KentGardener's Galanthus Blog 2012

[johnw]

John - Another wonderful tour. Amazed what a differnce at Kew since last there in 1983!

Those Cyclamen rohlfsianums are totally outrageous.

johnw

[Alan_b]

That gherkin in a can is far out & I think I would have declined too    What a bummer when you was expecting a beer!

Maybe you could pickle the gherkin in beer and get the best of both worlds?

[ashley]

Great blog John.  Don't worry about including non-white things from time to time
Fascinating to see the very different male and female flowers on the wollemi, and on such a young plant too.

[Maggi Young]

Great blog John.  Don't worry about including non-white things from time to time
Fascinating to see the very different male and female flowers on the wollemi, and on such a young plant too.

Don't worry John... you would have shown us more snowdrops if the weather hadn't conspired against you. The alternative visits you have reported on are most intersting... I must agree with Ashley about the surprise to see the (to me, precocious) flowers on the young wollemi pine.

I'm still getting to grips with the notion of the scent of the Androcymbium greuterocymbium - "a kind of butterscotch chocolate" 

[KentGardener]

The smell was yummy Maggi.  I kept getting a whiff of a wonderful perfume in the greenhouse and had to track down where it was coming from.

1 - I found the source of the delicious scent.
2 - For Ashley and Maggi.  The small group of 7 Wollemi just behind the Evolution house were all flowering - even the tiny little one.
3 - A Wollemi again for Ashley and Maggi.  They really did look like a decorated Christmas tree.

[angie]

Well John, I thoroughly enjoyed your pictures. Thanks for taking the time to show us.

Angie 

[ashley]

Thanks very much John.  Apparently they are used as Christmas trees in Australia.
I've never seen any other Araucariaceae show such precocity, and the snow and recent cold doesn't seem to bother them at all

[Olga Bondareva]

John
Thank you very much for this blog. Don't know what I like more plant images or garden visits and parties photographs. Wish I was there!

[KentGardener]

You are most welcome to visit any time Olga.  

Last night Hagen and Uli arrived back at my house after a great tour of Southern England.  I so wish I could have taken the week off and joined them as they visited some great gardens and met with some wonderful plants people.  

Today is my last Galanthus outing before I head off to Madeira.  We are heading into London to the RHS show halls and then my German visitors head back to mainland Europe.

Hopefully I may take a few photographs of the day.  

[Mavers]

Please do take some photos of the RHS hall exhibits John I love seeing them.

Mike

[Alan_b]

David and Anke way, who featured in John's blog, are also featured in the Daily Mail here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/gardening/article-2100413/Drop-galanthophiles-The-snowdrop-lovers-beautiful-creation-attracts-visitors-world.html?ito=feeds-newsxml .  They have a lovely garden.

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks for that Alan, happy memories of visiting their National Collection of Penstemon in about 2000 - wrong time of year for snowdrops!

[chasw]

Thanks for that Alan,somewhere for us to visit on the Friday

[KentGardener]

Tuesday 14 February

Sadly, for me, the 2012 Galanthus season is already nearing its end.  Before I know it I shall be walking the levadas of Madeira with my family - and my father will have reached the age of 80!  (and I find myself wondering, does that make me old?...   )

My Tuesday started with work meetings until 11.30 followed by a quick dash to Vincent Square for the 2012 RHS early spring flower show (or whatever silly name the RHS marketing department call it now   ).   95% of the attendees are there to look at plants, chat to friends and purchase from the nurseries.  The show was once again split over 2 halls, the Lawrence Hall was bursting with plants,  the Lindley Hall had 2 additional nurseries, an amazing selection of sculpture and various companies selling everything from paving slabs to astro turf.

It was a fantastic day - slightly less dense displays of snowdrops this year than one has come to expect at this show but still some excellent flowers to be seen.  In fact it seemed easier to see the individual plants rather the usual mass of white.  

I was gutted to find out that one of my favourite parts of the day was not going to happen - there were no snowdrops deemed good enough by growers to put before the Joint Rock Committee.  

I met up with many old friends and also made some new ones.  This really is my favourite Galanthus 'social event' of the year.

1 - a general view of the hall
2 - Broadleigh Gardens stand
3 - Foxgrove Stand
4 - 'South Hayes' on Foxgrove
5 - Avon Bulbs stand
6 - SRGC forum member 'Ding Dong'...
7 - Avon bulbs newly named 'Sprite' - A lovely looking snowdrop but I resisted temptation, considering it not distinctive enough for my small garden (£60 for a healthy multi-nosed sized pot of flowering bulbs).
8 - Jacques Amand with a lovely display of Iris
9 - Another beautiful Iris - this one being the organiser of the German coach trip to see UK Galanthus
10 - It was brilliant a brilliant surprise to discover that David Quinton had managed the trip into London  

[KentGardener]

A few more pictures:

1 - Ruby Baker, John and Brenda Foster  (apologies for writing Judy Foster on the image name!    I was half asleep when resizing the pictures.)
2 - A fantastic sculpture of a horse
3 - A snowdrop pot
4 - some big bronze conkers
5 - Joe Sharman's button hole
6 - At home, a reminder of my lovely German guests.

And there ends my Galanthus wandering for 2012.  

I have every intention of spending a week on Mainland Europe during the 2013 snowdrop season.  If anyone (members or 'lurkers' ) would be willing to show their gardens to a wandering Englishman please let me know.