City flower blooms early due to warmer winter
Two magnolia trees at Shanghai Botanical Garden have flowered, the earliest they have since the 1980s, because of warm temperatures this winter.
Magnolia usually blooms in Shanghai in early March, and other magnolia trees at the garden are expected to flower soon, seven to 10 days earlier than last year.
The warm climate this winter and rising temperatures during the early Spring Festival holiday advanced the flowering, Wang Yuqin, a botanist at the garden in Xuhui District, said.
However, the current temperature drop and continuous rainfall may slow the pace a little bit, Wang added.