In mid-December, reader D.B. of Millinocket wrote: “A friend of mine in Augusta was out hunting a couple weeks ago, and found the raspberry bushes starting to leaf out. His daffodils are up about 3 inches. Another friend in Medway has forsythia bushes starting to show yellow blossoms. Will this kill the spring blossoms? Then maybe spring has sprung.”

Interesting question, indeed, since this phenomenon has occurred for several years in many parts of Maine. It brings to mind a quote from Karel Capek in a 1931 publication, “The Gardener’s Year.” “Odd as it may seem, a gardener does not grow from seed, shoot, bulb, rhizome or cutting, but from experience, surroundings and natural conditions.”

The past few years have, in some ways, been a study in what the weather should not be doing during the months of November and December. After a very brief period of dormancy in autumn, some perennials and shrubs have resumed growth, shooting stiff, tightly clustered leaves upward through warmed soil or sprouting tender leaves from plump buds on woody stems.

While unnatural, this can be understood in scientific terms. Plants respond to the natural environment around them. They respond to environmental factors such as temperature, moisture and sunlight. In terms of breaking their winter dormancy – moving from a state of relative lifelessness to re-emerging growth – plants don’t necessarily know whether or not the physical calendar has turned to April. They simply respond to environmental factors that seem April-like.

Dormancy provides a periodic state of rest for plants. Although gardeners use the term “die-back” to describe the decline of perennials in fall, plants aren’t technically dead during winter. Throughout the cold and apparently lifeless winter months, plants are still living, their metabolic activity slowed to a minimum. The combination of reduced temperatures and declining day length in fall are the chief causes of dormancy in plants.

The term dormancy refers to the state of plants as they await the initiation of new growth in spring. It is also used to describe the state of seeds as they await germination. During dormancy, plants and seeds aren’t as inanimate as they may appear. In this state, the leaves and buds of evergreens still “breathe,” metabolize and function, albeit at a severely reduced rate compared to the warmer months. Deciduous plants drop their leaves in autumn and bear special inactive buds throughout winter. Seeds of many plants that grow in northern or temperate zones undergo a dormant period in winter that allows them to survive sustained temperatures below freezing.

Distinctive chemical and physical changes occur in the cells of plants and seeds that allow them to resist winter and the extreme environmental conditions that may occur during the season. But if the weather is unexpectedly warm at a time when it should be cold, plants and seeds may awaken from their slumber and begin to grow.

Now, to answer D.B.’s question – will breaking dormancy in autumn compromise spring’s blooms? In short, only time will tell. Some plants – the daffodils for example, probably will successfully resume some semblance of dormancy and bloom in spring. Their flower buds most likely are still tucked deep within the protective covering of the bulb. They may not bloom with their usual zeal, but chances are they are hardy enough stock that they will bloom despite their out-of-season leaf bud-break.

As for shrubs, while many produce flower buds in autumn, others hedge their bets against nature’s extremes by waiting until spring to initiate buds. Spring’s blooms may be jeopardized for those that produce buds in autumn and break dormancy too early in winter. Those that form buds in spring will in some ways be protected from unusually warm weather in winter – they will commence in spring as usual.

As Capek wrote, observing the changes in plants that result from the surroundings and natural conditions of the garden are often the best source of education for the gardener. If these are the education, then time and patience are the test we take and the price we pay to see what will and won’t survive the forces of nature on our little plot of earth.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, RR1, Box 2120, Montville 04941, or e-mail them to dianagc@ctel.net. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.