Galanthus - April 2015

[Rick Goodenough]

Hello friends,

We are experiencing an extremely late snowdrop season in New England. Here is G. 'John Gray' in my garden yesterday, April 2, 2015. Cheers!  Rick

[Maggi Young]

Here's hoping the season is as successful as it it late, Rick.

[johnw]

Rick - The first south-facing frame emerged from the snow last night.  We opened the styro lid and got a big surprise, it's been pitch dark in there since December and we fully expected them to be in complete dormancy.  Now a scramble to get the woodchips off before the sun appears and the shading goes up for a few days.  The north-facing frame is still under 1.5m.

The worst of this hell seems to be behind us.

johnw - +7c and overcast

[johnw]

Well the top layer of chips was thawed but the pots are not nor the chips in between the pots.  Three snowdrops opened within an hour of opening the frame. Care to guess which three?  And one other is itching to open. Up to 11c here and brilliant sun so the shading got on just in the nick of time.

johnw

[Rick Goodenough]

Thank you Maggi! And John...sorry you are going through this eternal deep freeze as well. Sounds like things are quickly underway now.  I could not hazard a guess as some of mine are blooming that started at Christmas! 

I visited Jonathan and Eugenie Shaw's gardens yesterday on Cape Cod and the snow is gone and spring is sprung. Here are a couple of shots from their garden. The galanthus is 'Green Arrow' and the crocus is tommasinianus, and possibly 'Yalta', but I do not recall what he told me. Best, Rick

[Leena]

In very snowy and late winters we find always snowdrops growing and even flowering surrounded by the snow all over and even though the ground is frozen.  When the snow melts they are fully formed to open the flowers if the sun shines. I guess they have biological clock which says when to come up, weather there is snow or not.

[johnw]

Late arrival of Christmas presents this year.  'Three Ships ' was the first to pull into port 3 April 2015, some 13 weeks late.  Quickly followed by 'Gerard Parker' (true) and 'Cordelia', I would not have guessed those two being so "early".

[Rick Goodenough]

John...better late than not at all. Actually pretty terrific to have 'Three Ships' sailing in early April. Here is a posy brought in for Easter lunch decoration today. Glad we are finally seeing some drops. Rick

[Rick Goodenough]

In very snowy and late winters we find always snowdrops growing and even flowering surrounded by the snow all over and even though the ground is frozen.  When the snow melts they are fully formed to open the flowers if the sun shines. I guess they have biological clock which says when to come up, weather there is snow or not.

Leena, thank you for your encouraging words...we are not used to so much winter here. I have been amazed at the resiliency of this genus. After having months of snow and ice in depths of four to six feet, they have sprung to attention and are in full bloom within a day or two. Best, Rick

[johnw]

Rick  - Nice cheery posey there.  One frame here has lots in flower already. Around 4pm we had a sudden and unexpected snow squal that dumped an inch of snow in 20 minutes or so.  I expect it to be gone by noon but still much to melt.  Saturday on looks promising but for the momen t we just can't seem to break out of this cold.

john

[Brian Ellis]

As I am on my virtually last snowdrop flower of the season it is good to have a second bite of the cherry seeing yours John, Rick, Leena et al.  Many thanks

[Rick Goodenough]

Thank you John and Brian.

John, sorry you are still getting blasted...it has to be over soon.

Look what I found yesterday. This is an unnamed double that is close to all white. The inners have green on the back side. It was a part of a lot of 250 regular nivalis I bought on eBay just to cover an area with drops. A fun thing to spot this little treasure. I will have to watch what it does next year.

Cheers! Rick

[Rick Goodenough]

As an experiment, I planted this rockery with good old G. nivalis...they are about ready to pop open and I like what I am seeing. Rick

[Brian Ellis]

Yes they'll soon have that covered nicely Rick

[Rick Goodenough]

Thanks Brian.  Here is a fine looking un-named elwesii blooming today. I like the long tapered outer segments and the recurved form of them as well.