Top of the 'drops

[KentGardener]

OK - it's got me to thinking - any people willing to say their own top ten for this year?  

I am going to wander round the garden now before the heavens open (again!) to see if I can quickly jot mine for Spring 2010 down.....

[johnw]

It would be interesting to compare the favourites list with a best performers list.  Based on what we saw last year in the UK S. Arnott, Straffan and Galatea would surely make the top of the latter list.  Maybe in 10 or 20 years some of the favoruites will prove that they have the vigour to match these old troopers.

I'd have to put Anglesey Abbey on any favourite list.

Another 2" of rain predicted and howling winds tonight.  G. nivalis almost out.

johnw

[Brian Ellis]

Pat the CGS is the Cottage Garden Society, if you belong to that you can also join their Snowdrop Group which has a couple of newsletters a year and organizes a Members Day, this year it was a talk by Cliff Curtis on "Ketton 50 years on" and then visits to two gardens.  Before the talk there were also sales of snowdrops from, amongst others, Joe Sharman's Monksilver Nursery.  I'm sure I have said all this before so apologize to regulars!

[cycnich]

Thanks Brian

[Brian Ellis]

Hi Brian

Very interesting to read again what your personal 2008 top 10 was - can I ask how it stands today? Is there much difference?
cheers

John

Mmm yes I was interested to see what my top 10 was two years ago, it hasn't changed much despite exposure to far more varieties!  I'd definitely keep 'Lapwing' as, every time I see it I think to myself how distinct it is and what a joy it is to see it again.  I'd include 'Three Ships' - for early flowering, my pot just outside the back door has finally gone over this week.  'Diggory' has to put in more effort to stay on the list, it is a good snowdrop when growing well...if 'Pat Mason' lives up to her promise, she may replace him.  Here is one new to me that has to go on the list 'Homersfield' from only twenty minutes away, a super, floriferous plant, should have taken a photo shouldn't I, thanks Mike, I'll replace 'Elfin' with that one.  'Seagull' has to stay, to my mind one of the best of the Mighty Atom group.  Oh dear this is starting to get difficult, I'm going to replace something with gracilis 'Nancy Lindsay' aka 'Sutton Courtenay'  I think it has nudged out 'Tilebarn Jamie', it is easy and floriferous, a robust early flowerer.  'Wendy's Gold' is still a good yellow to have, easy and reliable.  I wouldn't be without 'Modern Art' either or 'Godfrey Owen' and 'David Shackleton'. 

I'm glad I'm not on Desert Island Plants!  Having given it a little thought there is not much change...but if it was my top twenty I would be adding more that would be harder to obtain and expensive.  'Swanton' would be up there, but where oh where would I get 'Chadwick's Cream' for example and having seen the orange tinted Anglesey Abbey snowdrop I'd better bow out now

[cycnich]

Brian
       Well done this is what us novices need, information, come on guys keep it coming, brilliant!. Pat.

[KentGardener]

OK - I've explored my little patch and here is my, quickly written down, list:


This is my list of things that I have really enjoyed in the garden this year – I can’t say that they are ‘easily available’ – but I think half the fun is searching out new things and making lots of wonderful and interesting new friends in the process.

My snowdrop top 10 for 2010 (in no particular order and written quickly on a cold rainy Sunday afternoon).

X-Files – one of the early ones for me and still had a single flower hanging on last week.

Ding Dong – shows its inner bits on even a cold day – and has been entertaining me for weeks (the slut!)

Godfrey Owen – distinct and a good doer increasing well.

Wendy’s Gold - if happy she seems to increase well.

Pear Drop – large and lovely scent.

Richard Ayres – one of the flowers you can spot from 40ft away (when in a clump)

Trymlet – may have ‘late season virus’ but such a nice flower.  Worth a place if you have the space?…..

Madeleine – a nice yellow and a really good increaser in my garden – but not in all gardens I hear.

Three Ships – a welcome flower during the Christmas holiday.

R. O. ssp vernalis – a good doer here.



Time for Sunday dinner.



Sorry - I struggled with typing that confused list......Some others that could be in my top ten.....

Trumps  - lovely marks and a good doer increasing well.

Pat Mason – a little slow – but big shapely green tipped flowers of good substance that have caught my eye when wandering in my minute estate for the last couple of snowdrop seasons.

South Hayes – beautiful – lost my first purchase but from this source seems to be increasing.

Wendy's Gold – a classic and if it likes your earth a good doer.

Trumps – still a rarity but seems  a good doer if settled and happy.

Fuzz – I don’t have it but as a lover of ‘the spikey’ types I have fallen in  fell in love with it at the RHS hall last month.

Trimmer - showing a good large flower among the many many ‘Trym offspring.

[chasw]

Here you are Brian,Homersfield

[Brian Ellis]

Trumps – still a rarity but seems  a good doer if settled and happy.

I knew there was at least one that I had forgotten ... but I did try to keep it to ten

Thanks Chas, it's a good one isn't it...and this is a case in point Pat, it looks ordinary (?) but you have to see it in the flesh to appreciate it.

[cycnich]

Thanks John
                 I and quite a few others are learning a lot from this. Pat

[KentGardener]

I and quite a few others are learning a lot from this. Pat

 Indeed.  A lot is leant from what people post.

[cycnich]

Thanks John for popping out in the awful weather to refresh your list of favourites. Novices like me need the info only good growers like yourself can provide and it is appreciated. Cheers Pat. Sorry if I am a pain in the arse.

[mark smyth]

awful weather?! Brilliant day here today with 10c and 50% cloud. Warm in the sun but chilly in the shade

[Paddy Tobin]

Joining in with a list of favourites but with a slightly different approach. I am listing those snowdrops which have done very well in my garden, ones which have bulked up very well so that I now have big clumps of them, some in the hundreds.


Straffan
S. Arnott
Atkinsii
Ophelia
Desdemona
Magnet
Elwesii monostictus
Warham
Anglesey Abbey
John Gray
Brenda Troyle
Hill Poe

One could go on and on but these have all proven easy in the garden, are relatively cheap to purchase and are reliable and give a good display. None of the most up to date cultivars listed but then I haven't grown these long enough to assess as much as those in the list above.


Paddy

[cycnich]

Joining in with a list of favourites but with a slightly different approach. I am listing those snowdrops which have done very well in my garden, ones which have bulked up very well so that I now have big clumps of them, some in the hundreds.


Straffan
S. Arnott
Atkinsii
Ophelia
Desdemona

Thanks Paddy 4 out of those 5 I am growing, the odd one out being Desdemonda. Pat.