Horticulturists at Mount Auburn Cemetery expressed worries that this year's milder winter altered the blooming or migratory patterns of several plants and wildlife creatures living in the historic garden cemetery. While spring does not officially begin until March 19, many plants and trees started blooming about two or three weeks earlier than they typically do, according to the horticulturalists.
"We're watching magnolia buds plump out, and we've gotten winter aconite and snowdrops full bloom already on the ground level," said Ronnit Bendavid-Val, vice president of horticulture and landscape at the 175-acre cemetery in Cambridge.Bendavid-Val said the early blooms raise concerns about how quickly climate change is affecting local flora and fauna. "The reason that climate change is so impactful in our environment is because it's happening quickly," said Bendavid-Val."We've had climate changes over the eons of the existence of this very earth, but it usually happens much more slowly. Now, the changes are happening so rapidly that the climate struggles to balance itself