Bloom count indicates late spring

Cotehele was one of seven sites to take part in the count

Gardeners in Cornwall's National Trust properties have, for the first time, carried out a count of all plants which are flowering at their seven sites.

The trust intends to do the count on the same day every year to see if the county's climate is changing.

National Trust gardeners counted 789 plants in flower, including camellias, fuchsias and mimosas.

Although it is the first count, trust gardeners say spring is later this year for the first time in over a decade.

'Slowest spring'

Barry Champion has been head gardener at Trelissick, near Truro, for 27 years.

He said this has been a hard winter with a number of frosts slowing the plants' flowering.

"This must be the slowest spring for about 10 to 12 years, but one that harks back to the traditional timing of spring," he said.

"This means that our gardens in Cornwall should be full of colour, from about mid-March."

As well as Trelissick, six other gardens took part in the count: Antony, near Torpoint; Cotehele, near Saltash; Glendurgan, near Falmouth; Lanhydrock, near Bodmin; Trerice, near Newquay; and Trengwainton, near Penzance.