NATIONAL Trust gardeners in Cornwall will this morning start their eleventh annual Valentines Flower count.

The flower count has been conducted by National Trust gardeners and volunteers in Devon and Cornwall each February since 2006 and latterly extended across many of its South West gardens. It helps to provide an annual snapshot of the heralding of spring.

Gardeners and volunteers count the different species and varieties in bloom in their gardens. For example, if there are two plants of the same variety of camellia, then this is counted as one not two. The same rule applies to bulbs. A plant is counted if it is showing colour with one bloom.

Ian Wright, National Trust South West Gardens Advisor said: ‘Our annual flower count is a simple and fun way of recording how our garden plants react and adapt to changes in weather patterns, a kind ‘floral barometer’, it’s not a scientific exercise but it is a simple indicator of the weather we have experienced and the season ahead.

’This fun and slightly competitive count is something you can try in your own garden.’

For the third year running, The Trust will be conducting a survey with supporters via social media to find out which is the most popular spring flower. They have also been asking what’s currently blooming in gardens at the moment. All this information will help give an accurate prediction of spring.

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