Yellowish G. elwesii in Canada

[Alan_b]

It does have a rather pale and wan look about it.

[Brian Ellis]

I am intrigued, Diane, by the fact that both this singleton and the clump are by rocks.  Is there something in the soil that is causing this?  Have you had seed from them and grown them at home and, if so, do they exhibit the same colour?  There is something very appealing in your photo of the lonely snowdrop on the rock!

[Diane Whitehead]

There are quite a few outcroppings of bedrock, and oak trees
dropping leaves every year.  Our soils are acidic because of
the winter rain washing out nutrients. 

Spring-blooming wildflowers like Dodecatheon and Olsynium
often grow in moss in the thin soil layer of bedrock.  It all
dries out thoroughly from June to October and turns green
again when the rains start. 

This wan snowdrop is  from a seed dropped from the clumps
growing in deeper soil between the rock outcroppings. I hope
it produces some seeds that I can collect.

I am growing lots of seedlings, but none are old enough to
flower yet.

[Diane Whitehead]

Friends and I have just been to visit the snowdrops again, and all the yellowish
ones have been dug out.  Whoever it was wasn't very neat about it, and unwanted
green ones were left with their roots in the air.  I tucked them back into the soil.

I'm glad I managed to get seeds in previous years and now just have to be patient
till they bloom.

[Martin Baxendale]

That's unfortunate, Diane. I hope you weren't too upset by it. As you say, you have the seedlings coming on, so that's something.

[Diane Whitehead]

This year in that garden, there were no yellow flowers, but a couple of plants
with yellow blotched leaves which I haven't seen in previous years.

The area beside them is clear of snowdrops, but thick with oak leaves.
I wonder if the leaves may have been covered with leaves when they were
emerging.  If so, they should green up.

[annew]

Diane, the poculiform elwesii seeds you sent me a couple of years ago are flowering and looking normal, but I'm going to cross them all together to see if anything turns up in the next generation.

[Diane Whitehead]

They were green-tipped pocs and just look ordinary?  That's disappointing.
Mine are still single-leaved  so it will be a couple of years before I see the flowers.

[annew]

That's the luck of the draw - the genes are in there somewhere, just got to get them out!

[johnw]

Diane -  How awful.  Are you saying all those yellow elwesiis were stolen?  Were you not able to get a few of them yourself before the theft?  It's not as if everyone out there has an eye for these things and that is doubly disturbing.  Well at least you got the pollen.

johnw

[Diane Whitehead]

Yes, every single one, from all over that large property.  And no, I asked the owner
for permission a couple of years ago, but then didn't dig one because I thought the
staff and customers would think I was stealing.

I did get pollen, and some seeds.

There are still green-tips and pocs.  Just the yellowish ones were taken.

[Alan_b]

Diane, it wasn't the property owner deciding to move the yellows somewhere else for safe-keeping?

If I find an interesting and unusual snowdrop I feel I have a duty to try to rescue it and look after it myself.  Although my own garden is by no means free from dangers, it's still a lot safer then the 'wild' where snowdrops frequently get damaged because people disregard them in season and completely forget about them when dormant.  Plus I think a large mass of snowdrops can be a highly competitive environment where only the fittest and/or the luckiest survive.

I always first gain permission to remove a snowdrop and if there are enough of the same type then I leave some behind so as not to adversely affect the gene pool.  But I will explain to anyone who might challenge me that I have permission.  If there were a gardener I would invite them to come along and oversee the operation.  Gardeners are usually happy to talk with someone who has specialist knowledge of one of the plants in their care.

I know it's too late in this instance but that's my philosophy on the issue.  I should probably mention that snowdrops are not native to the UK so they are not wild flowers here.   

[johnw]

Diane  - That is sickening. Let's hope the genes are still hiding there.

And good point Alan!  After many years of searching for the white rhodora I found 3 big plants in an industrial park bog on the edge of a city park.  I grabbed a botany professeur friend and dragged him off to the site.  It was a dicey situation, the site straddled the park and a school playground just 15ft away, mind you we had to crawl under the school fence to get at the plants.  After much deliberation we decided to lift 2/3s of each plant and leave the rest for the gene pool.  The plants survived but when we went back the next year the city had drained that very same small spot, infilled with gravel, paved it and made a tennis court.  Lesson learned.

Ten years later  a boardwalk was erected through the bog and I took a walk through, there were white rhodoras here and there, maybe 8-10 plants in all.

johnw

[deee]

just found this thread :

I just bought a few pots of straight elwesii from an online seller and out of the 10 or so there was one that showed pretty clear yellow inner markings similar to the ones posted here.

The ovary looked more green /olive but very similar indeed.

Unfortunatley the bulb was heavily rotted and the flower fell to pieces so not a happy ending -- refund on way and one possible offset that might make it.

Im guessing buying bulk of elwesii bulbs in dormant season would possibly give some intresting results as it looks as if a second yellow elwessi is out there in circulation.

[Alan_b]

People have been bulk-buying elwesiis for decades without finding yellows (with one or two exceptions).  I don't think yellow is in the gene pool of any elwesii sources used in the past but they might start digging them up from elsewhere so who knows what could happen in future.