Leaves at a Surrey garden have changed colour “very early”, its chief horticulturalist has said.
Graham Alderton, head gardener at Winkworth Arboretum in Godalming, said the phenomenon has “been referred to as a false autumn”.
A tree would turn red or drop leaves early “due to the lack of water” to stop itself from dying, he said.
The UK’s summer in 2025 was the hottest on record and its spring was the driest in 50 years, according to the Met Office.
This was in line with evidence that summers are changing due to human-induced global warming.
Mr Alderton told BBC Radio Surrey that one tree on the site should have a “slight tinge of orange” but instead had a “good covering of dark red” leaves.
“I’ve not actually seen that happen before,” he added.
The gardener said that a different tree on the site, known for having “fantastic dark reds”, had “gone red probably about a month earlier” than expected.
“It started to drop its leaves because it’s been very, very dry this year,” he added.
A local doctor created Winkworth Arboretum – in Busbridge, Godalming – in the early 20th Century.
According to the National Trust, which owns the site, the landscape changes with the seasons and provides a “vibrant colour display” in autumn.
Mr Alderton estimated that the garden’s spell in autumn colours was “extended probably by about six weeks”.
The garden was also seeing large oaks “dropping limbs”, he said.
“You do generally get used to the way that things work” and when they happen, he added.
Other horticulturists have suggested autumn leaves will be brighter coloured in 2025 because of summer weather conditions.
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