SPRING in wintertime has given gardening experts a blooming headache in the town which claims to be the crocus capital of the North.

In about five weeks' time Harrogate should be holding its annual Crocus Sunday, a day designated for visitors to see millions of the flowers in full bloom around the town centre. The trouble is the flowers are putting on a blooming marvellous display in February and a quick rethink could soon be announced.

The town's parks chief Pat Kilburn, whose gardeners added 150,000 more bulbs last year to boost the display of several million around The Stray, said: "In all my years of gardening I have never known the crocus come out so early. Our problem is that if we do get some snow they could all be flattened."

But Mr Kilburn added: "We have not yet decided when to declare Crocus Sunday, but they're so beautiful at the moment there is nothing to stop visitors coming now".

The exceptionally early blooms, offering one of the biggest free floral shows around, are already putting a spring in the step of office workers. "Only today people have been telling me how the bright flowers cheer them up on the way to work", said Mr Kilburn, who aims to add thousands more bulbs to the displays for next year.

Meanwhile parks staff in Harrogate are set to start cutting the grass if the mild winter continues, but only a short back and sides in case winter returns.

Two years ago park officials in Leeds put the cat among the bulbs by declaring they won hands down when it came to displays of crocus. They claimed displays in Princes Avenue near the entrance to Roundhay Park topped even Harrogate.

But Harrogate responded by planting even more bulbs and declaring itself outright champion because their displays cover a much wider area around the fringes of the 200-acre Stray.

While Harrogate admits Leeds has done well with its displays experts agree that when it comes to the battle of the blooms the spa town still comes out on top, even when the displays are over a month early.

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