Galanthus March 2009

[Anthony Darby]

Oh!  It was not April, 1st? Robin, it's great! May I take place in a queue for a bulb?

Olga,

I will wait 2 more years before distributing G. "Green Mile".
I'm a bit surprised that a modest little Galanthus excites more enthousiasm than more spectacular plants such as Arisaema and Trillium.
Sorry galanthophiles 

Robin

Robin, when you produce not one, but a whole clump of as spectacular a snowdrop as 'Green Mile', expect a whole string of 'wow' and 'fantastic' and other words that express awe and delight. Enjoy it and when, and only when, you have enough to spare, then you can 'spread the joy' making sure you still have your spectacular clump as insurance.

[galanthophile]

Now that is really special - fantastic. I love trilliums and lots of other plants but to me nothing is nicer than a snowdrop.

[snowdropman]

Lastly from Covertside....Freddie who?

johnw

John - not sure if you got an id on this one, but it is G. 'Chastleton Freddie', one of 25 seedlings selected by Daphne Chappell & John Sales from the neglected garden of Chastleton House (see Transcript of the Ninth Galanthus Gala 2006)

[johnw]

Lastly from Covertside....Freddie who?

johnw

John - not sure if you got an id on this one, but it is G. 'Chastleton Freddie', one of 25 seedlings selected by Daphne Chappell & John Sales from the neglected garden of Chastleton House (see Transcript of the Ninth Galanthus Gala 2006)

Thanks Chris, I think you had already identified it.  A splendid garden it was and a delightful owner.

johnw.

[Paddy Tobin]

Lastly from Covertside....Freddie who?

johnw

John - not sure if you got an id on this one, but it is G. 'Chastleton Freddie', one of 25 seedlings selected by Daphne Chappell & John Sales from the neglected garden of Chastleton House (see Transcript of the Ninth Galanthus Gala 2006)

Oh Chris, 25 more seedlings. Is there no end to them?

Paddy

[snowdropman]

Oh Chris, 25 more seedlings. Is there no end to them?

Paddy
[/quote]

Afraid not Paddy    and a large number of these seedlings have been named - I have now identified over 1500 named snowdrops, over and above those that appeared in 'Snowdrops', and I continue to find new ones almost daily!

[Paddy Tobin]

Chris,

Most will slump into obscurity, I'm sure.

Paddy

[steve owen]

Afraid not Paddy    and a large number of these seedlings have been named - I have now identified over 1500 named snowdrops, over and above those that appeared in 'Snowdrops', and I continue to find new ones almost daily!

Well, In several years of growing galanthus and, like others, looking at seedlings in my garden and elsewhere, I have found just two that I thought sufficiently distinctive to be worth naming. I get the feeling from SRGC that others are similarly restrained. What on earth is the point of naming 25 new finds from one location? How can such a large number all be so distinctive as to be worthy of naming?

Chris, you put round a note last year about the follow-up to the Snowdrops book that touched on the point of distinctiveness. How and by whom is a judgement being made about naming new and "different" varieties, and is there a danger of the market being swamped by unworthy look-alikes?

Ian Christie's recent pic of the yellow Harrison woronowii - now that's different!

[snowdropman]

Chris, you put round a note last year about the follow-up to the Snowdrops book that touched on the point of distinctiveness. How and by whom is a judgement being made about naming new and "different" varieties, and is there a danger of the market being swamped by unworthy look-alikes?

Ian Christie's recent pic of the yellow Harrison woronowii - now that's different!

Steve - anybody can name a snowdrop, and quite clearly very many people have been doing so!

I know from our correspondence about the two seedlings that you have selected that you are taking the responsible route, both in passing them to other experienced growers to grow on & give you their opinion and, just as importantly, allowing the passage of time to make sure that they are stable and that the features that caused you to select them in the first place do consistently repeat. Many others have clearly not gone down this route and have named snowdrops based on the slightest difference and, often it seems, without either waiting to see if the snowdrop repeats the particular feature, or checking to see what similar named snowdrops already exist.

I agree that, to warrant being named, the snowdrop should be distinctive and this, for instance, is one of the key criteria that the Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee use when judging snowdrops that have been put up for awards (FCC, AM & PC).

Martin Baxendale also often reminds us that the snowdrop should have other attributes such as being strong and healthy, high disease resistance etc.

This proliferation of names, many of them given to snowdrops that, on the face of it, appear to be undistinguished and of little merit, is clearly going to prove challenging in putting 'Snowdrops2' together. The logistics are quite daunting, but I am confident that the division system that we use will enable us to bring to the fore those snowdrops that are truly distinct and worthy of being named.

On a related issue, did you receive the email that I sent you on 19th December?

[johnw]

Martin Baxendale also often reminds us that the snowdrop should have other attributes such as being strong and healthy, high disease resistance etc.

A wise man that Martin Baxendale.  Others should heed this dictum before registration.

johnw