Galanthus - January 2015

[mark smyth]

who is who???

both well known cultivars with English names

Green Tear and Green Mile? Don't know which is which

[Alan_b]

If you are correct, Mark, then I think 'Green Mile' is the darker/greener one of the two so should be the one on the left.

[MR GRUMPY]

Hagen,

  Rosemary Burnham on the right.

  At first look the one on the left is???  I think its a very,very good example of Green  Tear.

  Is there a prize for this? or just public embarrassment   ?

[hwscot]

r-o. Vernalis closest to the camera, a selection of plicatus from Woottens further away, though it looks like one clump.

[ian mcenery]

Here is a plant sent to me by a generous friend. G gracilis given as "Ron Mackenzie's form". I am quite taken with it's quiet elegance

[Maggi Young]

Here is a plant sent to me by a generous friend. G gracilis given as "Ron Mackenzie's form". I am quite taken with it's quiet elegance

 Very elegant indeed. And neat marks. Good shape to the flowers, even though the "claws" are a bit longer than I might favour  - I find the tendency for the claws to lengthen as the flower matures is not a feature which appeals to me.  I'd be interested to see another photo when the flower is older, please, Ian, if you would be so kind? 

[Ru]

Galanthus woronowii

[Ru]

G. alpinus
Chupacabras brother

[Hagen Engelmann]

Ru, you will find the direct way to a green Gw. Fingers crossed!!!

And here is the answer of my little green puzzle.

Left GREEN TEAR
Right ROSEMARY BURNHAM

We will have to sharpen our eyes to see the differences. Ovarium, size, notch. There are a lot little things, unique for every flower.

Steve, sorry but no prize. But all you are winners of a little bit more knowledge. Not often you can see both side by side.

GREEN MILE has an other kind of green......

[Ru]

Thank you, Hagen! Alas, they are very, very few.
Galanthus woronowii

[Carolyn Walker]

Carolyn wrote :
I agree that experience can be a much better teacher than  "received wisdom"  -  I'd just like to bring this  thought into this discussion:  there is "in the green" and "dormant" - and then there is  "dried out to within an inch of their lives"  - and there are many bulbs  which will not thrive if they are overly dried out. Real difference is between dry and dessicated !  Erythronium don't like to be too dry either.

Yes, there are three ways to get snowdrops: dried bulbs, dormant bulbs, and growing plants.  The first is very iffy but worth trying if the bulbs are very inexpensive.  All my comments were directed to dormant v. plants.

[hwscot]

Left GREEN TEAR
Right ROSEMARY BURNHAM

We will have to sharpen our eyes to see the differences. Ovarium, size, notch. There are a lot little things, unique for every flower.

Rosemary Burnham is much more elegant overall to me, though I guess that may just be the two particular flowers.

[Tim Ingram]

The best plants I have had have been lifted 'in the green' early on but then potted and allowed to grow out probably with some protection in colder weather; this is what we do taking care to minimise damage to the roots. We had some superb plants from the Myddelton sale last January (maybe some were lifted in the summer and potted? and kept relatively dry until autumn) and almost all of them are growing well now with multiple shoots. Last winter was mild and wet, ideal for establishment in the winter. So far this winter has been the same and everything has been moving in the past week or two. A few years ago we had blistering cold north-east winds which desiccated both snowdrops and hellebores and left both looking very sorry - winter snow is the real ideal, a comfortable blanket

Like those little green tipped woronowii's - this is a favourite plant in our garden because the foliage makes such a contrast to most other snowdrops. Wouldn't mind 'Rosemary Burnham' and 'Green Tear' though... very nice to see the comparison.

[snowdropcollector]

Great findings Ru  , fantastic to see those lovely Woronowii's

One of Ru's Plicatus finds is flowering with me now. Totally green inner marking and lovely green outers 
It is a small bulb, so the flower will look even better when it is mature.

[annew]

This year I'm taking a series of photos of my Dryad Gold seedlings to compare them, and assess which could be named. Here are some of them. I'd like any opinions, good or bad!