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

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.

Each week I will be uploading new pictures of my plants - as they grow. Please e-mail your own plant pictures to me.

Weekly updates:

23/03/09 Throughout this week all of my daffodils have opened. They are all standing proudly in my garden, the tallest measures 35cms in height. Many more of you have reported your daffodil flowers opening this week and finally your crocuses have opened too! See the and to compare other schools with your own. This is the last week for recording temperatures and rainfall - so please send in all your records before the Easter holidays then I will send you your certificates on the 5th of April.

17/03/09 My 1st daffodil opened today!

13/03/09 This week my daffodils have grown lots. I'm sure they will flower over this weekend! So far, the findings this year are very interesting. All schools are reporting that daffodils are coming before the crocus - which is very unusual and has not happened before in this study! Also, all our flowers seem to be around three weeks later than usual, which has also been reported by the Really Welsh farmers! But why?...

The cold weather this winter has meant that our bulbs were exposed to frost. Frost can slow down a flower's development or even damage a flower and prevent it from flowering. Bulbs in pots are particularly vulnerable.

But why did most of the crocus come later than the daffodil? In short, the frost had a more damaging affect on the crocus because the bulbs are smaller and not so tough. The frost also came at a bad time for the crocus when it was almost ready to flower.

04/03/09 Lots of my crocus flowers have appeared and my daffodils are beggining to shoot up too. I took some close-ups of the crocus flowers today because they look so pretty - covered in dew drops.

I've studied the average flowering dates for this year and see that in many schools it is the daffodils that have opened 1st. The crocus have only opened in two places - my garden and Burton School. Normally, it is the crocus that open 1st? Take a look at the and for yourself.

23/02/09 Today, my 1st crocus flower opened! Lots of other flowers have shot up too - but only one has actually opened. In the sunlight you can see through the petals to see the orange anthers inside. My daffodils have grown quite a lot this week, the tallest is now 18cms tall. See the - some daffodils have opened at Oakfield Primary School in Cardiff too! Have any of your flowers opened yet?

19/02/09 Hi Bulb buddies! Welcome back from your half term break. In my garden, things have really started to grow. What was a tiny green bud, has transformed into a beautiful purple flower. It's still not open yet - when it looks like this you should send your flowering date to the immmediately. Then a flower symbol will appear above your school on the and the average flowering date for your school will appear on the .

In , in Pembrokeshire one of their daffodils has already opened - unsually before the crocus. I'm going to be watching my Crocus everyday now so i can catch the flowering - I hope you can do the same!

10/02/09 The shoots are now 2-3cm tall. This is small for this time of year - because we have had such a cold spring. At this time last year the 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.

03/02/09 Snow everywhere today, even a bit in Cardiff! The shoots haven't grown much this week and now they are hidden under a blanket of snow.

Come back next week to see how much the plants grow.

Professor Plant