ANSWERED: Plant anticipation of early/late season change

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weatherguesser Battle Ground, WA(Zone 8b) Sep 19, 2011

Do plants have some kind of early warning system to anticipate early/late season change? Some of my trees seem to be dropping leaves (London Plane, Birch, Liquidambar) or changing colors (Liquidambar) earlier this year than in past years. I understand that plants sense the regular rhythms of the seasons, but can they sense, in advance, when those rhythms are going to be shifted? By the way, I live in Zone 9B (Sunset 15), a pretty strongly marine-influenced climate with few major changes from season to season. Early fall (late Sep-early Oct) and mid-spring are usually our warmest parts of the year, with the rest of the year generally being moderated by land-sea breezes so it gets neither very hot or very cold. So I'm wondering why my trees are getting into fall mode a month earlier than "usual". I've lived in the same town for 21 years now, and in the same house for 6, so I'm pretty attuned to what constitutes "usual". I'm also a meteorologist by training, although not really active in the field professionally since I've been here. Still, I'm pretty much aware of the weather patterns here. This has been a mild, but unexceptional summer, following an unusually rainy winter last year (about 160% of our normal water year). So I'm just curious. Has any research been done on this?

Answered: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/3415/

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