Snowdrops in February 2012

[KentGardener]

Wow! Wow! Wow! Gasp! Wow! Corr! Lovely!

I've definitely chosen the worst time to be away!

Mark, please don't tell me how quickly they are going over.  I'm not back for another week and fear I will have missed so much. 

[Pauli]

Hello,

I was very surprised today when I looked at my G- woronowii plants. Most of them are dead, after a very warm December and January, February greeted us with -19C - the nearly flowering plants of that species could not stand it. Nearby plants of elwesii and plicatus survived without damage as did several named clones. Also the leaves of reginae-olgae showed no damage.
Our native nivalis was not that advanced and also survived without problems!

[Hagen Engelmann]

A little unusual flower from the inverse poculiforme group
NOBODY IS PERFECT - only a nivalis, but best for the continent

[Maggi Young]

Hello,

I was very surprised today when I looked at my G- woronowii plants. Most of them are dead, after a very warm December and January, February greeted us with -19C - the nearly flowering plants of that species could not stand it. Nearby plants of elwesii and plicatus survived without damage as did several named clones. Also the leaves of reginae-olgae showed no damage.
Our native nivalis was not that advanced and also survived without problems!

 Really hard for the plants when there are such swings in temperatures. Pretty tough for the gardeners, too.

[mark smyth]

John I dont know about England but it was 12c here today. More tulips are showing colour. Only 2 months early.

[Paddy Tobin]

A very pleasant day here, half an hour collecting seaweed and an hour's walk this morning on the strand and all in my shirtsleeves. Very warm. Cut grass in the afternoon.


Paddy

[Maggi Young]

You cut the grass?     Merciful heavens.... that's a shock at this time of year. Makes me SO glad I lifted all of our grass long ago   

[JimF]

G. elwesii "R's Casaba". Aware of the previous discussion of the "Casabas" this is passed around here as 'Casaba'. I've not seen a photo or description of 'Casaba Boydii', I think it was. This looks like a small 'S. Arnott' truth be told. Very nice whatever it is.

Casaba NOT, alas!

I posted the above on Feb 18th. Yesterday I went to the original garden of origin with the owner. After careful checking the other clumps nearby we determined it was 'Straffan', not any "Casaba", moved about three feet from the parent clump by either moles or the stoloniferous ability of many of her drops.

I dug a wandering 'Pusey Green Tips' clump and found some bulbs with two inch long stolons, at least. (see photo), as some were cut during digging. She now has 4 documented varieties of drops that have moved via stolons. Curiouser and curiouser.

Jim

[JimF]

G. elwesii "L Cbs" IMG_5163.jpg could be G. bortkewitchianus http://www.snowdropinfo.com/galanthus%20bortkewitchianus.html
Mark Smyth

Thanks for the suggestion, Mark. However, after consulting the monograph and "Snowdrops" it doesn't appear to be that species. Everything indicates elwesii. It was found among flats of G. elwesii in a nursery all of which appeared to be dug wild or semi-domesticated. They were purchased wholesale from Holland as dormant bulbs according to the grower here.

If wild, it's possible it could have G. bortkewitchianus in its ancestry, but without a DNA test, I can't say.

Sorry for the delay in replying. Took longer to get to wifi this time.

Jim

[JimF]

Also, yellows seem to fade to olive as they age. I have noticed this with G. 'Primrose Warburg' in particular.Paddy

Paddy - Many years - if not most - Primrose Warburg and Wendy's Gold come out olive here.  PerhAps I have added too much dolomitic lime or bonemeal in the past.

johnw

Each week I bring in my blooming galanthus to the nursery, put them in a sunny south window for customers to see. We have fluorescent lights inside. By day 3 I've noticed some of the medium green marked flowers lighten towards yellow, while the yellows darken towards green. Perhaps like many yellow variegated leaved shrubs bright light and warmth is needed to intensify the color, while shade and cool temps. push them towards the greener side.

All my G. Edward Whittall Group plants are now back on the patio and are lovely yellows, save the ovaries which didn't change! While poor 'Wendy's Gold' just looks bilious!

Jim
 

[mark smyth]

When you said stolons it was something I have never heard of before. Your photo shows bulbs trying to take themselves deeper. This is very often seen in congested groups.

Looking at your photo again they are very deep so maybe they are coming up.

One of Ian's bulb log shows this - but which one?

[Paddy Tobin]

You cut the grass?     Merciful heavens.... that's a shock at this time of year. Makes me SO glad I lifted all of our grass long ago   

Third time since Christmas, Maggi.

Paddy

[JimF]

When you said stolons it was something I have never heard of before. Your photo shows bulbs trying to take themselves deeper. This is very often seen in congested groups.

Looking at your photo again they are very deep so maybe they are coming up.

One of Ian's bulb log shows this - but which one?

Here's the link to John Grimshaw's blog article on the phenomena.

http://johngrimshawsgardendiary.blogspot.com/2011/10/self-adjusting-snowdrops.html

Yes, those in my photo were deep, but the angle of the bulb end on top plant is what intrigues me. The odd thing about Barbara Flynn's "running" drops (it was in her garden I photographed the 'Pusey Green Tips' and where others move laterally) is that this lateral movement happens to some very non-congested clumps and cannot all be attributed to mole activity. 'Lady Elphinstone', for instance, has never clumped, but has moved into Barbara's well trod path where moles hadn't dug. They were hard to dig out. Nor were they very deep either. The bottoms of those bulbs were L shaped, pointing towards the original planting.  Many of her bulbs show laterally directed bulb parts. Stoloniferous is the wrong word, I agree. John's "Self-adjusting snowdrops" is somewhat better. So apparently galanthus can adjust up or down or side to side, at least in Barbara's garden.

I agree it's some reaction by the bulb to depth and congestion. Perhaps with 'PGT' they were too deep, and with 'LE' the soil was too compact. Our soils are very young glacial soils, in most cases with a top soil that's acidic in nature, made up of eons of coniferous humus - for what that's worth.

Whatever the reasons for this action, I find it fascinating. Nature still many tricks up her sleeves.

Hope you can find Ian's post for us, Mark.

Jim

[Alan_b]

I agree with Mark (his second opinion), if a snowdrop is planted too deep it will form a 'stolon' some way up the stem.  I imagine next season this becomes the new bulb whilst the old bulb dies away, exhausted from the effort.  But bulbs can only move up by this means (unless the original bulb is upside down or sideways so the lower part of the stem projects sideways).  I read John Grimshaw's blog and I don't think my opinion on this differs from his.   

[Hagen Engelmann]

Hello JimF
I agree with Mark and Alan too.
I always found only "false" stolon vertical (in to the depth) and never horizontal.