Gardeners are experiencing one of the weirdest springs in living memory, say the organisers of Scotland's largest horticultural show.
George Anderson, a director of Gardening Scotland 2013, the annual flower show that takes place from May 31 to June 2 at The Royal Highland Centre, Edinburgh, says: “For the first time that most people will be able to remember, those plants that depend on soil warmth are going to start appearing at the same time as those that flower according to day length and the result is set to be some of the strangest flowering combinations that most of us will ever have seen.”
The gardening broadcaster said that to have snowdrops still in flower in mid April when leaves had only just started appearing on the hawthorn was almost unheard of.
“But it will only take a few days of good weather to get everything flourishing all at once and then spring will be spectacular.”
A similar spike in activity has already been seen in ticket sales for the gardening show itself.
Show organiser Martin Dare said: “When the weather picked up earlier this week we sold 800 tickets in just a matter of days when we would have expected to sell just a quarter of that number. There is a huge pent-up demand amongst gardeners to get out and start gardening and we are seeing that reflected in our numbers.”
Around 40,000 visitors and 400 exhibitors are set to take part in Gardening Scotland 2013, which is the biggest plant fayre in the country.
Also this year there will be show gardens, appearances by celebrity gardeners and the RHS Garden Theatre where experts will be giving advice on a whole range of gardening problems including how to cope with unpredictable weather conditions.
