Learning

This winter has been the coldest in 30 years - so our flowers have opened much later than usual.  Our first crocus was recorded in Murch Junior School on the 14th of February and our 1st daffodil also at Murch on the 17th of February. 

Since then many more have opened across the country. Study the maps and graphs to find out more. http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/1719/

Finally, this week the daffodils in my garden have produced their buds and hopefully should be ready to open soon! They seem a lot shorter than in previous years. We will study the records to see if this is a trend this year.

Many thanks

Professor Plant

Mystery bulb No.1 Can you guess what it is?

Mystery bulb No.2 Can you guess what it is?

22/3/2010 Daffodils in Cardiff. Sent in by Mr. Alun Jones

In early December we looked forward to an early spring but then the cold weather slowed everything down. Now, with temperatures slowly rising, school scientists are reporting new signs of spring across Wales! My shoots have also started to come through!

In Pentrepoeth Junior School, Swansea. Pupils were very excited to find crocus, daffodil and mystery bulbs peeping through the soil. They were surprised how some of their shoots varied in size and love recording the temperature and rainfall.

On the really Welsh farm, in Bridgend. Farmers have finally started picking daffodils and sending them out across South Wales. They report: 'Still not huge volumes really, we are extremely disappointed at how slow the daffodils are growing this year. We are about 5 weeks behind for the earliest varieties and are keeping our fingers crossed that we will have plenty of daffodils for St.Davids Day'.

• Win a trip to a really Welsh farm
• Daffodil Drawing Competition
• Newsletter
• Investigation ideas

Professor Plant's bulb blog:

20/02/10 My crocus opened today! First the flower bud appeared, then when the sun came out at lunch time - the flower popped open. The colours were amazing, bright purple petals and bright orange anthers & stigma.  It's so nice to finally have some colour in the garden. Later in the afternoon, when the sunshine disappeared the flower closed again. I'll upload my pictures tomorrow. Does your crocus do this? Why not try out some of my investigation ideas. See link below.

15/02/10 Both my daffodil and crocus shoots have started to come through. They are no taller than 2cms which is quiet small for this time of year. In 2008, when the winter was mild my crocus flowers had already opened and the daffodils were 11cms tall!

Which shoot is which? The daffodil shoots have smooth curved, light green tips. They are much broader than the crocus tips. The crocus shoots have narrow pointed shoots that normally appear in clusters of five. They have dark green edges - making them look slightly stripey.

Crocus - 13/02/10

Daffodil 10/02/10

Daffodil 10/02/10

25/01/10 Pentrepoeth Junior School, Morriston, Swansea.

Crocus - 10/02/10

How the weather has changed since my last blog. Just before Christmas, we were reporting on the warm wet weather and how the bulbs had started to grow early as a result.

Since then, temperatures have dropped and snow has fallen all over the country! Most schools have been closed and our young scientists have had the chance to play in the snow. For schools that have been open, it’s been difficult to record, with many reports of ‘frozen thermometers’ or bulbs deep below the snow.

So what does all this cold weather mean for our bulbs, farmers and global warming?

For the bulbs: If your bulb started to grow before Christmas, it will probably still be the same height today. In other words, it will have stopped growing – until it gets warmer again. Some plants may be damaged by the frost and as a result may not flower – but most should be ok.

Farmers from the Really Welsh farm reported: ‘We should have started picking the earliest variety of Daffodils already and they are normally out in the supermarkets by now. If you look at the picture taken on the farm – you will see that they are nowhere near ready for picking. 

The daffodils that were a week or two ahead at the end of November have not grown at all since before Christmas. This is because Daffodils need temperatures of above 6 degrees in order to grow. If this weather continues we will not have any daffodils for a few weeks.’

Is global warming still happening? You could be forgiven for questioning if our planet is warming when it’s so cold outside, but sadly the overall temperature of our planet is still set to rise as carbon dioxide levels continue to increase.  Global warming is about the overall temperature of the planet rising. There will always be some colder winters and hotter summers – that’s a natural variation. But when we look at the average temperature of the planet over the last century it is definitely rising and scientists are in no doubt it will continue to rise.

For Wales, global warming doesn’t mean more sunshine, but warmer and wetter summers and more erratic weather like flash floods and gales.

Daffodils from Taiwan. Here is a picture sent to us from Chao-mei an environmental teacher based in Taiwan. She says: Hello, Professor Plant, Do you know the daffodils have bloomed in Taiwan? It reminds me of the beautiful UK spring. I have shown children in Taiwan how to keep a nature diary by looking at your blog. It’s very helpful. I teach children at the Cheng-long Wetland Education Centre and this is our blog page, it’s only in Chinese sorry.

Feed the birds. Visit our woodland blog to see pictures of St.Fagans wildlife in the snow. Plus find out how to help your garden birds to survive this winter or take part in the Big Schools' Birdwatch.

Many Thanks

Professor Plant

Merry Christmas Bulb Buddies!

So many of you have reported sightings of new shoots and it's not even Christmas yet! This week my shoots have appeared too, they are about 2cm tall -see my picture.

This autumn is much warmer than last years. The average temperatures in Wales for October and November are almost 1.5 degrees warmer than they were in 2008. As a result, many daffodils have started growing already. Farmers from the Really welsh farm reported: "We too have lots of daffodil shoots coming through, the warm, wet weather should mean that our daffodils will be ready for the shops in the spring. The flowers may open a few weeks earlier than last year".

If we get a frosty spring next year, this could damage some of the daffodils that have started growing. These Daffodils are very tough though - so they still should produce beautiful flowers. It will be interesting to see if the early shoots grow into early flowers. Watch this space...

Thanks to all of you young scientists who are keeping such accurate weather records - they are really useful to help us understand what is going on with our seasons and nature. Please let us know here if you see any other plants growing early.

Don't forget! This week hundreds of scientists and world leaders are getting together in Copenhagen to make a deal to help save the planet. It's being called one of the most important meetings in the world! See newsround for the latest and let me know what you think.

Next week, is the last week for recording before Christmas - then you all can enjoy your holidays.

Have a fantastic Christmas!

Professor Plant

With the arrival of strong winds and heavy rain over the last week or so I am preparing myself for the end of autumn and the imminent arrival of winter. It’s a shame to say goodbye to the mild autumn we’ve been having, I’m going to miss the many warm hues on display amongst the trees of St Fagans. But farewell it must be, as the sudden blast of heavy weather has stripped the trees of their finery and left the leaves gathering in thick layers upon the ground.

Despite this brutal de-glamorisation, trees are to be the focus of my activities over the next few weeks as we celebrate National Tree Week. During the last weekend of November we will be looking at the many different types of tree at St Fagans and finding out the best way to identify them by looking at leaf, seed, bark and bud. The RSPB will also be with us, running activities that highlight the importance of trees to our native birds. Incidentally the bird cam at St Fagans is pretty busy at the moment and you can follow the action via my twitter page

And if you’ve ever wanted to be a world record holder why not join us on Saturday the 5th of December for Tree O’Clock? We will be attempting to set a new Guinness world record for planting the most trees in one hour in collaboration with BBC Breathing Places. And if you enjoy getting into the festive spirit why not stay on and make sustainable Christmas decorations from the Hedgerow at T? Gwyrdd?

Sustainable Christmas will also be the theme of my activities at the ever popular Christmas nights on the 9th, 10th and 11th of December. Be sure to bring a torch and warm clothes as it can get pretty cold here at night!