Catching autumn's early show

AFTER DEALING WITH OUR SCORCHING SUMMER, PLANTS ARE RACING TO REST

- DIARMUID GAVIN

IT’S always fun when gardening makes the news.

I recently got a call from a researcher on BBC Breakfast, where I occasionally contribute a word or two on all things green.

They were running a report on whether autumn was arriving early this year and wanted a bit of garden-based insight.

I was happy to oblige - camera tilted just enough to keep the weeds out of shotand ended up chatting live from the garden about one of our favourite national topics: the weather. But is autumn really creeping in ahead of sched ule? Let's take a look.

Have you been noticing conkers on the ground, hedgerows heavy with berries and leaves already beginning to glow gold and red?

Well, it's not in your imagination. Some plants are moving into autumn mode early this year, and the reasons are rooted in the story of the past few months.

Plants, just like people, react to stress. When the summer has been challenging, they sometimes close down certain parts of themselves early to conserve energy.

A dry start to the season, with warm spells that pushed growth on quickly, left some trees feeling the strain. Even when the rain returned, stress had already triggered that change towards autumn.

I've seen it in my own garden. I grow tree ferns, and earlier this summer some of the fronds shrivelled before their time.

The plant effectively stopped sending water and nutrients to them, sacrificing the older fronds so it could focus its energy on producing fresh new growth.