Snowdrop ident please?

[Alan_b]

I think 'Rosie' is a good stab at the correct identification.  That's not one I grow myself or remember seeing but Ruben posted a picture here http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=12602.msg321648#msg321648 which looks quite similar and he notes that it is early flowering.

[ashley]

I grow 'Rosie', in honour of my daughter of the same name , and agree that it's a good match to your photos Marie-Rose. 
However, as Alan says, it's often hard to identify a 'lost label' galanthus cultivar with any certainty due to proliferation of named forms that look rather similar.

[Alan_b]

I agree with Ashley that you should be very wary identifying a 'lost label' snowdrop because many are too similar for this to be possible.  Now if you knew for certain that you had owned 'Rosie' but could not find it growing anywhere with a label then that would be more evidence in favour of the provisional identification.  When I plant a new snowdrop I try to take a picture of the snowdrop and the label in close-up, then another from a distance with the snowdrop in the centre of the frame to show where it is in the garden. 

[Marie-Rose N]

Many thanks Alan-b and ashley  for your interest of identification my Galanthus Rosie.
It's the right snowdrop.

[Marie-Rose N]

Thank you Alan_b. You gave me a good solution. This is how I'm going to do for my 25 snowdrops spots in the garden.

[Alan_b]

That's very nicely done, Marie-Rose.  What software did you use for your numbers and captions?

[Marie-Rose N]

Photoshop + Excel
I use Photoshop for the photo and the numbers and I make a copy/paste from Excel of the texts.

[Hannelore]

In my garden I have a small group of Galanthus elwesii which I bought under this name from our local garden shop that is merely a farmer providing place. I'd like to know if they have a more specific addition to the name. They're flowering since more than 3 weeks but today they opened completely for the first time.


Then I have another one which I brought from an exchange market. It is labelled "galathus nivalis ssp imparati". I cannot find this in any book or on the internet. The flower is not yet open, so it's no use to photograph it now. Does anybody know this cultivar?

Regards
Hannelore

[ashley]

.... It is labelled "galathus nivalis ssp imparati". I cannot find this in any book or on the internet. The flower is not yet open, so it's no use to photograph it now. Does anybody know this cultivar?

Presumably G. nivalis subsp. imperati (see e.g. here).  G. imperati is considered a synonym of G. nivalis.

[Hannelore]

Presumably G. nivalis subsp. imperati (see e.g. here).  G. imperati is considered a synonym of G. nivalis.

Thank you. I'll post a photo as soon as it's open.

[Alan_b]

Galanthus elwesii .... I'd like to know if they have a more specific addition to the name.

The inner petals have two marks, one towards the tip and one towards the base.  So they are Galanthus elwesii var. elwesii.

It is labelled "galathus nivalis ssp imparati".

Imperati is a name that was applied to a particularly large form of Galanthus nivalis.  Supposedly this form is found in regions of Italy, as Ashley's reference states.  These days we are not so impressed by mere size so I think this usage is passing into history. 

[Harald-Alex.]

I have got a Email of a gardenfriend, she wants to know the name of the snowdrop of the foto. I can see, it is a G.elwesii and guess the variety as: Alanya Yayla with a similar form of the green markers. Can You help me to identify this snowdrop?
Thanks Harald Alex

[Alan_b]

The Galanthus elwesii that you can buy in garden centres or find established in gardens show a huge range of different marks on the inner petals.  As a result it isn't generally possible to identify an example of Galanthus elwesii just on this basis.  I agree that it looks like a snowdrop circulated with the name 'from Alanya Yayla' or similar but how can you be sure that it is that snowdrop and not just one that looks similar?  Perhaps if you could do a side-by-side comparison and look at every aspect: flowers leaves, size, flowering time, scent then you might know but I don't think it is going to be possible to tell just from photographs.

[Harald-Alex.]

The Galanthus elwesii that you can buy in garden centres or find established in gardens show a huge range of different marks on the inner petals.  As a result it isn't generally possible to identify an example of Galanthus elwesii just on this basis.  I agree that it looks like a snowdrop circulated with the name 'from Alanya Yayla' or similar but how can you be sure that it is that snowdrop and not just one that looks similar?  Perhaps if you could do a side-by-side comparison and look at every aspect: flowers leaves, size, flowering time, scent then you might know but I don't think it is going to be possible to tell just from photographs.

thank You Alan nery much for Your informations. I had a compare with pictures from Günter Waldorfs book "Schneeglöckchen Zauber in Weiß" where he wrote, that such snowdrops especially in germany are grown. The gardenfreind got thes under the name "Carmen" from her auntie, but such a variety I dont know! Greetings Harald

[Alan_b]

If it's called 'Carmen' then that is what it is.  If it ever had another name, why would it have been changed?  Anyone can give a name to a snowdrop (provided that name has not been used already for another snowdrop).  I looked online and can find no reference to a snowdrop named 'Carmen', either yours or any other.  So the name may well be available for use. 

You can, if you wish, apply to register the name with the KAVB, the registration authority for snowdrops.  I myself have registered a double snowdrop called 'Cressida' and a vigorous inversely poculiform snowdrop called 'The More the Merrier'.  I believe Anne Wright ('Annew') registered her Dryad Gold series names. 

However, these days a snowdrop needs to be quite special to merit being named.  'Carmen' is pretty enough but the marks on the inner petals are not out of the ordinary; you found another one that looks quite similar and that is named for the place where it was found as much as for anything else.  But perhaps 'Carmen' has other qualities that are not visual?  There's one called 'Cedric's Prolific' that was named (some while ago) for being prolific.