Galanthus March 2010

[Gerard Oud]

Nice platyphyllus you have Anthony looks like they are bulking up too!

[Anthony Darby]

Nice platyphyllus you have Anthony looks like they are bulking up too!

Yes Gerard, it looks quite vigorous. I now need to find someone who has it from a different source to do a swap. The ones in the garden are just now poking the first green tip through the soil.

[Gerard Oud]

Here is a pic of mine and from the last elwesii flowering now Snowwhite

[Anthony Darby]

'Snowwhite' has a lovely moustache!

[Paddy Tobin]

Coming to the end of the snowdrop season here, I'm afraid, with the rain battering those still in the garden.

Paddy

Baxendale's Late - a good one, very upright and lengthening the season though Martin is inclined to disparage it.
Beth Chatto - this has been infuriatingly slow to bulk up.
Captain Dunstan's Snowdrop - simply a name of convenience
Cicely Hall
Emerald Isle - green markings on outer segments seems to be very light this year. A very slow snowdrop to bulk up, hates being disturbed but there is the good news that it comes true from seed as it is a clonal variety - I quote an Irish snowdrop enthusiast, a specialist in genetics, who has grown lots from seed and all have come true.
Lady Ainsworth - another name of convenience
Melanie Broughton
Tatjana
Trym

[Gerard Oud]

Nice drops Paddy. Mine Beth Chatto is bulking up well although its the last one left

Anthony i took the pic before the daily shave!

[art600]

The marks on Paddy's 'Beth Chatto' are very different from the marks on Gerard's snowdrops 

[Brian Ellis]

There was some hiccup with 'Beth Chatto', in that when I enquired into buying one from them they said it had seeded out and wouldn't sell one until it was in flower.  Then they put it on ebay and, much as I wanted one, I was disinclined to bid some ridiculous price to get it.  The plant I first saw in a massive clump in Rod Leeds garden was much more like Gerard's - short and stocky with a big flower.  Perhaps yours is not happy where it is growing Paddy?

[art600]

There was some hiccup with 'Beth Chatto', in that when I enquired into buying one from them they said it had seeded out and wouldn't sell one until it was in flower.  Then they put it on ebay and, much as I wanted one, I was disinclined to bid some ridiculous price to get it.  The plant I first saw in a massive clump in Rod Leeds garden was much more like Gerard's - short and stocky with a big flower.  Perhaps yours is not happy where it is growing Paddy?

Brian

Maybe Gerard's plant is happier in growth than Paddy's, but what about the inner mark.

[Alan_b]

Coming to the end of the snowdrop season here, I'm afraid, with the rain battering those still in the garden.

Paddy

I don't know how you do it, Paddy.  Your snowdrop season started ahead of mine yet is still going when all my snowdrops (including late flowering ones; Trym for example) have gone over.

[David Quinton]

There was some hiccup with 'Beth Chatto', in that when I enquired into buying one from them they said it had seeded out and wouldn't sell one until it was in flower.  Then they put it on ebay and, much as I wanted one, I was disinclined to bid some ridiculous price to get it.  The plant I first saw in a massive clump in Rod Leeds garden was much more like Gerard's - short and stocky with a big flower.  Perhaps yours is not happy where it is growing Paddy?

Brian, I asked Rod about 'Beth Chatto' earlier this year and he said that what he was growing as 'Beth Chatto' was not the correct one.

[Gerard Oud]

The Beth Chatto gardens lost the original stock from this nice plicatus and took another stock for that name. The one i have got is from the original stock, this is what has been told me when i received it.

[Anthony Darby]

Some of my snowdrops are still not at their best: 'Trumps' for instance. 'Baxendale's late is just coming out now and platyphyllus in the garden is just above the soil surface with no flower buds even visible yet.

[Paddy Tobin]

Just reading now the comments on G. 'Beth Chatto' above. I received a bulb from the Beth Chatto nursery in October 2005 (1 bulb @ £12.50). I now have one flower and one offshoot. As Brian says above it is obviously not very happy with me. It seems to be in good health but I think I may move it to a different situation in the garden.

I note Arthur's comments that the markings on my 'Beth Chatto' are different to those on Gerard's and they most certainly are, completely different. The illustration in the snowdrop book does nothing to help. The description of the inner segment markings reads, "marking covering 7/8 of segment, a basal triangle narrowly joined in middle to an apical V with expanded rounded arm-ends." I will try to get a better photograph when the flower opens a bit more if at all possible as rain is forecast for the coming days here.

Alan, we enjoyed a good season here this year. Those that came earlier lasted ages because of the cold weather but I note that those in flower at present are going over very quickly. G. 'Cicely Hall' is really the only one that is in its prime at the moment. Even 'Baxendale's Late' which only opened a few days ago is beginning to flag already.

We really do need you folk with the later season on the continent to keep us entertained with your photographs from now on.

Paddy

[Anthony Darby]

Here's some taken today.
'The Linns'
'Mighty Atom'
'Warham' (platyphyllus just visible as green shoots behind)
'Handel'
'Yvonne Hay' (note the huge supervolute leaves)