What's "bloomin" in Britain?
 

Leaving for Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales)in a week-will be there till the end of April-I'm a garden lover and would love to visit some of the fabulous gardens-All my daffodils are in full bloom(Chicago area-about 2 weeks early)-So what can I expect in Britain?-Love,from a flower child

Look out for bluebells in the woods. Should be good at the end of April. Global warming is destroying their life cycle so see them while they are hot

Try keeping an eye on

http://www.kewgardens.org/events/index.html

http://www.ngs.org.uk/gen/garden_finder.aspx

We were in Bodnant the weekend before last and the daffodils were in full bloom then. There are still plenty of daffs about and cherry blossom and magnolias flowering at the moment. Blue bells will be out in a few weeks, early azaleas and rhododendrons are starting to flower. Last weekend was gloriously sunny and it realy felt like spring had sprung.

Bulbs are about on their normal timetable, so most of the early spring show will have gone over by the emd of April. However, the relative warmth has brought some early butterflies out, so you may see more of them than you'd expect in an English May.

Tree blossoms are close to a month ahead of normal, so they'll have gone too and you'll miss what's often a pleasant part of early May. Trees and hedges are about on normal schedule, so you'll be getting that nice green first sprouting.

Above all, the hosepipe ban in much of Southern England has been repealed after an exceptionally wet start to the year. So you won't be seeing the parched patches we had last year.

In my part of southeast England, daffodils are still everywhere but almost done. Azaleas and magnolias have started. Some tulips are starting to come out. All the rapeseed fields should be turning yellow in a few weeks too.

We drove from Bristol to Weymouth today and saw several fields of bright yellow oil seed rape. Here the daffoldils are virtually over, and the magnolias are probably just passed their best. The flowering cherries have started, and the hedgerows are bright green.

I'm depressed. I live in Minnesota in far northern US. There is light snow blowing around outside. The grass is starting to green up, but that's about it. Not even a crocus yet.

BTW, it's not just flora.

The lambs are at their gambolling peak right now in the Cotswolds, leaping about in that uncertain way they keep up for a few weeks, and confusing the poor flannerpooch who can't understand why he's not allowed to play with them.

They'll have matured and steadied a bit by the time you're in southern England. But they're usually a few weeks behind on high ground and in Scotland, so you should be seeing lots of the giddy leapers

Definitely go to Kew and Wisley is lovely too but everything is early this year! We were in the UK in February and were stunned to see cherry blossom, carpets of crocuses and daffodils about to bloom. My family have reported that their magnolias have reached their peak already.