The Daffodil Show usually blooms at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens toward the end of April. But education director Ann Muculloh says a look out the windows of the makes it clear why that won’t work this year. The daffodils are in full bloom now – and won’t be in three more weeks.

Without more evidence over more years, though, she hesitates though to attribute the early blooms – and warm spring – to long-term global change. And visitors to the gardens and its Web site are helping to gather that long-term evidence. They’re part of the National Phenology Network."

“(It’s) Nicknamed ‘Nature’s notebook.’ Anybody can play. You figure out what specific indicator plants you have on your property. You observe them, … first leaf, first bloom, first fall color, first fruit, and record them, and then you can actually log in and contribute your observations of one plant to this big project."

The Cleveland gardens have only been participating since 2008, and Muculloh says such studies of change are often only really useful after as much as 10 or 15 years.