Spring soon to be announced in Cornwall as champion Magnolias bloom

Six beautiful Magnolia trees in Cornwall are set to herald the start of the nation’s long-awaited Spring.

Blooms on the South West Peninsular start appearing a lot earlier than the rest of the UK mainland thanks to the warmer climate.

And six champion, giant Magnolia campbellii trees, situated in six of Cornwall’s greatest gardens, have become the country’s unofficial guide to the longed for changing of the seasons.

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They are being closely monitored by the estates’ head gardeners for any signs Winter is finally over. They and their teams will be carefully counting each new bloom and when every tree has more than 50, will announce that Spring has arrived in England.

Last year the Cornish Spring started on February 10 – well ahead of the clocks springing forward on March 26.

The trees were all planted between 1860 and 1976 and they will be showing off their brightly coloured blooms at Caerhays Castle Gardens; Trebah Garden; Tregothnan; Trewidden; Trewithen and The Lost Gardens of Heligan.

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The six gardens currently have their own bloomometers but the announcement will not be made until each tree has a minimum of 50 blooms. And people can follow the progress of the blooms and track the beginning of Spring on the Great Gardens of Cornwall website where there will be a running tally as each flower emerges.

Anyone who wants to be notified that the Magnolias have bloomed and ‘Spring has sprung’ should contact Onshore Media on 0207 873 2316 or email [email protected]

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Steve Ott

Steve Ott is editor of Kitchen Garden magazine and started his career as a professional grower, producing everything from cut flowers to vegetables. He has been growing fruit and veg all his life and spends most of his spare time in his garden in the East Midlands. He loves to experiment with crops and varieties he has never grown before and when he isn’t gardening is to be found out in the countryside bird watching and walking his dog Ted.