Galanthus reginae-olgae

[Hagen Engelmann]

Two little, white, autumn treasures. Very nice Melvyn. Could you tell us a little bit more about LEFKI?

[Melvyn Jope]

Thankyou all for your kind remarks.
A little further information as requested. The G. r-o 9236 was collected as seed when I was leading a Cyclamen Society field trip to the Peloponnese to study Cyclamen rhodium ssp peloponnesiacum in April 1992. I had not seen Galanthus in the wild before and collected a couple of seed pods so it was pure chance that the result would be to produce the flower that you have seen. It is not a particularly strong grower but has increased reasonably well since it was separated from the other seedlings.
Hagen, you asked a bit more about G.reginae-olgae Lefki. Starting in the 1990's I grew a lot of G.r-o's from seed from wherever I could get it then selected out what I thought were the best. Being only too aware that its easy to think our ' geeese are swans' I invited  one or two galanthophiles to come and look including Ruby Baker, Phil Cornish and Matt Bishop. They made helpful comments and as a result some of the selected plants were described in the Snowdrops book ( Lefki is described on page 130)
As G.r-o's are named for Queen Olga of Greece it seemed appropriate to use female names for them, in some cases after people that I have met in  my travels in Greece. The name Lefki means white in Greek (as in the White Mountains in Crete) so that seemed doubly approriate. As with all G.r-o's they have to be well grown to show their full potential and show why they were selected in the first place. From the hundreds of seedlings that I now grow a few more selected forms are coming into flower and I hope to post a few more photos in the future.

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks for the extra information Melvyn, I bet G. r-o 9236 would look good if it was in a substantial clump.

[Tony Willis]

Some of mine out at the moment

[Hagen Engelmann]

Good to see the fine pics of G.r-o from you. I doubted of mine. But they couldn`t come out. The narcissusflys were faster. No intact bulb.

[Hagen Engelmann]

Melvyn, thank you for the story of LEFKI. A very good habit is most important for normal marked snowdrops ( but should be also for unusual marked drops).

[michael broadhurst]

David
I think my spelling was a result of not concentrating very well. Yours is correct.
It would be nice to see a good photo of authentic 'Barnes'
I believe the 'Barnes' at Anglesey Abbey doesn't flower until late Nov./Dec.

[Hristo]

Weeding out the woodland bed today and found this short chap lurking amongst the plantains!
Assuming the reduced stature is a response to the dry conmditions here this autumn.

[art600]

A very generous friend sent me two bulbs of a reginae-olgae with green tips at the end of the outer petals.

They flowered for the first time this weekend and I attach some poor photographs for your comments

[Brian Ellis]

Very nice Arthur, what it is to have such good friends!

[Melvyn Jope]

Arthur, my comment is that Ilike it very much!, green tipped G.r-o's seem to be very unusual.

It was a good day to be growing reginae-olgae under glass with a bit of warmth in the air on a clear autumn they are very fragrant, particularly Eleni.
The photos are:-

Tile Barn Jamie.
Eleni and
the very choice Autumn Snow.

[evolutionplantsman]

I can't contribute to the pest culprit question, except to observe that I set 40 mouse traps in my cold frames a couple of nights ago ('have no mercy' is my philosophy WRT small mammals) and seven of them caught mice in the first night. Three more the next night. There seem to be many more of them about this year than last, here in Wiltshire.

I have a general question regarding Galanthus r-o, namely what are the best cultivars in the opinion of other forum members? The only named clones that I grow are 'Cambridge' and 'Hyde Lodge', the first of which I think is excellent. All mine are in pots at the moment, where they seem to do fine, but I'll put half of them outdoors in a sunny bed next year.

Tom

[Brian Ellis]

the very choice Autumn Snow.

I certainly have to agree with that Melvyn, is it a selection from the wild?

[Hagen Engelmann]

AUTUMN SNOW is really a seldom drop, Melvyn. Never heard of a poculiforme Gro. Good news!

[Melvyn Jope]

Brian, I was very fortunate to be given Autumn Snow by a friend who, like me, grows as many Galanthus as she can from seed, knowing that I am concentrating on G. reginae-olgae she gave it to me and I am slowly building it up both by natural increase and twinscaling.
Now that temperatures have dropped germination is coming along really well. The first photo shows seedlings from seed sown collected in April this year, only three years to wait!
The second photo shows the variation you can get, these were sown in June 2006 and moved into this pot earlier this year. The tallest flower is 24cms from the soil whereas others have only just come through the surface. An exciting time of the year, you never know what goodies are going to emerge.