Galanthus winter 2009/2010

[ichristie]

Hi, well I grow most of my snowdrops in net pots some round 5 inches across and some big ones around 12 inches across these I plunge in the garden then if I want a pot for show or just to photograph it is easy to lift that up which does not disturb the bulbs, then when the flowers are over I re-plant. The other thing is when you have a few snowdrops in one area if they are in these net pots they should not get mixed up ( A good metal tag is attached to each pot(, I add some sharp sand on top of the pots so if you start digging then you find the pots easier,  cheers Ian the Christie kind.

[Warren Desmond]

I would like to thank you all for your kind replies..
It truly has given me a lot to think about
I will enjoy having a ponder until my garden goes ice free..!! (like most in the uk)
Cheers
Warren

[KentGardener]

Hi Warren

Are you in the UK?  I find it really useful when someone has added a signature block with their rough geographical area when I read posts - gives me a clue if they are in a similar climate to me.

Here all my Galanthus are in pond baskets - most of which are plunged into the ground (though I seem to have run out of ground so there are quite a few just lined up where there is space 

Cheers

John

[Warren Desmond]

Hi Warren

Are you in the UK?  I find it really useful when someone has added a signature block with their rough geographical area when I read posts - gives me a clue if they are in a similar climate to me.

Here all my Galanthus are in pond baskets - most of which are plunged into the ground (though I seem to have run out of ground so there are quite a few just lined up where there is space 

Cheers

John

Hi John

Yes.. I live on the Wirral... sort of half way between Liverpool & Chester
Those pond baskets sound an excellent idea... I have a couple of ponds in my garden where I keep newts...so have baskets for those,,,icristie mentioned those before  !!

With your Galanthus being in baskets John...do you re-plant them after the flowering season in new soil or just feed them ?

Cheers

Warren

[Brian Ellis]

Welcome Warren, no end of good advice given on the forum, all of mine are in net pots, most of them in the ground -  I must remember Ian's tip of a good dollop of sand on the top to mark them, although I think I will prefer grit.

[loes]

Hi Warren,

I used to have snowdrops in the garden and the same ones in pots in my greenhouse,so I could compare and enjoy .The ones in the pots didn`t do good for me,watering/feeding was clearly not my thing.
so all of them are in the ground in pond baskets.I have 3 cats who like to dig and this way they don`t get mixed up.
When they are in growth I do not dig them up cause I`m afraid I disturb the roots.

[Alan_b]

Hi Warren

Although I try to grow snowdrops in the open ground and in some raised beds, I have quite a few in largish pots, 2.5 l, I think.  These are kept outside and receive no special treatment, they are not manually watered or fed and I only change the compost every few years.  The only thing I do is to try to find them a shady position, say under a hedge, for the summer.

The snowdrops grown is pots seem to do at least as well as the ones grown elsewhere.  One reason for this is that they seem less prone to mysteriously disappear from one year to the next.  I suspect that the ones grown in the ground are more prone to insect predation.  I have certainly nursed snowdrops back to health in pots having found them half-eaten when planted out.     

[Anna]

Hi and welcome Warren. I'm very near you in the borough of Halton. I grow all my snowdrops in pots mainly to thwart squirrels. I am concerned though whether they will come through this prolonged cold spell without casualties, so maybe changes might be afoot. Time will tell.

[Richard Green]

I just caught the end of an item on the BBC One Show this evening about a "new species" (!) of snowdrop with four petals "found" in the UK.  Did anyone see it and how rare is it?

[Jo]

Hi Richard,

I saw the item, was the garden called Welford? something like that.  I grow a nivalis called 'Quadripetala', lots of   my nivalis 'Sandersii' had 5 petals last year and' Mrs Thompson' and 'Godfrey Owen ' have 6 petals. I expect everyone else will come up with more multi petalled varieties, 'Flocon de neige' ?

 So I don't think they have found a new' species'. Just a 4 petalled form of one of the known species.

[steve owen]

Hi Diane
I saw your post today at 4.39pm but the two smiley faces keep moving across the screen, so obviously I've had too much to drink so I'm going to bed. G'night.  (Hic).

[Richard Green]

Yes Jo, I think that the place mentioned.  The piece was clearly presented by someone with less than no botanical knowledge, although they did manage to get the word galanthophile into it - but perhaps that was because they didn't know what it meant !

[Alan_b]

I just caught the end of an item on the BBC One Show this evening about a "new species" (!) of snowdrop with four petals "found" in the UK.  Did anyone see it and how rare is it?

For those of you who are UK based with access to the BBC iPlayer, the item on snowdrops starts 31 minutes into The One Show.  I was more impressed with the quantity of snowdrops at Welford Park than with their four-petalled foundling. As Jo said, no indication that it is a new species, just, possibly, a new variety.   

[Maggi Young]

Thanks for that reminder, Alan.
Good publicity for the snowdrop visits....
http://www.welfordpark.co.uk/More%20Info.pdf
 I see that Welford Park is near Newbury in Berkshire. Was that film of the snowdrops made "live",so to speak.... I mean this year?   It seemed extraordinary that with the way the weather has been, in so many parts of the country, that the flowers could be so advanced already ? Is it true that the drops are in full flower in Berkshire right now? Surely not....    If they are, is it not asking a lot that they will be in decent conditon  from the 28th January through to the end of February? 

[Anthony Darby]

Hi John

Yes.. I live on the Wirral... sort of half way between Liverpool & Chester
Those pond baskets sound an excellent idea... I have a couple of ponds in my garden where I keep newts...so have baskets for those,,,icristie mentioned those before  !!

Cheers

Warren

You keep newts Warren? I used to have a pet newt. I called him tiny because he was minute.