Galanthus reginae-olgae

[snowdropman]

Melvyn Jope, who has bred some very interesting new forms of g. reginae-olgae subsp. reginae-olgae, has written an article for the RHS Daffodils, Snowdrops & Tulips Yearbook 2007-2008, entitled "The cultivation of Galanthus reginae-olgae subsp. reginae-olgae under glass", which gives an interesting insight into his propagation & growing technique.

Well worth a read!

[Maggi Young]

Chris' comment raises a gripe which I would like to share.... I am aware that the YearBooks of the various RHS groups are, theoretically, avaialable for sale to non-members BUT I have always found, when seeking to do just that, I can never find anywhere on the relevant website  so to do. Very frustrating. Is it too much to ask that there be an easy link for this purpose, rather than having to make a general enquiry and be re-directed?  MIND YOU< that is precisiely the method folks must use to find such things from the SRGC, so perhaps I'd best shut up 

[Brian Ellis]

It gets worse Maggie.  If, as an RHS member, you ring up or email the RHS you are told that the Yearbook (Daffodil, Snowdrops and Tulips) is available from RHS online for £11.95 plus P&P yet if you admit to being a Snowie and have catalogues/newsletters etc sent to you on the subject you find that it is also available at £8 inc P&P (as a special rate).  I believe one of my friends who is a member of the Wakefield Tulip Society ordered hers well before it appeared on the RHS website.

[Alan_b]

About 9 years ago I bought what were nominally three but turned out to be five bulbs of G. reginae-olgae from Avon Bulbs and planted each of them in various random locations around my garden.  This was my first foray into "exotic" snowdrops.

The one in the sparse grass at the base of my Silver Birch struggled and died out after a few years.

The one under a Laurel bush in deep shade with no direct sun flowered each year but never managed to bulk up and I accidentally killed it in an attempt to re-locate it.

The one in my front bed, a sunny open location facing south west with a light sandy soil did well and bulked up for several years then the clump completely vanished from one year to the next.

The one under a Chestnut tree in an area so dry that nothing except a Hebe grows there in summer bulked up well for longer than bulb number three but again completely vanished from one year to the next.  I could find no trace of the bulbs.

My big success was the one I planted in a little bed immediately in front of the house.  This faces south west and must surely get particularly warm because it is right next to the wall of the house.   It's a good thing I did not know anything about snowdrops then because everything I read would indicate this was an unsuitable location.  This bulb did very well and bulked up to a nice flowering clump for the first six years or so but seems to have slowed its rate of increase lately.  It is underneath a Wisteria and almost underneath the eaves but the location may have got dryer as the Wisteria has grown.  This bed has a gravel "mulch" but it cannot get very wet as the drive beyond drains in the opposite direction.  I moved some of these bulbs to under my climbing Hydrangea further along the front wall and these are doing well.  And some I moved to a new raised bed underneath the Chestnut - it's a bit too early to say how these are liking it there.

I find the flowers are prone to attack by slugs or snails (or something).  Sometimes you just see a trace of the stalk when the leaves appear a month or two after you did not get a flower!  And in my case clumps of the bulb are prone to vanish without a trace for no reason I can determine.  Finally, I would like to point out that conditions in a cool damp location in Greece might equate to a sunny location in the UK!

P.S.  I have been asked to clarify my location.  I live in East Anglia, close to Cambridge.  It is dry here but that does not deter the slugs and snails!       

[mark smyth]

Brian what all did Joe have for sale?

[Brian Ellis]

Alan looking at my scrappy notes it was leaf mould in gullies (therefore shaded)  which would be moist...I only pass on what I heard!

Mark there were four tables of plants, three of them were snowdrops and included Courteen Hall, Barbara's Double, Wonston Double, Wasp (Hooray!!), Kyre Park, Heffalump, Bill Clark, Falkland House, Longstowe, Three Ships, some greatorex doubles, Wendy's Gold, Saint Anne's, Scharlockii, Tiny, Curly, Washfield Warham, Lady Beatrix Stanley, Atkinsii, John Grey. Hill Poe, Lapwing. Melvillei, Mighty Atom, Mrs macnamara, Peg Sharples if my memory (not always reliable) serves me right.  I understand his mail order list is out next week.

[Maggi Young]

Mark there were four tables of plants, three of them were snowdrops and included Courteen Hall, Barbara's Double, Wonston Double, Wasp (Hooray!!), Kyre Park, Heffalump, Bill Clark, Falkland House, Longstowe, Three Ships, some greatorex doubles, Wendy's Gold, Saint Anne's, Scharlockii, Tiny, Curly, Washfield Warham, Lady Beatrix Stanley, Atkinsii, John Grey. Hill Poe, Lapwing. Melvillei, Mighty Atom, Mrs macnamara, Peg Sharples if my memory (not always reliable) serves me right.  I understand his mail order list is out next week.

These names mean very little to me though I suspect many others reading that list will have had their  hearts started racing ! I only recognise about half of those names, shows my anti-white fever vaccination was worth the money, don't you think? Of course, I will now go to Mark's site to see which of them I didn't know the names of he has photos for... just in case there's anything interesting 

[mark smyth]

if it was nt so late I'd post them here. All great plants

[Anthony Darby]

Argggh! Someone selling Wasp.

[mark smyth]

Anthony I have found it very miffy. I'll not say how many I had but it was doing very well but this year I'm down to 2 noses - so far

[Brian Ellis]

I had heard Wasp was not easy too.  But when you've got to have it....  

[Martin Baxendale]

I had heard Wasp was not easy too.  But when you've got to have it....  

This is my point about breeding new snowdrop cultivars. Wouldn't it be nice if new cultivars like Wasp weren't miffy and difficult to grow. Wouldn't it be nice if there were new cultivars deliberately bred to be strong-growing, fast-clumping, reliable garden plants. There'd be a lot less disappointment. The trouble is a snowdrop like Wasp is usually found as an established clump in an old garden and may be decades old by the time it's discovered, quite possibly already prone to disease and maybe only really happy growing in the original conditions where it was found (its ecological niche).

New seedlings, bred and selected for good garden requirements (vigour, disease resistance, willingness to clump up fast) could be exciting and interesting and also not an expensive and disappointing gamble. It's a real shame some of the best snowdrops of the last 100 years (Magnet, S. Arnott etc) were triploidsfrom which it was almost impossible to raise new seedlings. If only one of them has been a tetraploid, we'd have had people deliberately breeding and selecting donkeys years ago.

[mark smyth]

Martin I believe what you said earlier about the growers holding back snowdrops to keep the price high. There is a guy in Belfast micropropping 'Wendy's Gold'. I was there a few years ago and saw 10s of 1000s of them in all stages. The first have already gone to Holland for planting out. The big boys arent happy

[hadacekf]

Alan,
I meet the Galanthus reginae-olgae on the Taigetos (Peleponnes). It grows between those flowering plants. I grow it in my frame and in meadow but always in full sun. It flower well, increase too and self seedlings appear. Perhaps I have a good form.
Location of G. reginae-olgae in the wild. In April I saw only the leaves!
Galanthus reginae-olgae in frame.
Galanthus reginae-olgae in meadow.

[mark smyth]

fantastic middle photo. I bet you dont have trouble with the Narcissus fly!