Galanthus February 2011

[Maggi Young]

'Fred's Giant ' is a very large and muscular snowdrop... be a bit early for it to be out, though, even at Kew, I'd have thought.  

[RichardW]

if you want a good large snowdrop, Mighty Atom is hard to beat in my opinion, is huge, if you're ever near me call in and I'll give you a few to get you started, it grows like a weed here  

John Gray is also very nice and widely available.

[Paddy Tobin]

'Fred's Giant' is in flower here, Maggi, in our Mediterranean climate.

Other large-flowered snowdrops that come to mind and in flower at the moment are 'E.B. Anderson', 'Colossus' and 'Mighty Atom'

Paddy

[Hoy]

Hoy are you in Englnd now?

No, arrived home yesterday evening

[Hoy]

if you want a good large snowdrop, Mighty Atom is hard to beat in my opinion, is huge, if you're ever near me call in and I'll give you a few to get you started, it grows like a weed here  

John Gray is also very nice and widely available.

Thanks John, maybe I pop up one day

[Maggi Young]

'Fred's Giant' is in flower here, Maggi, in our Mediterranean climate.

Paddy

Goodness me, fancy  that! Barely out of the ground here.

[mark smyth]

That's me now for a week. Lesley now has a chance to get well ahead of me

Looking forward to meeting members and lurkers at the Garden House and the Gala.

[Paddy Tobin]

'Fred's Giant' is in flower here, Maggi, in our Mediterranean climate.

Paddy

Goodness me, fancy  that! Barely out of the ground here.

Of course, I warm it with my breath every evening.
Paddy

[Alan_b]

... can anybody tell the name of this snowdrop that flowers abundantly in the woods of Holt, Norfolk?

As Mark says, it looks like the double form of galanthus nivalis.  This is very common indeed in the UK.  I would guess that there are probably 1,000,000 of these for 1 of all other forms of double snowdrop so it would be very very surprising if it were anything else and growing in abundance.

[Brian Ellis]

'Fred's Giant ' is a very large and muscular snowdrop... be a bit early for it to be out, though, even at Kew, I'd have thought.  

Not at all Maggi. In flower here so should be in Kew.

[chasw]

Also here as well,although taking a battering from the winds

[Lesley Cox]

Shall I stop posting for a week Mark?
PM on the way to you. No hurry.

[johnw]

Franz - Thanks for bringing us down to earth. Your simple elwesii and nivalis are magnificent.

johnw   

[JimF]

Thanks everyone for the greetings. And thanks, too, Alan, for the "preview" button suggestion. I just need to stop reading the preview then try to correct something while in preview by hitting delete!

The two photos show the same mystery galanthus rescued from a friend's garden. She collected eclectically, and the month before her move all her plant records were destroyed on her computer. No back up or paper copies (a reminder to all of us!).

It keys out to G. elwesii, stands about 9" tall, and is in prime bloom now - late Jan/early Feb. Perhaps a bit earlier in the ground. (In the old garden the very wide leaves were nearly all the way up by mid-late December.)

The full deep green inner marking and the way the spathe rises above to mimic the arch of the pedicle makes it very elegant. Its lean comes from being next to a potted sarcococca. (My entire garden is a 7' x 10' (2.2m x 3m?) concrete patio, facing north, with nearly 400 pots on it.)

Surely it must have a name - but, not so secretly now, I hope it doesn't. Any ideas of who it might be  - or not?

Thanks,
Jim

[JimF]

Sorry about the missing photo. Here it is.
Just enough tech savvy and experience to be a menace to myself and others!
Jim