Galanthus - January 2015

[Maggi Young]

It began to snow about this time yesterday here - but it did not last and we have clear ground. The only 'drops are the ones which have been out for a while - the Spring 'drops are keeping calm and the biggest are just 2 or 3 cms out of the round and just waiting. I think they are very wise!

[Palustris]

This is one of the problems we have in our Snowdrop Wood (aka the Damson Wood). Moles. The 'drops still manage to flower though.

[Maggi Young]

Something very pathetic about wee bulbs strewn on the earth, isn't there? No moles here thank goodness, but mice sometimes leave bulbs stranded like that , which is bad enough.

[Hagen Engelmann]

Hello galanthophiles,
who is it???
It is not seldom and increases very well in the most of gardens.
It is IVY COTTAGE CORPORAL, really!!!
This season all flowers show very unusual in pattern here.
If you will have the same experience, please tell it to us.

[art600]

Some snowdrops taken in the last few days.

Background is not the best for some drops, but it was best available.

    Galanthus gracilis
    Galanthus 'Greenpeace'
    Galanthus 'John Tomlinson'
    Galanthus 'Lavinia'
    Galanthus 'Magdalin Erskine'

[art600]

Some more

    Galanthus 'Mrs MacNamara'
    Galanthus 'Priscilla Bacon'
    Galanthus 'Reverend Hailstone'
    Galanthus 'Wandlebury Ring'

[Maggi Young]

 Edulis Nursery's  ( Paul Barney)  limited Galanthus availability list is now out. Please email or message for list .....
Email: info@edulis.co.uk    Phone: 01635 578113 / 07802 812781

[Maggi Young]

Cornovium  -   http://www.cornoviumsnowdrops.co.uk/ are selling 'drops now, too.

[Cyril L]

Galanthus cilicicus has been flowering for over a week but today has been sunny enough for the flowers to open.  Reputedly tender, I put a bulb outside close to the house last year and it is coming up.  Last winter however, was very mild but I think it will withstand a bit of frost.

G. cilicicus OS (I presume collected by Ole Sonderhausen but no collection number came with it).
C. cilicicus NS (ex Norman Stevens) with different inner markings.

[SnowClock]

If you will have the same experience, please tell it to us.

Hi Hagen,
My "Ivy Cottage Corporal" had a similar inner mark three years ago. The first picture was taken in January 2012.
The second and third are of the same plant and are taken in March 2013 and February 2014. So, the last two years the marks were as they should be.
I do not know what caused the marks to be different in 2012. Maybe, the bulbs were still immature then?
S. 

[Mariette]

Especially some of my G. elwesii puzzeled me by producing different marks in different years. Indeed, in some years the marks appeared to be incomplete, a feature well demonstrated by Your pics. My assumption was, like Yours, that the bulbs were immature after dividing or being distressed otherwise.

[Alan_b]

This is one of the problems we have in our Snowdrop Wood (aka the Damson Wood). Moles.

But that is one of the natural mechanisms by which snowdrop bulbs get spread around over a wider area.  So if you are trying to naturalise the snowdrops it's not a problem, it's a benefit.

[Tim Ingram]

I was going to say the very same thing as Alan. In our local woods both double and single snowdrops have naturalised freely - the former are esentially sterile and the latter often just spread vegetatively without much production of seed. A lot of woodland ground flora are clonal in this way - eg: Anemone nemorosa. In our garden some snowdrops (most) remain as tight discrete clumps as they multiply, but a few are a lot looser and spread more widely (eg: 'Armine' and 'Trym' - though the latter produces seed as well). What intrigues me is the great variation found in woodlands in eastern Europe? There must be some crossing going on here just as you find with greater variety in the garden setting. Is this because the natural stands of snowdrops are so extensive that the chance of variation is simply much greater, and does this variation occur over wide areas or is it localised to certain places? A snowdrop such as 'Wendy's Gold' where the bulbs do naturally tend to spread is actually one of the best at increasing in the garden, at least with us. In another garden I know there are huge clumps of G. elwesii which haven't been touched for decades with just a very few outlying seedlings(?) around them, and these are pretty magnificent in their way too.

[SnowClock]

I found this elwesii yesterday. As you can see, the inners are all white. In a sunny position, the green lines on the inside of the inners shine through vaguely. I like it, but what do you think? Is it interesting, different, enough to nurture it?

[Palustris]

But that is one of the natural mechanisms by which snowdrop bulbs get spread around over a wider area.  So if you are trying to naturalise the snowdrops it's not a problem, it's a benefit.

   
There must be over 5,000 bulbs in the wood, mostly spread by moles as they appear to be a sterile clone and so do not produce seed. The problem is not one of the moles spreading the bulbs like this, rather that they frequently cover over the flowering ones with soil. That and the danger of breaking ones ankle when looking at the Snowdrops.