List of early-flowering snowdrops

[art600]

I'm not sure about 'Yvonne Hay', Arthur.  It seems to be extremely variable in flowering time but mostly a good deal later.  The next earliest reference I can find is here http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=4674.0 on 14th December 2009 when some people report 'Yvonne Hay' in flower but you say yours has only just broken the surface.

Alan

I have 3 flowers

[Alan_b]

Arthur, based on your 2015 and 2009 experiences it does not look as if Yvonne Hay is consistent enough to make the early-flowering list although it is clearly capable of sometimes flowering very early.  I may add a note.

[Alan_b]

Added Galanthus 'Castlegar', an Irish hybrid, to the list.

[Alan_b]

Michael Myers is working on a list of all autumn-flowering snowdrops including the named cultivars of reginae olgae and peshmenii.  His current draft list includes several that I missed hitherto; elwesiis 'Epiphany', 'Hoggets Round', 'Midwinter' and 'Yuletide'.  There is one called 'Christmas Cheer' that is supposed to be a hybrid and plicatus 'Henham No.1' which flowers slightly later that 'Three Ships' so would be a near-miss according to my arbitrary criterion.

[mark smyth]

Epiphany isn't autumn flowering for me

[Brian Ellis]

Epiphany isn't autumn flowering for me

Nor me Mark, in fact it's only just flowered in the last fortnight or so.

[mark smyth]

For me it comes out in January and is over by now but I must go check

[Alan_b]

I don't grow 'Epiphany' myself but I came to the same opinion as Mark and Brian and have not included it on the the list on Page 1 here.  However I was very glad to see somebody else (Michael Myers) also trying to compile a list similar to the one here.  He gave a talk at the CGS Snowdrop event on Saturday (20/2/16) and he gave me a copy of his printed list afterwards.  I know next to nothing about 'Midwinter', 'Yuletide' or 'Christmas Cheer' and would be very interested to hear from anyone who grows any of these.

I'm also in the process of investigating one called 'November' that is distributed by Roger Norman of Ivycroft Plants.

[Brian Ellis]

I've just looked and the last flower is hanging on to it's inners - just.  I think the clue is in the name as Epiphany is after Christmas!

[mark smyth]

I have one flower

[Alan_b]

I have heard that Galanthus 'North Star' is a very early double.  I would be grateful if any one can confirm this.  I have had one myself since 2015 but it did not flower this season.  This snowdrop is not in the reference books - even Freda Cox does not mention it.

...'North Star' is one of John Sales discoveries - in his talk at the 2006 Galanthus Gala he said "Another seedling found in the garden [his garden at 'Covertside'] is similar to 'Lady Beatrix Stanley’ but earlier flowering and more star-shaped. It increases rapidly and is very free-flowering, producing dense masses of flowers, I call it 'North Star’."

   

[Alan_b]

Matt Bishop is now selling a snowdrop called 'Blue Octopus' and I have added this to the list.  He writes:

G. elwesii var. monostictus from David Culp that stands out from among the ranks of 'old year' clones of this species for the shape, size and quality of its flowers, followed by amazing long foliage suggesting the name 'Blue Octopus'

 
It turned out that the snowdrop being distributed by Ivycroft Plants that i had thought was named 'November' was originally from Bob Brown of Cotswold Garden Flowers where it is sold as "Galanthus elwesii November flowering form" so 'November' was just part of the description of an unnamed snowdrop.

[Alan_b]

I returned home from holiday to discover that 'Autumn Beauty Belle' had put in an appearance whilst I was away.


This is the first of my autumn snowdrops to appear.  I got 'Autumn Beauty Belle' earlier this year as a kind gift from a fellow galanthophile, so perhaps the shock of being moved has caused it to flower a bit earlier than usual.  I do not know who originated this snowdrop but it is supplied by a company called "Cambridge Alpines" with an address in Newmarket and was sold at RHS Wisley in 2009 then subsequently for several years - perhaps it is still? It is supposed to be the result of a cross between reginae-olgae and elwesii and in appearance mine looks much more like an elwesii than a reginae-olgae.  Unlike most named snowdrops, which are clones, this one is reported to be a grex, meaning a group of seedlings from the same seed pod, so there is variability in the markings.  See message http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12486.msg365958#msg365958 below for more details.

Edited to add a third photo     

[Maggi Young]

 List of early-flowering snowdrops via Michael Myers, who says :

" With snowdrops now starting to make an appearance I thought members of this group might be interested in a checklist of early varieties. The following list was compiled originally to support a talk I did to the Cottage Garden Society Snowdrop Group on early snowdrops. It includes the raiser/finder/namer in brackets. Please feel free to make any comments, corrections, additions etc. Please send any comments, corrections and additions to michaeldmyers@btinternet.com
Thanks to Ruben Billiet, Alan Briggs, Mark Brown, Melvyn Jope, Margaret and David MacLennan, Joe Sharman, Wol and Sue Staines for their help in compiling this list."
Checklist of snowdrops generally flowering in the Autumn up to Christmas

 Checklist of snowdrops generally flowering in the Autumn up to Christmas Michael Myers.doc (47.5 kB - downloaded 429 times.)
My thanks to Michael for allowing the list to be posted here.

[Alan_b]

I wrote to Cambridge Alpines regarding their snowdrop 'Autumn Beauty' and R F Hunter was kind enough to send me a detailed reply.

'Autumn Beauty' originated at the nursery of Cambridge Alpines in a sand plunge between pots of reginae-olgae (several forms).  Thus it was initially thought to be a variation of reginae-olgae.  However about 2 metres away in the sand plunge they had pots of G. elwesii monostictus (was G. caucasicus) early form which in some years overlaps in flowering time with some of the reginae olgae (so there is the possibility of cross pollination or even of an elwesii seed pod moved by ants).

'Autumn Beauty' was originally distributed through RHS Wisley and from this they got feedback that there were two clones, not one.  Examining the nursery stock they found that less than 10% was differently marked and they have tried not to distribute this minority clone since.

'Autumn Beauty' has a narrow horseshoe green mark whilst the second clone - now named on the nursery 'Autumn Belle' - has a much wider marking.

From this description, it looks as if the form I have is 'Autumn Belle' and not 'Autumn Beauty'.