Galanthus January 2009

[Maggi Young]

Forgive my ignorance : do I detect a distinct note of regret that the delightful Green Dancer is now shown not to be a nivalis form/hybrid, whatever? Is this just because plicatus types of this sort ( I hope to goodness it IS a plicate type) are more usual? I think it's lovely anyway..... I'd hate to think all the exctiement was just because of the nivalos connection???

[mark smyth]

If it is a plicatus it's a good find and should get the chop. I know of only one other green tipped plicatus. I cant see the leaf very well. Is there an elwesii hood on the tip?

[Roma]

Lovely selection of snowdrops , Paddy.  I'm not a collector of named snowdrops but I do know Fred's Giant and yours does not look like the real thing.  It should have a large X shaped mark.  There have been a couple of pictures recently of the true plant.  I intend visiting the Cruickshank Garden soon and hope to photograph it in it's original home. 
Roma

[Martin Baxendale]

If it is a plicatus it's a good find and should get the chop. I know of only one other green tipped plicatus. I cant see the leaf very well. Is there an elwesii hood on the tip?

I have some green-tipped plicatus seedlings. Not as strongly green as 'Greenfinch' but quite nice and I'm hoping for better ones.

[steve owen]

 
Back from Zummerzet, cold and dark. Two pics of the ditch at East Lambrook Garden yesterday show how late their drops are.

Also Big Boy and Flocon de Neige.

[Maggi Young]

When Roma says " but I do know 'Fred's Giant' ..... believe her, because she worked at the Cruickshank Botanic Gardens for many years.... where Fred Sutherland, discoverer of Fred's Giant on 1949, was head gardener. It's the old problem of similar plants getting the wrong name, isn't it?

[Diane Whitehead]

re Green Dancer:

All the snowdrops at that site were elwesii as I recall (having photographed
and collected seeds there).

It's an old garden, near my grandparents' five acres where elwesii had
naturalized.

[johnw]

re Green Dancer:

Good to get the news Diane, thanks for that.

Still a nice one.

johnw

[Anthony Darby]

Much more better.

[johnw]

Paddy  - Thanks for the spectacular show. Your conditions seem to be perfect for rapid increase.

johnw

[Hagen Engelmann]

John W, never thought to see such good and fine galanthus out of Europe. ( because we mean here is the capital of galanthus. But the epicenter is the black sea.) 

Hagen

[Paddy Tobin]

Roma,

Many thanks for your comments on G. 'Fred's Giant'. My own information on the snowdrop is that it originated at the Cruickshank Gardens and was distributed from there, named after Fred who was there at the time. I was also told that when the original clump was divided and distributed it was discovered that there were in fact several different flower markings - just the stuff for confusion. My own bulbs came from a man who told me he had received them from Fred's daughter with this note on the fact that there seemed to be some very different snowdrops bearing the name; her explanation being that the original clump was in fact a collection of variously marked snowdrops.

I would be delighted to see photographs from Cruickshank Gardens of their plants and hope you can post some after your visit.

EDIT: Back home and am quoting this from the snowdrop book: " 'Fred's Giant' is bedevilled by the not unusual scenario that there are several clones doing the rounds under the one name, each with an impeccable prevenance, and all from the original multi-cloned clump.   .....  The one most commonly encountered, especially in Scotland, is an unremarkable snowdrop of medium height, fairly early flowering, with an apical mark on the inner segments and two dots or dashes near the base. Material received from Cruickshank Botanic Garden (1993) showed not this marking but a solid X-shape. We have not observed the variability in mark within clonal groups referred to by Nutt (1993) although it can be seen in the photograph accompanying Lyn Bezzant's 1993 article."

John (W), yes, our conditions seem to suit snowdrops. Certainly, Ireland has been a great breeding ground for daffodils and has produced hundreds of different cultivars and I presume the snowdrops benefit from similar conditions. Referring to your listing in another thread - the wish list - I suggest you let me know if you see something you like and I can take note and send it on later in the season. Is there going to be some difficulty with posting to you? Are there import restrictions on you?  You have my list at any rate and can pick and choose from that. As you see, when they get going for me they grow well. Not all perform as well. G. reginae olgae and its cultivars do not like the very wet winter conditions we have and wet summers also lead to heavy wet soil. The last G. reg. olg. I received were planted in a raised bed into pure sand above a gritty mixture, my thought being that the bulbs would be in excellent drainage and the roots would still make their way down into a good growing medium. The last batch of G. reg. olg. lost their flowers to slugs but the foliage is now doing well and I live in hopes of flowers next year. 

Paddy

[Anthony Darby]

Here's a link to an article in today's 'Scotsman'.
http://www.scotsman.com/latestnews/Rare-snowdrops-worth-70-each.4933213.jp

[KentGardener]

Here's a link to an article in today's 'Scotsman'.
http://www.scotsman.com/latestnews/Rare-snowdrops-worth-70-each.4933213.jp

Thanks Anthony - those nasty thieving Englishmen!  Must get myself to the snowdrops markets in Wisbech! 

John

[Hagen Engelmann]

Some newer G. nivalis scharlockii haven`t the classical dogears. The have a tripart spatha.