Galanthus January 2011

[Hoy]

Brownie points if you can name the two birds in the background.

I think I heard blackbirds (winter sounds) or another thrush, and blue tits.

Was out today looking for my snowdrops but not much yet, soil still frozen.
However the spring snowflake is coming to life.

[Paddy Tobin]

Anne, I'm afraid I wouldn't venture beyond agreeing that it is an elwesii. Paddy

[Paddy Tobin]

If I might make a suggestion.....for record/ID purposes, I would like photos of flowers, inside and out, leaves and taken with a ruler to show size and scale.
However lovely a photo may,if is it not accompanied buy full size details (and even if it were, it can be separated from those in time) it is not really useful in the long term. Pictures such as I suggest will forever be a more complete record of the plant.
Without such refinements most photos are just pretty pictures. In a world such as that of the Galanthophile, such details are the meat and drink of the whole obsession., as I see it. The on going doubts about so many tpyes might be clarified at least somewhat by  careful photography.  I'm not saying it is always ( ever? ) possible to ID a plant ( any plant) purely by a photograph but for sure it would be easier to avoid doubt when sometimes one has never seen the "real" plant in question and all one has to go on is a vague description and a photo that does not tell the whole story........

That being said, I do not decry the beautiful snowdrop shots that we see on the Forum, which are delightful, and really works of art.... my point is particularly about making a record of reference.

Maggi,

I have no doubt that such an exercise and record would provide an invaluable resource but for the purposes of the forum it would be rather overdemanding. I believe that almost all photographs posted here are for interest sake only, for the sake of illustration and for the sake of sharing with others who share the interest in snowdrops. They are, generally, not intended for identification purposes though they, obviously, do help in that regard. It is obvious over the years that identification from a photograph is regularly very challenging for even the most knowledgeable of enthusiasts - and that's not quite the same as saying they all look the same!

What you suggest would be a big project for someone to undertake and then one wonders where it might be stored/published.

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

Yes Paddy, it would be a large indertaking.... I made the suggestion in the light of Mark's proposal that he might make videos this year. Mark does, of course, have a snowdrop website and such a project as I suggest should surely have a place there?
If someone were to embark upon such a project and it were to build into a sizeable work, then it might well be possible to establish on the SRGC Website a home for it, in the same way as Tony Goode's Crocus pages are now hosted here.
I was not thinking of the Forum in the first instance. I was saying that such detailed records would be valuable as a resource- which I think you agree to be the case?

[Martin Baxendale]

I think my ears must be going - I could only hear the traffic!
I took the following photos at a relative's house on Friday. She bought them about 20 yrs ago from Pottertons, but has forgotten the name. They are obviously slow to increase, there being only a dozen or so after all that time. Any ideas as to identity? An elwesii of some kind, but can we get a cultivar?

I don't recall Pottertons ever selling a named elwesii form, but they have regularly over the years listed elwesii. It was probably a mixed bunch of elwesii, from which (as of course is often the case) one bulb survived and multiplied into a clump.  

[johnw]

I don't recall Pottertons ever selling a named elwesii form, but they have regularly over the years listed elwesii. It was probably a mixed bunch of elwesii, from which (as of course is often the case) one bulb survived and multiplied into a clump.  

Martin - That was my recollection too. I went back through their catalogues to 1985. I see in the Spring 1996 they listed elwesii 'Cassaba' (is this not now gracilis?) and a note from a phone conversation with Bob that year said he may be be able to supply Whitallii. Neither of which solve the mystery.

johnw

[KentGardener]

Was doing a tidy up / prune back in the garden today and found another in flower that was previously hidden and I had not noticed before.  (sorry the photo doesn't show the detail that would be useful but thought I would post it anyway).  

Maidwell L

[Paddy Tobin]

Yes Paddy, it would be a large indertaking.... I made the suggestion in the light of Mark's proposal that he might make videos this year. Mark does, of course, have a snowdrop website and such a project as I suggest should surely have a place there?
If someone were to embark upon such a project and it were to build into a sizeable work, then it might well be possible to establish on the SRGC Website a home for it, in the same way as Tony Goode's Crocus pages are now hosted here.
I was not thinking of the Forum in the first instance. I was saying that such detailed records would be valuable as a resource- which I think you agree to be the case?

It would certainly be a magnificent resource - but, I'm not going to do it, well, maybe I'll do some of it. You see you have given me an idea to do something this year, what you suggest just for Irish snowdrops.

Paddy

[Paddy Tobin]

Good one, John.

Paddy

[annew]

Thank you, friends. Are there any elwesii clones in flower now that look similar? Though you are probably right that is an unnamed one. It is very early.

[alpinelover]

Today a bit of sun here in Belgium and even 13°C. ! It was enough to open the flowers of Galanthus plicatus 'Colossus'.

[Alan_b]

Are there any elwesii clones in flower now that look similar? Though you are probably right that is an unnamed one. It is very early.

It is early for a "regular" elwesii but late for an elwesii hiemelis group.  Of course, it's not a hiemelis group because those are monostictus.  Within a two mile radius of where I live I know one garden with elwesii in flower now and another area spread across several gardens with elwesii in flower now - and that is just what you can see passing by on the road.  Elwesii flowering this early are not that hard to find.     

[David Nicholson]

My first one of the season-Galanthus elwesii. A batch Arthur Nicholls sent to me a few years ago now. At the time Arthur sent me two groups, one that flowered early and one mid-season. This is from the early ones but I note that in 2008 I pictured this batch, fully open in November!

[Alan_b]

A little group of Richard Ayres that has been steadily bulking up for me since I got the original bulbs from Anglesey Abbey.  I undoubtedly have a few to spare if anyone is looking for one of these and would like to swap.   

In the photograph, the white of the actual snowdrops has ended up over-exposed.  Should I be routinely adjusting the exposure when photographing snowdrops in anticipation of this problem or will that just lead to everything else being under-exposed?  I took the photograph yesterday but it was too wet to try again today.   

[Thomas Seiler]

Choosing a slight under-exposure is always good when taking a photograph of snowdrops with a dark background, especially when there is some sun on the flowers.

Richard Ayres opened  yesterday even on the continent...