National Trust gardeners throughout Devon and Cornwall undertook the daunting task of counting the number of plants in bloom in the gardens, appropriately on St. Valentine’s Day.

With 3,335 plants counted the results show that spring has arrived even earlier in the far South West. This figure represents a 76 per cent increase on the total number of flowers in bloom reported in 2007.

© NTPL / Stephen Robson

This year the highest count was made at Trengwainton - the Trust’s most westerly garden in the UK - where 619 plants are in bloom today. This figure is more than three times the number recorded in 2006. Among the biggest increases discovered were at Lanhydrock, near Bodmin, where the number of flowering varieties increased by 203 per cent from 185 in 2007 to 561 in 2008, and at Killerton, near Exeter, where the figures increased by 216 per cent from 60 in 2007 to 190 in 2008.

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Gardeners have been carrying out the count annually since 2006. As year-on-year records build it will provide a record of when spring arrives in the South West and if the timing of the season changes.

© NTPL / Stephen Robson

This year the gardeners have commented particularly on the abundance of camellias that are in bloom, forming spectacular displays in Trust gardens all over the two counties. At Killerton a Californian Hybrid Iris was found in flower well ahead of its usual April / May flowering time. At Saltram the Magnolia Stellata, usually in bloom at the end of March, is currently in bloom as are a number of Epidemiums, usually flowering in April, and Wild Garlic, which usually flowers with the Bluebells in May. They were even surprised to find Myrtle and Hydrangeas coming into flower, well ahead of their usual June flowering.

Barry Champion, Head Gardener at Trelissick, commented:

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