'Washfield Warham' - first named snowdrop cultivar sold by a major company?

[Alan_b]

Thanks, Maggi; the only named snowdrop for sale at my local (upmarket) garden centre was "Washfiled Warham" from Taylors.  There were 13 packets on the rack, reduced now to 12 as I bought one out of curiosity.

Now that you remind me, I may have seen "S. Arnott" offered for sale before, never "Hippolyta".

[mark smyth]

I emailed Taylors about the photo on the packet but they haven't replied

[Alan_b]

Here is what I got, with the dry outer covering to the bulbs removed.  I normally like to see pristine white in these circumstances so I am suspicious about these, although goodness knows what pre-treatment they might have had.  They are certainly all alive and the bulbs are of a decent size (one of the 7 originals had an offset). 

[Tim Harberd]

I note that Eurobulbs reckon their Warham flowers in early July!!!!

Tim DH

[mark smyth]

The reply from Taylors ...

"Dear Mr Smyth,
Thank you for your email and for showing us your photograph of Washfield Warham.  I have done some preliminary investigations but need to dig deeper.  Please leave it with me to look into this further.
Kind regards,
Adam Taylor"

[Alan_b]

There is a stock photo here http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-galanthus-plicatus-washfield-warham-snowdrops-white-flowers-green-67225991.html that is supposed to show 'Washfield Warham'.  Those snowdrops look quite similar to the ones on the Taylors pack.

As does the image here from Benington Lordship http://www.beningtonlordship.co.uk/snowdropgallery.shtml

[ashley]

So many of them look very similar, particularly in a photo, that it's hardly surprising

[Alan_b]

Well all snowdrops look much the same, don't they?  However in the case of 'Washfield Warham', the green mark on the inner petals is normally depicted as very thin indeed above the notch, which is quite an unusual and therefore distinctive feature.  Paradoxically, this distinctive feature is not, I think, shared by the snowdrop after which it was named, 'Warham'.     

[Maggi Young]

The "stock photo" sellers often have their plants mis-named.

[Matt T]

The "stock photo" sellers often have their plants mis-named.

Indeed they do. I recall an article about snowdrops by a national newspaper illustrated with a photograph of Leucojum vernum earlier this year!

[Alan_b]

It seems that Mark Smyth won in the end.  This year, Taylors have dropped the 'Washfield Warham' name and are selling (what seems to be) the same thing just as Galanthus plicatus (selected as late flowering).

My sick-looking bulbs from 2015 produced no flowers and showed all the signs of stag. on their leaves.  When I took them out of their pot yesterday the bulbs had mostly been reduced to husks.  I took a photo of the small remaining live parts.