Blog: Learning

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!

Pupils from Oakfield Primary School  asked: 'When will the bulbs sprout?'

Normally, I would say 'nothing much will happen until after Christmas', but some bulbs have already decided to pop up through the soil!

Pupils from Pentrepoeth Junior School reported: 'We were very surprised to find the shoots and we have now noticed a few more in our flowerbeds. I am attaching a photo for you to see.'

From studying the photograph, although I can't be 100% sure, they certainly look like daffodil shoots. Compare my photograph from last year - what do you think?

Please leave a comment if you see any early shoots or email any photographs to scan@nmgw.ac.uk

Many Thanks, Professor Plant

National Museum Wales is working with 3,600 young scientists to investigate and understand climate change.

Over the past few weeks bulbs and pots have been delivered to schools and home educators all across Wales - ready for the big planting day on the 20th October. Some schools have sent in some lovely pictures and reported on how excited the children are to be taking part.

From now until the end of March 2010 each young scientist will be recording the weather and flowering dates of their Daffodil and Crocus bulbs as part or a long-term study looking at the effects of temperature changes on spring bulbs.

The study started in 2005, and will hopefully continue for many years to come. To see the results so far or to sign up for next year please visit

Each pupil will work through Professor Plant's tasks to be awarded a Super Scientist Certificate and the most dedicated school will win a trip to the Really Welsh Daffodil Farm and Kenfig Nature Reserve. The Really Welsh company kindly donated all the daffodils for this experiment - which are grown in good Welsh soil at Kenfig, near Bridgend.

Watch this blog to see some of the schools reports & observations - or watch the picture diary in the spring.

If you are taking part and would like to send Professor Plant a question - then please get in touch. Professor Plant would love to hear from you.