You may be mistaken for thinking this photo of a beautiful little bee bottom in an open rhododendron flower was taken in the spring. It was taken last Sunday, the 20th November.

There are probably about 20 fully open flower-heads on this particular rhododendron and the primroses underneath it are also in full flower.

Normal flowering time for both of these would be the spring, although primroses can flower as early as January. But not November.

Many other spring-flowering shrubs and plants are in flower now too – alongside the holly in full berry and autumn leaves still clinging to their hosts.

Obviously it is all down to the unseasonal (I refuse to use the already over-used word, ‘unprecedented’) weather we are having – plants are simply confused.

The three main reasons plants flower this early are, that the hours of daylight and darkness are very similar to what they are in the spring, when these plants normally bloom.

Also, after a particularly dry summer, the recent heavy rains are similar to what we would get in the spring. And of course, the days are warm but the nights are cool – again, resembling spring weather.

So basically all the external factors, light, rainfall and temperatures are all indicating that it is spring and the plants are reacting accordingly.

The shame is that buds that flower now won’t flower again in the spring, only the buds that stay closed through the winter will. And that may well restrict flowering displays next year.

I have been stocking up on unusual seeds to send in my Christmas cards this year.

There are some great novelty seeds available, including an intriguing range from www.jungleseeds.co.uk

The Toothache Plant (or Electric Daisies) is grown as an ornamental plant and also for it’s medicinal qualities. Eating a whole flower bud apparently tastes a little grassy but then results in a strong tingling or numbing sensation earning it its common name. It would be grown as a tender annual here in the UK.

Or what about Squirting Cucumber – bound to be a favourite for young green fingers. The fruits of (the inedible) Ecballium elaterium explode to the touch when ripe, squirting out a thick gooey mess of seeds.

For the ‘more mature’ gardeners, try the Jersey Cabbage or Giant Walking Stick Kale. This novelty vegetable can reach over 6ft tall with a cluster of edible leaves at the top. At the end of the season the stems can be cut and polished to make a walking stick.

Jungle Seeds also offer seeds to grow your own tea and coffee, a wide range of ornamental gourds, and plants that move. The Telegraph Plant (Desmodium gyrans) is a really unusual plant with small lateral leaflets which rotate on their axes and jerk up and down early in the morning as the sun warms the plant to around 22°C.

Patience may be needed to observe this phenomena but the plant is easy to raise from seed and soon makes a small shrub in a warm greenhouse.

Alternatively you could just send a ‘seedy’ card.

The Seed Card Company have a great range of every-occasion cards, Christmas cards and gift tags, which are made from ‘seed card’, which is a 100 per cent biodegradable seed-embedded card which you can ‘plant’ after displaying, to produce it’s own display of wildflowers.