Earliest snowdrops (no r.o.)

[Yanik Neff]

Hi everyone! I just wondered what your earliest snowdrops are (besides the r.o. varieties).
For me 'Barnes' is always the first one (Octobre 2nd this year), followed by 'Peter Gatehouse'. Now 'Donald Simms Early' and 'Remember Remember' are about to flower.

[Brian Ellis]

You will see elsewhere some of the 'drops we have had in flower Yanik (and thanks for the parcel).  'Rainbow Farm Early' preceded 'Barnes' also 'Howard Wheeler', 'Hoggets Round', 'Hoggets Narrow', elwesii hiemalis 'ex Beth Chatto' and peshmenii 'Green Flight'.  No doubt others can add to the list.

[Alan_b]

I believe that the first named snowdrop I ever bought was Galanthus elwesii 'Peter Gatehouse'.  I was at my first Galanthus Gala in 2001 and it was one of snowdrops left behind on the sales tables after the scrum had subsided and I could get near.  It came from Marchants Hardy Plants and cost me £7.50.  It has done well for me over the 16 years since and so I now have little groups in various locations around the garden.  These can be weeks apart in their flowering time.  The ones that flower the latest seem to be in areas that are driest during the summer. The soil in my garden can get bone dry in summer so the autumn rains may take some time to raise the moisture level.  I suspect that a certain level of moisture is a prerequisite to flowering.  It is an early season this year and I estimate about 50% of my Peter Gatehouse are showing now.

I grow a lot of snowdrops in plastic pots.  I do this to ensure that they are healthy before being planted out in the garden but space in the garden is at a premium so they often spend longer in pots than I might wish.  Pot-grown autumn snowdrops almost always flower earlier than those planted-out in the garden.  I suspect that the soil in the pot retains more moisture when it rains because the moisture cannot get deep into the ground as it can in the garden.  And the temperature of the soil in the pot, surrounded as it is by air, will cool faster than the soil in the garden.

Comparing the pot-grown snowdrops (and excluding those new ones that have not settled) 'Remember Remember' always flowers before 'Peter Gatehouse'.  My pot of 'Remember Remember' has finished flowering now whilst the ones in the garden are about to open.  'Hollis' seems to flower at about the same time as 'Peter Gatehouse', possibly slightly earlier.  This year I have one called 'Santa Claus' that has also finished flowering already but I have not had that one long enough to know if this will be consistent.  My 'Barnes', which I only grow in the garden, came from the garden of 'Richard Ayres' and typically flowers late November.  But I was talking to Rod Leeds about a month ago and he said his 'Barnes' was almost over and flowers in September or October every year.             

[Marie-Rose N]

Hello
Here also in Strasbourg in France the galanthus season is incredibly early this year.
Barnes is also the first then Santa Claus, Peter Gatehouse Advent and Remember Remember. Galanthus elwesii 'Elmley Lovett' shows the tip of the nose today
all galanthus are grown in the garden

[johnw]

Galanthus peshmenii seedlings ex Dryad.  There appears to be a great deal of variation in flower size.  The photo was taken yesterday but this species was in flower before we went to Ontario last week.  Good to be back here and out of that insane traffic. G. reginae-olgae 'Tilebarn Jamie' & 'Alex Duguid' in hot pursuit, at least 5-6 weeks earlier than usual.

john
5c and overcast, quite a shock as it was in the mid 20's in Nova Scotia a few days ago.

[Alan_b]

There are two sister snowdrops called 'Autumn Beauty' and 'Autumn Belle' that are thought to be hybrids between reginae-olgae and elwesii, although in appearance they look much more like elwesii than anything else.  I have not been growing either of these long enough to be sure this is true but they are said to be amongst the earliest snowdrops to flower (excluding pure reginae-olgae).  However they are difficult to get hold of because they have been sold mainly (or possibly exclusively) through the plant sales outlets at RHS gardens (certainly Wisley and Harlow Carr).  A slug or snail got mine this year so I cannot say when it would have flowered.