Spring flowers face extinction after blooming in autumn puts them at risk of frost

Across the land, the most unlikely little flowers are poking their way up into the grey December light as another year of chaotic weather convinces them that spring has arrived.

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After seeing primroses in Sussex, daffodils in Devon, crab apples in Nottingham and wild strawberries in Cardiff, gardeners probably suspected that bluebells and snowdrops would not be waiting for February to bloom. They were right.

Confused by the warmest April on record, a cold, wet summer and a mild autumn, many plants are flowering early.

The Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, which monitors 100 plant species, said at least three quarters were appearing earlier each year.

"This year we have lilacs, which are supposed to flower in May, coming into life in November. Our camellias, another spring flower, have also already bloomed," said spokesman Nigel Taylor.

Unseasonal blooms are extremely vulnerable to the hard frosts.

"Last year our horse chestnuts came into life too soon and resulting damage meant the buds didn't grow back, come spring the branches were bare," said Mr Taylor.

Guy Barter, of the Royal Horticultural Society, said many plants could waste their chance to pollinate by blooming out of season.

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He said: "On some occasions the flowers have shot their bulbs, whereby they use up all the flowering buds available, and they won't blossom again. It may be bad news for gardeners come spring and summer when very few or even none of their flowers comes into life.

"What is really exercising people though is whether this will happen in the wild flower species. Bluebells in particular are timed to flower in synch with the arrival of trees leafing overhead and providing shelter. If they start coming in without that shelter, the plants will die without spreading their pollen."

According to the UK Phenology Network, which monitors the annual patterns of wildlife, some species could vanish over the next few decades as Britain increasingly takes on a Mediterranean climate.

Dr Tim Sparks, of the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology at Monks Wood, Cambridgeshire, said: "Plants are becoming confused and disturbed by the warmer autumns and we are seeing it year on year.

"My colleague has recorded the patterns of yellow- flowering aconite since the 1960s. When she started the annual bloom would occur at the end of January, now they are flowering in early December and we are seeing advances in blooming patterns in the majority of species now.

"Although we are seeing these changes predominantly in the south and urban areas, it will inevitably creep north and it is species which enjoy colder weather, such as the mountain flowers, which will suffer.

"What we need to do is look at the south-west of France and the species they have there - that's the sort of climate and countryside we can expect in the future."