Willow catkins already in bloom in Vantaa
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The warm winter continues to bamboozle plants in Southern Finland. For example in Vantaa willow catkins, which normally appear around Easter, were already in bloom on Sunday.
Professor Pertti Uotila, director of the Botanical Museum, University of Helsinki, is not unduly surprised, though he does characterise the willow catkins as "atypical for the time of year".
However, Uotila also points out that "there are always plants that go astray and believe it is spring, when a cold period is followed by a warmer one."
Blossoming does not always mean that the plant would be able to be pollinated, however, Uotila continues.
According to Uotila, plants blossoming or going green in the middle of the winter are not a rarity.
"There are weed-type plants – such as viola and chickweed – the growth of which stalls when it gets cold and continues when the weather warms up again."
Uotila points out, though, that there are not too many varieties behaving this way. The dormancy of most plants is dictated not only by the temperature but above all by the amount of light.
Snowfall in the south last week proved a false dawn for the winter here, as it all melted away in a couple of days and we returned to the sort of above-freezing temeperatures that marked the post-Christmas period.
The way things are going, the winter of 2008 does not look like being very different from the record-short one - just forty days - experienced a year ago, when golfers often outnumbered skiers at this time of year.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 14.1.2008 - TODAY |
 Willow catkins already in bloom in Vantaa |
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