British gardeners have been left concerned after spotting a number of flowers that have come into bloom far too early in December with many attributing it to climate change
Alan Johnson Social News Reporter
12:47, 22 Dec 2025Updated 12:47, 22 Dec 2025
Gardeners in the UK have expressed concerns over premature blooming (stock)(Image: Mint Images via Getty Images)
British gardeners have voiced their astonishment after spotting a remarkably peculiar sight for this season. Among them is George Cook, who turned to TikTok to showcase the spectacle unfolding in his own garden, where daffodils and pink blooms were already blooming under the winter sunshine by December 20.
“This isn’t normal,” he said in his footage. Indeed, the Royal Horticultural Society states that daffodils typically spend months establishing their root systems before the blossoms emerge, generally appearing between February and May. Yet with such a temperate December so far, it seems these spring beauties have been coaxed from the ground prematurely, thriving in mild conditions averaging between seven and 10 degrees Celsius.
Another gardener posted on TikTok on the same date while putting up festive decorations, confessing her amazement at discovering daffodils sprouting as well. “I’m putting some Christmas lights out in my garden and let me show you what I have just found,” said Rach in her clip. “This is crazy.”
Rach proceeded to focus on a container positioned outside her home. “The daffodils are up – I’m sure it’s normally late January you start to see these,” she added. “I’m not complaining, but I just hope they last until spring.”
Rach also pointed out that her trees had begun showing buds already. “We have had such a mild winter and the weather is thinking that spring has sprung early,” she concluded. “I have never seen daffodils up this early before.”
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George’s video sparked a flurry of TikTok users voicing their fears surrounding climate change, one of whom wrote: “How anyone can see daffodils bloom in the middle of winter and deny climate change is beyond me. It’s like looking out the window, seeing a hurricane, and saying to yourself ‘I’m fine, this is fine, I’m sure it won’t kill me’.”
A second person shared: “I saw a bumblebee happily flying around on Thursday. Like you say, this isn’t normal.”
A third added: “My petunias are still blooming and I had strawberries till the end of last month, it’s 100 per cent definitely the warmest winter we’ve ever had.”
While a fourth TikTok user expressed: “I’m a full-time gardener and it has been a struggle this autumn/winter to see what is happening every single day before my eyes, the bulbs, the buds, the bees, the butterflies. It’s lovely but it’s not normal. It is so, so sad.”
According to a recent study by Cambridge University, climate change is causing plants in the UK to flower a month earlier on average compared to previous decades and centuries. Using a citizen science database with records dating back to the mid-18th century, researchers found the effects of climate change are causing plants in the UK to bloom one month earlier due to recent global warming.
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The study revealed: “The researchers based their analysis on more than 400,000 observations of 406 plant species from Nature’s Calendar, maintained by the Woodland Trust, and collated the first flowering dates with instrumental temperature measurements.
“They discovered that the average first flowering date from 1987 to 2019 is a full month earlier than the average first flowering date from 1753 to 1986. This period aligns with the rapid global warming caused by human activities.”
The report further explained: “While the first spring flowers are always a welcome sight, this earlier flowering can have consequences for the UK’s ecosystems and agriculture. Other species that synchronise their migration or hibernation can be left without the flowers and plants they rely on – a phenomenon known as ecological mismatch – which can lead to biodiversity loss if populations cannot adapt quickly enough.”
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