While gardens across the Westcountry are slowly shivering into life, exotic plants are flourishing inside Eden's rainforest biome.
One of the most spectacular floral displays is being provided by the rare jade vine, which can grow up to 100m in length in its native home of the Philippines.
Other plants current in bloom include the bright red and yellow clock vine, the Madagascar star orchid and the Myriocarpa stipitata plant, whose long pendulous tendrils resemble spaghetti.
Hetty Ninnis, rainforest biome supervisor, said: "This is a fantastic time of year to visit the rainforest biome, as there are beautiful flowers everywhere you look, with fascinating stories behind them."
In the perfect place for Eden's visitors to get a close-up view, the low-hanging jade vines make it easy for Eden's "green" team to pollinate the plants with small paintbrushes.
The brushes mimic the action of bats, which carry pollen from flower to flower while drinking nectar in the wild.
Elsewhere in the biome, the team has been creating canopy gardens, planting multi-coloured bromeliads and orchids onto trees, so that visitors can get a good view of them.
The bromeliads, which attach themselves to tree branches in the wild in order to get more light and avoid competition, have been given a helping hand by Eden's horticulturists who attach them to trees using tights.
The stretchy fabric allows the plants plenty of room to grow and after the roots have established eventually biodegrade.
