List of early-flowering snowdrops

[Alan_b]

Added 'Haconby Early', an elwesii var.monostictus distributed by Cliff Curtis.

I've been trying throughout this year to get the attention of Ian Christie to give me details of the early snowdrops he has named and quite how early they are, relative to 'Three Ships' for example.  If anybody sees him in person can they please give him some strong encouragement to provide those details.  A post on this thread would be great.   

[Maggi Young]

Ian the Christie kind is a very busy man and one who has had a terrible time this year with serious family illnesses - I expect he has more on his mind that how early a snowdrop flowers.

[Alan_b]

I actually got a reply from Ian, almost as soon as I made the previous post.  I had not realised about the serious family illness and was very sorry indeed to hear about it.  He seemed to have taken-on extra work with the responsibility of organising the SRGC Snowdrop Day next February so I got no hint of his difficulties.

[Alan_b]

I keep editing the list (which is the first post on this Topic).  I have recently added 'Haconby Early' from Cliff Curtis and 'Xmas' from Carolyn Walker.  I have tidied-up some of the links and colour coded those snowdrops that might be hard to obtain in Europe. 

[guytheeye]

Its another interesting list, I have been trying to find G elwesii 'Yuletide' for some time. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Alan_b]

Wol and Sue Staines had two pots of 'Yuletide' on their sales table at the Harvey's Garden Plants sale last Saturday.  I snapped-up one (as I had not previously found that snowdrop) and the other one sold quickly afterwards.

Wol and Sue were also selling an early-flowering form of Galanthus caucasicus.   There is a named one of these, 'November Snow' in circulation but this is the first time I have seen anything like this on a sales table.   

[Hans J]

Alan ,

I do think "November Snow" is a early flowering form of G.transcaucasicus 

Hans

[Alan_b]

Yes, Hans, that is what I was given to understand.  But I have never seen 'November Snow' nor even a picture of it that shows the leaves.

[emma T]

I have recently bought November snow and the one from Wol and sue . I shall try and take a photo to compare them , both have finished flowering mind

[Alan_b]

Time to revive the list as the 'earlies' of this season start to appear.  A lot of new and exotic early elwesii snowdrops are appearing - originating from collectors in Germany and Belgium in particular.  These include green-tipped and virescent types that would have seemed highly unlikely to ever be found just a few years ago.  This early elwesii is called 'Frühes Elegantes'.  Quite long outer petals which are supposed to have green tips, although not for me this first time around.
     

[Rick Goodenough]

Two new ones for you, Alan.

First, to set the perspective, my Barnes and Peter Gatehouse are just now blooming. Coincident with that bloom time is my very early (for my garden) elwesii 'Mayfair Chapel' selection. MC began blooming here two weeks ago which is approximately two weeks ahead of Barnes and Peter Gatehouse.  Photo below.

G. reginae-olgae subsp vernalis 'Alex Duguid' came into bloom today. This is obviously on the early side for vernalis, but here is a photo taken today in the garden.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  Rick

[Alan_b]

In reality Galanthus reginae-olgae can exhibit a wide range of flowering times; anything from late September onwards in my area.  I'm not sure if anyone has laid-down rules for where the split between subsp. reginae-olgae and subsp. vernalis should occur but wherever it should be there are bound to be some borderline cases.  'Alex Duguid' reportedly flowers around Christmas in the southern part of the UK so it is interesting to know that in other locales it can flower earlier.  But I have not been including reginae-olgae snowdrops in my own early-flowering list here, ostensibly because it is obvious that they are early flowering but also because I find them difficult to grow and therefore not so much of interest.

Rick, did you name 'Mayfair Chapel' yourself?  Has it been distributed?  It looks to be a handsome snowdrop but in the UK and nearby parts of Europe there is already a wealth of Hiemalis Group elwesiis so new ones need some USP.  For example, new arrivals 'Hoggets Round' and 'Hoggets Narrow' are selections by Matt Bishop based on flower shape.  I suspect that quite a lot of Hoggets Ordinary were rejected during the selection process.  On the other hand, I only know of 'Potter's Prelude', 'Standing Tall' and (if it still exists) 'Christmas Cheer' that have originated in the USA.  Does this reflect a lack of suitable candidate snowdrops or a lack of galanthophiles to find them?

I have added Paul Barney's 'Lady Latife' to the list as he is now distributing it commercially.             

[Brian Ellis]

'Alex Duguid' reportedly flowers around Christmas in the southern part of the UK           

I think mine's been out for at least a week.  I seem to remember Melvyn, Joe or Tom giving a talk and pointing out that G.r-o's could be flowering at quite different times in a locality according to their altitude.

[Rick Goodenough]

Brian, thanks for that interesting point that it is altitude that seems to drive bloom time in G r-o. I am at about 200 ft for what it is worth.

Alan, thanks for your questions on Mayfair Chapel. It is quite an early flowering elwesii...similar timing to Barnes and much earlier than 'Potter's Prelude'. I imagine that it would bloom for you in late September.
While it has an elegant form, it is not what I would consider otherwise highly distinctive beyond being very early. I did name it and it has not yet been widely distributed to date. The relative few American introductions to date is likely some of both of your assumptions along with other reasons. I think both factors are changing as "Snowdrop Fever" is going strong here in the U.S.

Best!

Rick

[Brian Ellis]

Here are a couple flowering now, as I said before 'Alex Duguid' has been out for about a week and more to come and so has 'Advent' which I am sure is earlier here this year than before.