'Those plants are going to suffer': Vancouver's early blooms could be frozen off this week

Spring always comes early in Vancouver relative to the rest of Canada, but it doesn't usually bring flower blossoms just six days into the new year.

All around Metro Vancouver, buds and blooms can be seen on trees and shrubs this weekend.

According to Douglas Justice, associate director of the UBC Botanical Garden, the early flowering can be attributed not only to the historically warm December that just ended, but also to the broader weather pattern seen over the last several months.

"You might remember that in October we had a frost, and we actually had a fairly good period of cold in October, just before Halloween," Justice said. "That's pretty unusual for Vancouver. We normally don't get a frost until after Halloween."

He explained that most flowering plants begin developing their buds during the summer. The buds remain dormant through the fall and winter, and are triggered to bloom after a sufficient amount of "chilling," followed by sustained warmth.

Plants that met their "chilling requirement" in October have begun flowering as a result of sustained warm weather in December, Justice said.

"We can, you know, brag about that to our friends in Toronto, but the problem, of course, is that next week we're expecting a fairly cold period," he said.

Even if temperatures only drop to a few degrees below zero, that will be enough to "ruin" a lot of the flowers that are currently blooming, Justice said.

For plants that bloom multiple times, that's not necessarily a problem, he said. It's a different story for plants that only flower once.

"Those plants are going to suffer because they only have, sort of, one kick at the can, and those flowers are going to get frosted off," Justice said.

He added that most of the plants currently blooming are native to warmer climates and require less chilling before blooming than native species.

While weather patterns are becoming more unpredictable because of climate change, Justice said he was hesitant to describe this year's early bloom as a byproduct of the changing climate.

He described the weather pattern as a "classic" El Niño year, and said most plants are equipped to deal with it.

"For most plants, this change – that is, the cold weather (on the way) – is not going to affect the plants significantly," Justice said. "Most plants are adapted to being able to survive that kind of damage."