Blooming Early or Blooming Late

You may have noticed, like many folks, that spring flowering plants haven't given up yet.  Plants like forsythia, lilacs and even iris are blooming this fall.  We can normally blame premature flowering on low rain fall summers followed by wet falls. However that is not the case in this year.  My theory was confirmed after talking to Dr. Rick Durham (our ornament plant specialist at UK) that this premature or late blooming is a result of a wetter and cooler October followed by a warmer and dryer November.  October set the stage for a light dormancy period which was easily broken by our beautiful November weather.  The take home message is we can't really do anything about the situation.  We should hope to see temperatures moderate back to seasonal without any sudden moves down in temperature.