Galanthus February 2011

[RichardW]

not sure about some of the very green drops...

agree with the author, Galanthus Rodmarton Arcturus looks very nice.

[Paddy Tobin]

Good link, David.

Nice snowdrops but that double hepatica is outstanding. What a blue!

Paddy

[galanthophile]

Loes, you have a brilliant collection there!

[Martin Baxendale]

I think gala-goers saw Rodmarton Arcturus as an un-named clump at Rodmarton when the gala was in Gloucestershire a few years ago. It looked a bit like Augustus on steroids. I think this is the same plant. Certainly looks like it. I remember Colin Mason looking at it with me. There was no label so we surmised it hadn't been named yet, and Colin said "I'll bet it soon will be!"

[Brian Ellis]

Brian, not especially as you can see on the picture below. A cultivar from which I found the flowers mostly or only on the ground in my garden is 'Walrus'.

Interesting Freddy as they both flower near the ground for me, 'Selina Cords' is not trailing on the ground but is not very far above it.

[loes]

Brian and Freddy,
my Octopussy is flowering for the first time with me and almost on the ground.(and is a Walrus/Sharlockii type as I remember correctly).
looks like it runs in the family

[Martin Baxendale]

not sure about some of the very green drops...

agree with the author, Galanthus Rodmarton Arcturus looks very nice.

Ron Mackenzie describes Rodmarton Arcturus as having two spots over the sinus and a bold mark at the base, which doesn't match the photo on the AGS report.

[kentish_lass]

Re: Galanthus 'Beth Chatto'

Jennie,

Have no worries at all about your information and comment on G. 'Beth Chatto'. Accuracy in naming and labelling are essential and all here would prefer to be sure the bulbs we grow under a particular name is true to name and description.

Yes, it is a disappointment that my treasured bulb is not as I thought it was but that is the way it goes.

Paddy

Thanks for that Paddy and I know you will own the real snowdrop in the end
Jennie

[Lesley Cox]

I think that there are toooooooooo many names floating about at the moment,Jan spotted one on the bay named Grim Reaper whatever next

Absolutely Chas, but when even the "Snowdrops" book can record that two admittedly well-known snowdrop people visited a garden and "selected" and named over half a dozen new snowdrops in one afternoon,can you blame others doing the same and putting some nondescript flower on Ebay to try to make a quick buck? No-one even illustrious galanthophile names have a right to the indiscriminate naming of supposedly new varieties - that is why the marketplace is in danger of being flooded.

Responsible breeders of, say, beared irises, will raise 10,000 seedlings in a season and select maybe one or two for naming. These must have outstanding characteristics of form, colour, vigor, disease resistence or whatever, something to make them REALLY destinct from others.

[KentGardener]

not sure about some of the very green drops...

agree with the author, Galanthus Rodmarton Arcturus looks very nice.

Ron Mackenzie describes Rodmarton Arcturus as having two spots over the sinus and a bold mark at the base, which doesn't match the photo on the AGS report.

Hi Martin

The picture I put of this plant on my travelogue didn't show the inner mark - but I have just gone through my discarded photos and this blurred pic may help a little?

 

[Martin Baxendale]

Well that looks like the picture on the AGS website report. But Ron's catalogue description of the mark suggests something quite different to me: "inner petals marked with two spots over the sinus and a bold mark at the base." Oh well. Lovely flower.

[art600]

Well that looks like the picture on the AGS website report. But Ron's catalogue description of the mark suggests something quite different to me: "inner petals marked with two spots over the sinus and a bold mark at the base." Oh well. Lovely flower.

Looks like he doesn't know his base from his apex.

[Carolyn Walker]

Re: Galanthus 'Beth Chatto'

Have no worries at all about your information and comment on G. 'Beth Chatto'. Accuracy in naming and labelling are essential and all here would prefer to be sure the bulbs we grow under a particular name is true to name and description.

Yes, it is a disappointment that my treasured bulb is not as I thought it was but that is the way it goes.

Paddy

I for one am very happy that this controversy arose and not just because I apparently have the real 'Beth Chatto'.  I am selling this snowdrop to my nursery customers (five plants anyway) and I would be mortified if it were not the right plant.  With all the snowdrop cultivars out there, there is probably nothing more important than accuracy of identification.  I am so thankful that I discovered this wonderful group with which to exchange information.

Carolyn

[Diane Clement]

Mark   Surely you didn't fall onto a clump of E.A. Bowles.    

Surely no one owns a CLUMP  

[annew]

Today on our annual garden centre crawl scrutinising the snowdrops, we went into the cafe for a cuppa and on the table was THIS!!! A whole potful of poculiform snowdrops, and so many flowers from only 3 bulbs!!!