The very mild temperatures through most of November seem to have caused a lot of plants to keep on growing (my lawn still needs mowing) and even to put out new shoots as if spring had arrived. The picture shows new shoots on a Mahonia, and my Buddleia is a riot of fresh new leaves. But I wonder if this could be damaging to the plants – putting their energies into new growth when they should in fact be storing it up to survive the winter?

Marks & Spencer seem to agree that it's nearly spring as they're introducing their spring clothing lines in 4 weeks, so they told me in store yesterday. Winter hasn't even begun yet, so it's not just the plants that are skipping it.