Growing Galanthus

[gote]

"We usually have unusual weather."

Göte

Not here, we only have abnormal winters.  

johnw - circa +1c

OK let me rephrase it "It is normal to have abnormal weather" 
Galanthus, Leucojum vernum, Eranthis hiemalis, Hepatica nobilis and Helleborus Thibetanus in flower.
Göte

[johnw]

OK let me rephrase it "It is normal to have abnormal weather"  

Absolutely and here too in the winter. But it is abnormal to have a normal Spring. We never have warm springs, they are always wet and raw and very, very slow = normal.  That being said I guess we are having an abnormal spring this year.  It will however be normal next week and that will be chilly.  
Hope this is clear.

The Hepaticas are in flower here as well.

johnw

[gote]

Forgot Anemone altaica and Scilla mischz?hqzana or whatever it is called.
Anemone altaica is a gem. Absolutely winter hardy and flowers very early. One of my clones was tricked into flowering in December by the mild winter. It took -17° with no snow cover and is still flowering.
Pulmonaria rubra is also starting.
Göte
 

[johnw]

Why would G. snogerupii seed sown 20 February 2012 be sprouting now?  Not a complaint mind you.

johnw

[Lesley Cox]

A few years ago I was given a snowdrop as "Marion's double hybrid" the Marion being Marion Saxton from Christchurch, she having grown snowdrops for very many years and it is quite likely this is a hybrid from among her own collection. I did wonder though if it is a named form and recognisable to anyone in which case could I have a name for it please.

Two pics much the same and it's the first time it has flowered. It seems very distinctive.

[Brian Ellis]

Nothing springs to mind Lesley, I'd stick with 'Marion's double hybrid' or 'Lopsided Lil'  nicely marked though, perhaps someone else recognizes it?

[Maggi Young]

Just having a look in some 'drop pots.... G. 'Primrose Warburg' has  got a lovely  large set of growing roots.... is this normal for July? 

[Alan_b]

My impression is that snowdrops (and other similar bulbs) are primed for a hot dry summer but will put down roots if the soil moisture level (possibly also the temperature) suggests that it is a worthwhile enterprise.  So what you are seeing is as normal as the summer weather we have had this year.  You had better make sure your 'Primrose Warburg' does not dry out if the weather takes a turn for the better.

I have also been doing a bit of re-potting and I haven't found a snowdrop with roots yet.  Some daffodils, yes.  In other years I have found snowdrops with roots in August.   

[Maggi Young]

You had better make sure your 'Primrose Warburg' does not dry out if the weather takes a turn for the better.

Quite so... though I doubt if, here,  that is much of a danger.  Would be  in the likes of the Northern Isles, where they are having a drought- though the roots would have been shrivelled there by now.
It's hard to "win " this season ! 

[johnw]

We had an extremely wet summer last year with little sun until September.  I repotted in August and saw no roots at all nor in the garden.

Everything is out of whack this year. This Cyrtanthus brachyscyphus has been in flower non-stop since January 2011, a very poor picture from last night. Lachenalias are sprouting madly despite being bone dry as recommended.

johnw - +19c at 10:39, sunny & parched.

[Alan_b]

Stop Press:  'Angelique' had roots, although just a few.

Halifax, Nova Scotia enjoys warm summers even when wet so it's probably a combination of rain and cool temperatures that stimulates root growth.

[johnw]

Stop Press:  'Angelique' had roots, although just a few.
Halifax, Nova Scotia enjoys warm summers even when wet so it's probably a combination of rain and cool temperatures that stimulates root growth.

re: Halifax  Certainly warmer by Aberdeen standards; on the immediate coast where I am summers are all too brief.  You don't have to go far inland though to get into the warm summer areas.  By eastern North American standards it is relatively cool here, I spent a few summers in Boston and it is sweltering there.   It seems to me the south of England also has better summers than here; a bad year to be saying that! 

Having said that this has been a warm summer that started in early July and dry too with relatively little fog.  When we have a wet summer it's cool, if warm it's dry and only a hurricane will break the drought.  Last summer we barely reached 20c and it was extremely wet from mid-May until mid-September.  We dug snowdrops in August and I expected to see root growth, the roots that were there appeared to be ones made the previous autumn as they quickly died off and re-rooted in late autumn.  With so little soil here and mineral at that the trees gobble up most of the moisture even in wet summers.

johnw 

[Brian Ellis]

Well I have re-pooted a few hundred and found some of the roots from this year still extant in most of them, but on the whole no new growth yet.