Snowdrops in February 2012

[Webster008]

A few yellow snowdrops in flower at the moment.

Paddy

Galanthus 'Primrose Warburg'
Galanthus nivalis 'Sandersii Group'
Galanthus 'Spindlestone Surprise'
Galanthus 'Wendy's Gold'

Superb pictures Paddy.


Just wondering, Sandersii has been on my wishlist for some time and I noticed that the leaves on your group of sandersii are much taller / bigger than the Sandersii I usually see on pictures. Is this a different group???

[Paddy Tobin]

Nothing different that I know of, Rick. It has been in flower for a while and, perhaps, the leaves have simply grown with the season.

Paddy

[Alan_b]

Surely "Sandersii" has become a catch-all title for a yellow nivalis snowdrop, not necessarily related to the one originally distributed by Mr Sanders?  So there could be lots of different groups of Sandersii snowdrops that are unrelated.

[Tim Ingram]

Amazing how snowdrops perk up after the snow and frost! We have a few in pots for display this coming Sunday and they looked very sorry for themselves at the beginning of the week. Now brought into the house and greenhouse the flowers have come on rapidly. In the garden too you would think flowering may have been set back, but none of it! We have big drifts of quite a few varieties like those shown and they look glorious at the moment. The final picture is a slight mystery which maybe someone may be able to expound on? This is a very nice form of elwesii that I had simply labelled caucasicus Late Form from Kath Dryden. The leaves are strikingly glaucous and the flowers elegant to my eyes. In the Snowdrop Book there is a variety 'Robin Hall', which it obviously resembles (if not is). Kath also sold, appropriately, a caucasicus 'Early Form', a nice small plant which I must compare with other selections.

[ian mcenery]

Ian  - You do so extremely well with the yellows.  Which would be your top 4-6 choices of yellow nivalis?

johnw

 John 4 to 6 top choices I only have a couple of yellow nivalis so no contest and I label them as "sandersii from wherever" the rest I grow are plicatus types. I think Primrose Warburg is one of the best increasers in my garden so will probably outdo the more squinny types. I love the glowing colour of the yellows I know I'm out of fashion

[ian mcenery]

John - good question - I was just about to ask the same.

Ian - What is the pH of your soil?  Do you give them any special treatment?

Hi Arthur

Ph of my soil is about 6.5 and my soil is well drained and fairly open. Funnily my best group of Primrose is in a raised wall where is can get quite dry in summer though I have experimented with it in slightly more moist areas where it seems to do almost as well

[kentish_lass]

Great pictures Paddy
Stunning yellows Ian
Great clump of Mrs Thompson Tim
Lovely rare finds John and I love Pat Mason - what a substantial snowdrop

Here are a few more half decent photos from the RHS show in London:

1. The Avon stand - lovely as always and I loved the Helleborus foetidus clump which made a great feature
2. Avon again
3. Heucheraholics stand - wish I had bought a few of their new x Heucherellas
4. My first ever Ashwood purchase
5. Lindley Hall

[annew]

I don't know if it helps, as even the age of the flower will change the colour (starts off greener), but I took this earlier this year.
Spindlestone Surprise on left, Primrose Warburg on right.

[kentish_lass]

I don't know if it is my computer but I am having terrible trouble downloading photos - I have to hit the post button at least 30 times and often I have to rewrite the whole thing.  Does anyone else have this problem?

Here are a few more mostly non snowdrop photos from RHS Halls:

1.  Flocon de Neige - I was not overly impressed with this snowdrop for the money
2.  Dibley's Nursery indoor plant stand - lots of lovely Begonias
3.  Begonia 'Pink Champagne' - gorgeous
4.  Streptocarpus 'Harlequin Blue' - lovely bicolor flower
5.  Ashwood Stand
6.  A new red from Ashwood with marbled foliage

[kentish_lass]

Showing my ignorance - who is the chap, apparently holding a fire extinguisher, talking to John 

Being a bit slow on the uptake I have only just spotted what Arthur meant!  That is so funny   

[Michael J Campbell]

Jennie, I don't  know what your computer problem is but before you post always hit Ctrl and C or whatever method you normally use to copy text, then if the post doesn't work you only have to paste the text again. I always do this and it saves a lot  extra work. I think if someone is posting on the same topic when you are trying to post it wont work until they are finished. I could be wrong though.

[art600]

 

[KentGardener]

I don't know if it is my computer but I am having terrible trouble downloading photos - I have to hit the post button at least 30 times and often I have to rewrite the whole thing.  Does anyone else have this problem?

Hi Jennie

I often have problems - I have found that this works for me:

- hit the preview button to check it looks ok
- hit the post button and walk away to start making a cup of tea
- when I come back there is often an mySQL error message on the screen - at this point I hit the refresh button on my browser (and walk away to finish making the cup of tea)
 - when I get back it has always worked successfully.

(p.s. As Michael suggests, I always try to remember to copy paste the text to notepad before I start...)

[David King]

4.  Streptocarpus 'Harlequin Blue' - lovely bicolor flower

We went round Dibley's production greenhouses last year and saw this growing in its thousands.  Have been given a leaf and have babies growing in water at the moment.  Personally I think its ghastly!  I used to have 400 (nearly as bad an affliction as snowdrops) but have whittled them down to 50 now!

[KentGardener]

I don't know if it helps, as even the age of the flower will change the colour (starts off greener), but I took this earlier this year.
Spindlestone Surprise on left, Primrose Warburg on right.

Thanks for the picture Anne.  I've yet to be that organised.  

For now they are in separate beds.  But I think I may struggle to tell them apart...  

Here it has to be a case of the one that does best in my garden gets to live in my garden - the other gets given away.