Galanthus in November 2011

[KentGardener]

 

Working from home today so managed half an hour in the garden during daylight - and with sunshine!   

I've missed a few flowers that have gone past their best - but here are a couple still looking nice.

Pics 1 & 2 - A reginae-olgae from Melvyn - I have labelled this one as M.J.R.O-2. 

R. O.'s don't seem to like my garden (none have ever survived more than a few years in the ground - probably due to the watering I do for my Summer jungle).  Last year Melvyn suggested I try again and very kindly gave me a couple of his unnamed 'throw away' pots.  On the advice of member Chad I grew them in pots and tucked them away under a hedge for the summer.  Hopefully I am not tempting fate by saying that both are still alive.   

Pic 3 - 'Rainbow Farm Early'

John

[KentGardener]

p.s.

the scent on this r. o. from Melvyn is so strong 

[Melvyn Jope]

Hello John, delighted to read that you have been more successful with G.r-o's this time. I hope they thrive from here on.

[Paddy Tobin]

I think I have to follow your example, John. G. reginae olgae simply fade away in the garden here so pot-culture it will have to be.

Paddy

[Jo]

p.s.

the scent on this r. o. from Melvyn is so strong 

Hi John,

I agree, John Fielding gave me some of his r-o's and they have a wonderfully strong scent of heather honey.  Delicious

[RichardW]

all my named varieties of r.o I've tried over the years have vanished, the "ordinary" one and one other grown from wild collected seed seem to do well in dry sunny spots.

[steve owen]

All my r/o.s are in pots - long johns - kept outside (not under glass) on wooden staging with air all round them and with a really careful watering regime of practically dry in summer, increasing the water gradually from mid-August, and not allowing any excess water to stand around the bases. My retention record has been poor but so far this growing regime seems to be working in that they have all reappeared and seem to be clumping gradually. The only one that is in the ground (and prospering) is Alex Duguid under a tree in dryish soil. I feed the pots sparingly (i.e. infrequently) with a mixture of seaweed concentrate with a little added lime, just as I do with the saxifrages and auriculas. Why would we do it if it was easy?

[Martin Baxendale]

The older selected forms of reginae-olgae tend to suffer from the same problem as many old snowdrop varieties - old age. The likes of Hyde Lodge and Cambridge have been around a long time and are getting a bit long in the tooth which, combined with the decidedly Mediterranean cultural requirements of reginae-olgae, I find do make them not very long lived in the open garden. Seedlings will generally perform better, being younger and more vigorous.

[johnw]

Cambridge buds have just appeared above ground here.

johnw  - 100mm+ for tomorrow.

[steve owen]

John, you're a brave man growing Cambridge in the ground in Nova Scotia!
Ermine Joyce, Elmley Lovet and EA Bowles all up today and Early to Rize flowering - all the Es. Weird.

[johnw]

John, you're a brave man growing Cambridge in the ground in Nova Scotia!
Ermine Joyce, Elmley Lovet and EA Bowles all up today and Early to Rize flowering - all the Es. Weird.

Steve - Two clumps here, one close to the house foundation and a definite summer dry spot even after this summer.  The other is against the greenhouse foundation facing south.

We'll see how long term they are. 

The Rosemary Burnhams have surfaced already this seems awfully early  but then again everything is mixed up this year.  Cyrtanthus brachyscypus  - a huge potfull has been in flower since last January and gave a very good show all summer long. Cyclamen african flowered three times and is starting up again.

johnw  - +15c and sunny

[mark smyth]

I grow Cambridge outside. One group in the ground and the other in a trough. Both survived the deep freeze. Those in the trough survived being in a solid block of ice during the thaw.

This is the only reginae-olgae that has survived in my garden.

[JohnLonsdale]

The older selected forms of reginae-olgae tend to suffer from the same problem as many old snowdrop varieties - old age. The likes of Hyde Lodge and Cambridge have been around a long time and are getting a bit long in the tooth which, combined with the decidedly Mediterranean cultural requirements of reginae-olgae, I find do make them not very long lived in the open garden. Seedlings will generally perform better, being younger and more vigorous.

A friend sent me 5 or 6 Galanthus reginae-olgae Cambridge bulbs 3 years ago.  Two years ago they had one flower, last year 5 and this year more than a dozen.  They appear to be building up nicely in a raised bed behind the house under an Edgeworthia chrysantha.  This summer was decidely non-Mediterranean, with somerthing like 30" of rain in 6 weeks in August and September.  The bed is made of concrete sand and screened topsoil in equal proportions.  Also flowering or flowered in the same species are Fotini, Stavroula, Tile Barn Jamie, Tessera, Anne-Marie Kee and several lots of seedlings from wild-collected seed from several locations.  Barnes and Potter's Prelude are also in full flower.

Best,

J. 

[Martin Baxendale]

You're obviously growing them very well, John.

[ian mcenery]

My little group of G elwesii Barnes just coming into flower. Though not I find as attractive as reg olg and peshmenii types its my first elwesii to flower

My Cambridge has not done so well this year I think I may have overdone the swops and I also have the feeling that one of the clumps has been attacked - group now cleaned and moved.