Galanthus Autumn 2010

[chasw]

Well I've had the day out in the garden tidying up,nice bonfire also,but........................................................No signs of any yet

[Diane Whitehead]

A week ago I had a small patch of reginae-olgae buds.  When I looked
for flowers, there was only one - not a remnant of the others.  I went
out with a flashlight at night and there was a giant slug - too big to
stomp, so it got cut in half.

I don't usually have trouble with slugs in the fall as it is usually still dry,
but the rains came early.

[steve owen]

Barnes, Athenae and Hollis all now flowering.

[Alan_b]

"Peter Gatehouse" just coming into flower as the reginae olgae are going over.  This, I think, is as early as "Peter" has ever flowered for me.  "Peter Gatehouse" is an excellent early elwesii, distinguished by the fullness of the green markings on the inner petals.

The spot is at the base of a climbing hydrangea, dry and shaded in summer but plenty of light in winter.  In my experience the best spot in the garden for autumn snowdrops is somewhere sufficiently dry that nothing much grows in summer so nothing to tempt the slugs in that direction but somewhere that is warm and sunny in winter, underneath a deciduous shrub for example.  It's a fine balancing act.  I had a nice clump of reginae olgae that originally did very well under my new wisteria but are now gradually dying out as the wisteria matures.  If I was in Ireland I would try then on a rockery or somewhere with very fierce drainage.

[Alan_b]

Hmm, that wasn't a very good last photograph, although it sets the overall scene.  Here is a (better) close-up.  

Maybe some of the others can do a bit more show-and-tell?  Steve has snowdrops in flower I have never heard of; I'd love to see what they look like.

[Paddy Tobin]

Alan,

Re you comment on positioning G. reg. olg. in Ireland: Here I have a few cultivars in a raised bed which originally had a very gritty mix used to fill it and when I was planting the bulbs I extra grit  in the planting area and also placed the bulbs on a layer of sharp sand and grit. G. reg. olg. 'Tilebarn Jamie' has a couple of shoots above ground now. I really don't think the Irish climate suits them.

Certainly very early to have 'Peter Gatehouse' in flower.

Paddy

[mark smyth]

While out weeding today I saw my elwesii monostictus without a sinus notch are above ground and ... x Allenii ... and Iris Katharine Hodgkin

[Gerdk]

A week ago I had a small patch of reginae-olgae buds.  When I looked
for flowers, there was only one - not a remnant of the others.  I went
out with a flashlight at night and there was a giant slug - too big to
stomp, so it got cut in half.

I don't usually have trouble with slugs in the fall as it is usually still dry,
but the rains came early.

It seems the slugs in my region have a different taste - no problems with
them - I hope this will continue!

Gerd

[mark smyth]

The slugs and snails in my garden are always well fed

[Alan_b]

I really don't think the Irish climate suits them.

In my garden they like a warm sunny spot that the slugs don't frequent.  It mustn't be bone dry, but I don't think you do bone dry in Ireland!  Surely the only significant difference between the Irish climate and the Cambridgeshire climate is that you get vastly more rainfall than we do.

[ian mcenery]

A couple from me.

G RO Cambridge and G elwesi Barnes

Strangely Cambridge doesn't attract the slugs whereas Tilebarn Jamie positively attracts them and the slugs eat off the flowers underground before I get a chance to see them

[KentGardener]

I thought I had lost 'Tilebarn Jamie' - but this afternoon I have spotted the sad remnants of some leaves and stems above the soil    - as in 1cm remaining above ground.  Grrrrrrr!   

Definitely a slug magnet in this garden!

[Martin Baxendale]

Nearly finished repotting all my seedlings, previous years' chipped bulbs, etc. Now to start on this year's chips - starting to get urgent as some of the earliest ones are starting to make roots in the bags (not a problem if handled carefully, but doesn't make potting any easier!) I just got all the bags out to look for those with roots and counted 98 bags, so just short of the 100 I thought I'd done.

[Anthony Darby]

You're going to need a bigger garden Martin!

[Martin Baxendale]

You're going to need a bigger garden Martin!

Exactly what I was just thinking!