Galanthus in February 2013

[Diane Clement]

Rob and Diane: I've removed the "not" Diggory photo for Diane- I think it was an Ailwyn!

Sorry, and thanks Maggi!
Here's the real Diggory

[art600]

Diane

A nice selection of your snowdrops.

Did you experience any problems last year due to the wet weather?  Do you grow your 'precious' ones in pots and what compost do you use - they all look very healthy.

Speaking to a friend today who lost a lot in baskets in the ground to what she believes was Narcissus fly - something I (fingers crossed) have not suffered - except in one bought dormant bulb - is this a problem you have suffered with.  She is planning to put fleece over the clumps as they die down to provide a physical barrier.

[Diane Clement]

Hi Arthur
I'm not aware of Narcissus fly, although some in the garden have just not come up, so possibly the reason.  I do tend to get a couple of cases of stag each year on potted ones, but I just pull off the diseased bits and put them outside to isolate them. 
My potted galanthus are mostly in 4" square long toms, mixture of JI no3, leafmould and perlite.  Not just the precious ones, I have a mixture of common and precious in the ground and in pots, hedge my bets.  I like to grow in pots as my garden is very shady and often they don't open very well when they are in the ground as there is no sun.  Also I can look at them under cover when the weather is bad.  After flowering, the potted ones go outside in all the elements as I haven't got greenhouse space for them at that stage.  Sometime in the summer, depending on the weather, they go into a frame until they are repotted.   

[art600]

Thanks Diane

I do get sun to most of the garden, but my regime sounds very much like yours.

Surprisingly although my pots stood on concrete in open frames for last summer's rains, I did not lose plants to rot, which seemed to be the case with several Forumists.

[Alan_b]

... a friend ... lost a lot in baskets in the ground to what she believes was Narcissus fly

This should not be a question of belief.  Narcissus fly larvae eat the bulb from the inside out but leave the outer husk as protection until they pupate and emerge as flies later in the year.  So what your friend should find now, if they dug up the baskets, is hollowed-out bulbs with larvae or pupae inside them.  Thus there should be absolute proof of a narcissus fly problem.

Swift moth larvae, on the other hand, will eat and move on.  Since this often seems to cause the bulb to rot (although not always) you may well find no trace of the bulbs.

 

[mark smyth]

I have lost nothing due to excessive wet last year. All my new plants were potted and plunged in the green house frames. Most are over because it's been too warm for them. 13C yesterday. Many in the garden are going over. Marjorie Brown is just coming up.

People have to understand that if you grow Narcissus and Galanthus its guaranteed you will have Narcissus fly in the garden

[hwscot]

Lovely photos Diane.

I especially like the ones showing the leaves, as it gives an idea of scale, rather than just a close up of the flower.

Very heartily agreed. As a newbie, I'm often at a loss to get some idea of a particular variety from illustrations, which seem almost never to have any indication of scale, and often only the flower, so there's no indication of leaf form. It can be quite a shock seeing some in the flesh for the first time, when they turn out to be tiny, or have hugely wide leaves. It was very encouraging to hear IC at Dunblane making a plea for pictures of snowdrops to show leaves.

[mark smyth]

Can someone explain why Fieldgate Tiffany was named. It looks just like an elwesii monostictus

[KentGardener]

Wonderful clear images Diane.   

They are all lovely - but for me this morning I think Ailwyn is the winner of that beauty parade.