BLOOMING heck! The temperature may be tumbling as winter fast approaches, but spring has already sprung in one Hampshire garden.

As the leaves fall from the trees and people start to reach for their thermals, a daffodil has given a green-fingered pensioner a shock by making an early appearance.

The bright yellow flowers aren't normally seen until March, but Daphne Wright's Chandler's Ford garden is four months ahead of schedule - making it something of a talking point with neighbours.

Unusual "All my friends and neighbours have been coming round to see my daffodil, taking photos of it and saying how unusual it is," said Daphne, 75, who lives in Keble Road.

"I love flowers and I've got quite a pretty garden so this is really lovely - but so early.

"You expect snowdrops to come out at this time of year, but not daffodils. They shouldn't come out until March."

Daphne, who grows all her own vegetables from the garden and is still producing enough raspberries to give her grandchildren a treat, believes the unpredictable climate is playing havoc with the horticulture.

She planted the bulbs throughout the garden two years ago, but this is the first time they have flowered so unseasonably.

"The weather does not know what it's doing, so all of the flowers have gone bonkers. They don't know what's going on," she said.

"My gardener thinks it's amazing. He says he's seen an azalea bush come out at this time of year, but that was in a very sheltered spot.

"I've been here 46 years and love to garden, but we've never had anything like this before."

Head gardener at Exbury Gardens, near Southampton, John Anderson, said the changing weather is causing flowers to bloom at unusual times, but seeing a daffodil in November is unheard of.

"It is very unusual, unless someone's come up with a special kind of autumn flowering daffodil that I've never heard of," he said.

"We would expect to see them in February or March, but they definitely shouldn't be in flower before Christmas.

John said the unusually mild autumn has caused a few early blooms at Exbury, with camellias and rhododendrons in flower unseasonably early.