ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Lilacs in Rochester aren’t uncommon. Each spring thousands of people visit Highland Park to celebrate them. But it isn’t spring - it’s October and these lilacs shouldn’t be in bloom.

At least that’s what Marci Mueller thought before she spotted them in Highland Park. Mueller is a horticulturist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Monroe County. 

She says that spring flowers can sometimes bloom in the fall. It typically happens in places that had a stretch of cold weather followed by warm weather. 

"That would fool the plant to think that winter was over and now it’s time to get going again," said Mueller. 

Mueller says that's really not the case though in Rochester. She explains that we didn’t see a long enough cold period and that these may just be rogue blooming lilac bushes. 

“There’s a lot we don’t know," said Mueller. "Are plants not going to want to grow here because it’s too warm and they're going to move further north? Are there going to be plants that we've never been able to grow here that we're now going to be able to?"

Can we expect to see more lilacs blooming in the fall? Mueller says, most likely, no. If anything, we’ll start to see lilacs earlier in the spring, thanks to the warmer weather we’ve experienced. 

Even though there’s a handful of bushes blooming already, Mueller says there’s no need to worry about having flowers at the Lilac Festival. 

"This guy is done for the year whereas the rest of them have flower buds that haven’t initiated, we’ll be good for the spring," said Mueller.