changes. That's pretty absurd. Richmond is not DC either.
Bro Richmond are NYC not the same. That's like saying Raleigh and Augusta ga or savannah ga are the same. Why do people who don't even live in the south want to paint a portrait of what it looks like. I have no clue why you have the notion that over the 300 mile distance between the 2 cities nothing changes. That's pretty absurd. Richmond is not DC either.
Richmond and DC are less than 100 miles from each other, and it's likely that DC has warmer overnight lows than Richmond due to a stronger UHI. I'm sure the vegetation in Richmond and DC don't look too different. Hell, I bet DC and Charlotte aren't too different vegetation-wise.
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