Galanthus in June 2019

[t00lie]

Galanthus elwesii seedling with more to come .





Cheers.

[Blonde Ingrid]

One of the clumps of Galanthus Morgana, taken just now in Tropical East Anglia!

It doesn't seem to have got the dormancy period memo.



Rumour has it that Andy Byfield is going to offer some of his delicious specials on Ebay in the very near future including:

Andrea's Fault



Tall Dark & Handsome



Good hunting!

[Maggi Young]

In 2017....

A National Collection holder of Galanthus - Margaret MacLennan - is trialling a peat free compost  on some snowdrops - read more here  - from the manufacturer - http://www.dalefootcomposts.co.uk/latest-news/news/2017/1/national-snowdrop-collection-trialling-dalefoot-composts.aspx

A reply from Dalefoot  about  my  question this week as to the  progress of the  McLennan's  trial of the  compost  for their  snowdrops after a  contact  from Dalefoot  :

Good Morning Maggi,

Thank you ever so much for your swift reply. Great news to hear you’ve heard of us and we are somewhat on your radar!

I rang and spoke with David McLennan yesterday for their feedback to date as its been a 2-3 year trial now. He advised they began the trial with the more commercial John Innes compost Vs Dalefoot Wool Compost & Lakeland Gold. The kept the same variables to ensure a true comparison. The outcome is that Dalefoot has produced bigger bulbs, bigger, stronger and healthier plants and that with our compost they didn’t need to feed for the whole of the three years. We advise a no need to feed for 12 – 24 months depending on product and the plants going in it, so for them to not feed for 3 years is amazing. With this a much more natural crop is produced. They are now looking at using our products elsewhere in their garden. David also gave this feedback at an Alpine conference in February when the topic was Peat Free and is happy for me to share it with you as they are members of your society.

In regards to our Alpine mix we started this for Plants with Altitude. It was a collaboration between Neil and ourselves and since other people take it such as Kevock when we have made a batch as it’s not a standard product more of a special mix.

We have just placed a bulk order for the grit etc and will be making a batch up in the next few weeks should that be of interest.

If you have any other questions at all please do not hesitate in letting me know.

Many Thanks,
Shona

[Blonde Ingrid]

Knocking out time underway in tropical East Anglia.

Reached the Dryad Myths & Legends series, from Anne Wright.

"Ey'up these are Ipocs", she said!

"Appen they won't increase reet fast like the Yellows" She said!

Dryad Demeter
Dryad Artemis
Dryad Venus

Well, the verdict is, three small bulbs from last year and today's result. Despite Anne's warning, great bulbs yield great results!

[Maggi Young]

Very satisfyingly chubby  bulbs!

[t00lie]

Knocking out time underway in tropical East Anglia.

Reached the Dryad Myths & Legends series, from Anne Wright

Dryad Demeter
Dryad Artemis
Dryad Venus

Well, the verdict is, three small bulbs from last year and today's result. Despite Anne's warning, great bulbs yield great results!

Lucky you Ingrid and others  to have access to Anne's bulbs as I doubt we will ever see them down here in NZ.

The mild winter so far has seen a number of plants in flower earlier than I can remember including the first Trillium  ....... 

I picked a bloom of Galanthus plicatus flore pleno yesterday to bring inside.



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[Blonde Ingrid]

There are some Snowdrops, where if you lose the label, it can be the Devil of a job to re-identify.

Then there are drops like Hughes Emerald, that make it trivial by regularly bursting the pot!!

Single bulb with offset, this time last year, in a satellite clump!