Never noticed this before but several trees in the area have shed their leaves and are now beginning to flower and sprout fresh leaves.
I imagine this is a function of the unusual Summer we have experienced and wondered whether anyone had an insight, the only mention of it I can find was made in 1945 !!
A lot of the trees were left in a state of shock by the drought we had this summer and lost their leaves as a result
Now there is more water about and the air temperature is still relatively warm the poor things thinks it’s the start of spring
Hence lots of plants have had a 2nd flowering
Our front garden looks great at the moment because the plants have come back to life, they were pretty much dead in July/ aug
The back garden is still recovering though.
all the horse chestnut round here (SE London) have been hit with leaf blotch and were brown in the summer not because of the heat.
A tree surgeon said it was due to a fungus and that a few will be lost as they don’t get a chance to grow much before the leaves are shot, not seen any flowering or new growth but will certainly have a look.
My magnolia has recently flowered, 6 months early.
this thread reminded me of this graph, from a few years ago.
I'm sure it's fine.
I'm sure everything is fine.
FWIW, it's actually a leaf-mining caterpillar that's causing the widespread damage to sweet chestnut across most of Britain (and Europe).Originally Posted by MrSmith
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Unseasonal flowering in almost any plant can be a sign of extreme - possibly terminal - stress. With the combo of freakishly hot, dry summer weather and severe leaf damage, this might be those trees' literal last gasp, sadly.
A typical shock reaction of trees in a wet autumn after a summer drought. It’s a known phenomenon apparently.
Source: some bloke on the radio who sounded knowledgeable
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