Moray Group Snowdrop Day

[Carol Shaw]

Hi All
Just home from the Moray Group's fantastic snowdrop day organised by Ronnie Loveland with help from Maggie & David Sharp. 22 Moray & Highland members visited three fantastic gardens, Drummir Castle, Innes House and Orton House. Of the three Innes house had by far the most spectacular display of snowdrops - including an all white sport!
Once we've recovered from the day David, and maybe myself, will post up some pix. We also brought home examples of some of the different snowdrops, including the al white one, with the hope of I.D.ing them using Aaron Davis book - again we will try to photograph them and let you see the results.
I know Ronnie is planning on running this day again next year as it was such a success so put the info into your calendar if you'd like to be there next year.
I know we saw G. nivalis, G. plicatus and G. elwesii - as for the rest, are they just crosses, who knows!

[Lesley Cox]

And to think we'd almost got through the main snowdrop season without the wild excesses of previous years on the Forum

Just joking Carol, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you saw.

[David Shaw]

As Carol says, we had a wonderful day on the three estate gardens on this visit organised by tour guide Ronnie Loveland. The woods were full of snowdrops and altogether we saw many more 'drops than when we visited Cambo. Group members could be seen in all the usual postions taking photos, I would have used up three reel of film, and some of the pictures came out satisfactorily whilst others didn't! Finally a small vase of just a few of the forms that we saw. Note the pure white one just to left of centre.
After such a great day I am even less convinced of the reasons behind Galanthophilia. In these woods we saw so many interesting forms of galanthus that I wonder about the sanity of spending pounds and pounds on a bulb of flower just because it has a name. Some of the ones that we saw were far more attractive and interesting than the ones on sale at Early Bulbs for £15 - £20.

[mark smyth]

Looks like a mix of nivalis and elwesii in the vase. Your all white isnt just white it's a poculiforme or poc for short. The inners are elonagted to match the outer three and lose the green marking

[Carol Shaw]

What I really enjoyed was seeing the massive drifts of 'drops... Innes House really was spectacular and we all spent over 2 hours wandering around comparing and contrasting the different 'drops. None of us was particularly well versed in the different species, though Colleen and John had a crib sheet and Ronnie had obviously been making notes when Rod Leeds spoke at Early Bulbs.

Then we went up to Brodie Castle shrubbery garden today and looked at some more... all of which were nivalis (at least I can i.d. that one now!)

[Lesley Cox]

What wonderful displays, thanks very much David and Carol.
Following my tongue-in-cheek comment above, I looked in the Galanthus section of the Forum Index and found that far from there being few Forum snowdrops this northern winter, there were masses, like last year. Obviously my notification problem isn't fully fixed yet so I have some back tracking still to do.

[Giles]

Brodie Castle is great for daffodils too.
One of the past Brodies was an expert, and they have alot of the older cultivars.

[Maggi Young]

Brodie Castle is great for daffodils too.
One of the past Brodies was an expert, and they have alot of the older cultivars.

Yes, but I believe that the names for most of them are lost in the mists of time....... ( the daffs, not the Brodies)

[Carol Shaw]

Brodie Castle is great for daffodils too.
One of the past Brodies was an expert, and they have alot of the older cultivars.

Yes, but I believe that the names for most of them are lost in the mists of time....... ( the daffs, not the Brodies)

When we first visited the castle there was a whole field of named Brodie cultivars in the old walled garden. Now there is just a row of them at the side of the shrubbery garden those are all named but many have been completely lost... The NTS just does not have the people power to keep things up (well head office might but each property has to wash it's own face!).

[Carol Shaw]

and a few more pix for you all... Note dapper Davie's posh hat!

[Lesley Cox]

Lovely pics Carol. I feel though, for the person in the top of this batch who appears to be hoping for a "comfort" break very soon.

[Carol Shaw]

Oh that was just Margaret Graham standing with her legs crossed... No comfort break for another 2 hours 

[Lesley Cox]

Sorry Margaret.

[Carol Shaw]

Sorry Margaret.

No worries she does not visit the forum. Davie Sharp, who made the fab. soup we all consumed on Saturday, is hors de combat with iriditis and lying down in a darkened room to recover... I know we all wish him and Maggie well.

[Lesley Cox]

What is iriditis Carol? Sounds like an addiction to Iris, Crocus et al. But maybe something to do with the eyes?