Snowdrop worries in Kent

[daveyp1970]

Cheers for that lads i can breathe a sigh of relief.

[kentish_lass]

Thanks for the explanation of PM - I thought it would be something very obvious

My, this snowdrop collecting is like an expensive game of Russian roullette.  As you will all know the more common nivalis 'Viridapice' simply thrives on heavier soils and mine multiplies like crazy.  Does anyone know of any other cultivars that love heavy soil as well?  Maybe that is the direction I should be heading.  My soil is very heavy but I do improve it constantly,  but when it rains for long periods I can imagine the little bulbs could suffer.  What more can I do to help them?  More grit and more sand when planting?

thanks Jennie

[KentGardener]

Brian can i ask if your blewberry tart is up

Hi Davey

Only just out of the soil here - and I mean 'only just'.

[GoodGrief]

If it's not been said before... try growing in pots and put them in a greenhouse.

I live in East Sussex in an area with terrible clay. In fact, they used to make bricks here.
The local pub used to be called the Brickmakers Arms.

I keep 95% of my varieties in pots. I overwinter them in a greenhouse. It keeps the worst of the frost off them and they don't get too wet.
And I get to look at them close up without getting my knees wet!

I'll contemplate planting out permanently some of the more expensive ones when I've built sufficient quantities of stock.

One last thing, in parts of the garden I got a man with a digger to remove the top 18 inches of clay.
Otherwise, it breaks your heart to have to use a crowbar to plant some poor wee delicate item.

Regards, Malcolm.

[Brian Ellis]

Brian can i ask if your blewberry tart is up the is no sign so far of the bulb you gave me last year.

Sorry Davey just seen your question, mine are only just showing so panic not!

[steve owen]

Jennie
You've had a lot of good advice already on this thread,which I won't repeat.

There is no doubt that growing snowdrops takes strong nerve.  Some flourish whilst others (often expensively-bought) sulk and disappear.  The flourishers and sulkers vary from garden to garden and soil-type to soil-type. My sulker is another's flourisher. I have learned that, if I really want to grow a sulker, I am going to have to buy again, experiment with different garden situations and maybe coddle a bulb in a pot for a while, as some Forumists have suggested. My bank manager would pale to discover how often I have grimly acquired replacement bulbs in this situation.

A half way house worth considering is to plant a newly-acquired bulb in an aquatic-type lattice pot, amidst well-drained compost and plant the pot plus bulb in the ground with decent prepared drainage (i.e. grit or sand) underneath, as Chris Sanham advocates.

Whilst most of my snowdrop varieties are now showing (but a minority of these have yet to flower), I have about seventy varieties still to appear, so don't think all is lost yet. I know that some of my absentees will appear, and I know from experience that some will have given up. I have embarked on a long-term programme to exhume all varieties, divide, fungicide, and replant in  lattice pots. It will take forever but I am pretty sure it will reduce the annual loss rate to a minimum and probably also result in healthier clumps. I also know that late appearance often means ill-health; such bulbs become candidates foe early exhumation, inspection, fungiciding and replanting.

Finally, when acquiring bulbs, trust no-one. Wash every acquisition in fungicide, and plant it away from others until at least a growing season has convinced you that you have a healthy plant. When I started I didn't observe this golden rule and boy have I learned the hard way.

Good luck!

[Alan_b]

Finally, when acquiring bulbs, trust no-one....

I think this is very good advice but it sounds a bit negative.  It's not that the snowdrop world is full of unscrupulous individuals, just fallible human beings.  The commercial grower may be too busy to subject all their snowdrop to scrupulous inspection.  The amateur may not recognise some of the signs of disease (for example, I don't think one would necessarily spot a bulb with a mild and possibly treatable case of Stagonospora curtisii until one has learned what a more-severe case looks like).  So putting new bulbs into quarantine for a while is a sensible precaution, just to ensure that if any problems arise then the potential for them to spread is minimised.  

[Olga Bondareva]

I've red this theme with a big interest and wonder. I grow snowdrops in open garden in heavy soil. Everywhere I saw them in nature they grow in the same soil covered with leaf mulch. Of course I am far from Kent and have only a few rare kinds. But I've newer known  I have to fungicide their bulbs and cover them.  I planted them and they grew.

Late appearance could mean you had cold winter and soil was frosted. It's normal and it's good for some species and bad for others. Don't panic just wait. 

[steve owen]

Hi Olga

The snowdrops that grow naturally in Russia, the UK, or wherever, do so because either they have a strong constitution or a long familiarity with the growing conditions (soil, climate) or both. Some of the exotic new snowdrop varieties don't have a strong constitution, nor that familiarity with the growing conditions. Consequently they need a lot of care to keep them flourishing or even alive. There is a parallel here with rose varieties, where over a period of time exotic varieties have died out as they have been supplanted with roses of stronger constitution against, for example, black spot. The current feverish development of new galanthus cultivars does not square with the truism familiar to all old-time gardeners; is a plant strong, reliable, will it last? The original Snowdrops monograph was first published in 2001, and ten years later many of the varieties listed never appear - anywhere. Indeed, I was told last week by the galanthophile who discovered them that six of the varieties listed in Snowdrops have died out from his garden, and probably elsewhere too. If a plant is so difficult that it cannot be readily propagated and distributed in ten years, what does that tell us about the plant's robustness, hardiness and the likelihood of it persisting into a reliable garden plant?

Steve

[kentish_lass]

Good news!!  Trumps & Trymlet are through    That has restored my faith no end.  Those were the two I was the most upset about losing.  I do not have much faith in Diggory or Heffalump ....but we will see.

Thanks so much for all your help and advice.  I think I will try to learn the art of nurturing expensive ones in pots until they bulk up.  Funny enough I have a group of nivalis singles which i dug up last year and soaked in fungicide as I think they had stagonospora.  I put them in a pot with no care and put them outside away from all snowdrops - today I noticed they are poking through good and strong!!  I need to get brave and not pamper them so much.

I am so HAPPY about my two snowdrops today - I could have kissed the ground 

[Alan_b]

The original Snowdrops monograph was first published in 2001, and ten years later many of the varieties listed never appear - anywhere. Indeed, I was told last week by the galanthophile who discovered them that six of the varieties listed in Snowdrops have died out from his garden, and probably elsewhere too. If a plant is so difficult that it cannot be readily propagated and distributed in ten years, what does that tell us about the plant's robustness, hardiness and the likelihood of it persisting into a reliable garden plant?

Two suggestions (although wandering off the original topic)

• Snowdrops should not be included in the next edition of the "Snowdrops ..." monograph unless a reasonable supposition can be made that there are more than 100 in existence (which, I think, would currently exclude my own discovery, "Green Light").
• There should be a missing, presumed dead section (which might even result in some of the entries being rediscovered).

[Paddy Tobin]

Jennie,

Good to hear the long-awaited snowdrops have put in an appearance. Like you, I have been anxiously awaiting the appearance of a plicatus snowdrop with green tips on the outer segments and also a poculiform elwesii. Both have appeared. Joy!

The comments made by Steve and Alan, and so often by Martin, that a snowdrop should have a good constitution, be likely to grow in most gardens are very valid.

Paddy

[mark smyth]

Well said Alan.

My nivalis Mini Me is back up but since finding it in 2006 it has only increased to two bulbs. It won't appear in Alan's book either. Maybe it should be twinned this year.

[loes]

Alan,

your 'Green Light' is on ebay!

[Sean Fox]

Two suggestions (although wandering off the original topic)

• Snowdrops should not be included in the next edition of the "Snowdrops ..." monograph unless a reasonable supposition can be made that there are more than 100 in existence (which, I think, would currently exclude my own discovery, "Green Light").
• There should be a missing, presumed dead section (which might even result in some of the entries being rediscovered).

Alan, I noticed that Mrohowes is selling your snowdrop on e-bay but he has no picture with it.
Would it be possible for you or anyone else who has it to post an image on here, would be much appreciated.