Galanthus November and December 2007

[Maggi Young]

Loes, we are so pleased that you are joining in and taking the trouble to write in English... you are doing very well with it, congratulations!  You should join the experiment, after all it is not essential to be an expert to take part, surely?

[hadacekf]

After rain, snow 20 cm and frost -7° C. in the last weeks Galanthus reginae-olgae from Corfu is still flowering. Seed pods and flowers are together. I lost all my snow drops in a hard winter 16 years ago. All my plants are now self seedlings. G. reginae-olgae from Greece (Pelepones) has long finished its flower.

[snowdropman]

Lovely the way the sun is catching them - thanks for posting.

[mark smyth]

very early snowdrops taken today

[Rob]

Hi Mark

Those snowdrops are well ahead of my garden. Are they Nivalis?

In the next few days I will have Elwesii var monostictus and Hiemalis, but I expect them around this time

[mark smyth]

unknown cultivar with the earliest flowering now for about 10 days. They arent reginae-olgae

[KentGardener]

Hi Franz

great to see the pictures of the Corfu bulbs - the ones you kindly sent to me have increased in number again but are just leaves again this year.  If they don't flower next year I think I should move them to somewhere else in the garden.

What aspect do you have them planted in?

with kind regards

John

[hadacekf]

John,
I do not know how sunny your garden is. I think the Mediterranean species likes and need a little more sun. In my garden they get 70 % sun and 30% bright shade. 
Franz

[dominique]

The weather is runny and pics not very good, but here are G. reginae-olgae and caucasicus hiemale. They don't like the rain during two days !!!

[Rob]

I think caucasicus has been changed to monostictus.

They tend to have grey leaves so your pics look like hiemalis, but I'm not a galanthophile.

Hopefully one of the experts will give an opinion

[Rob]

I've just been browsing the Galanthus mid February to March 2007 thread

http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=266.msg5873#msg5873

On the first page is a pic of Galanthus transcaucasicus from biodiversite which shows the flowers very close to the ground, similar to the one above from dominique

But if it is the species it wouldn't have hiemale in the name because that is a group name for any un-named cultivar flowering before Christmas?

[mark smyth]

yes you are correct G. caucasicus is now G. elwesii monostictus

[Martin Baxendale]

My first new snowdrop seedling of the season. I took a few quick snaps but the most in-focus ones didn't show the flower off very well. This one does show the elegance of the flower shape and the long pedicle well but I've had the usual problem with getting the camera to focus on the white flower instead of the background. Still, it does show the elegance of the flower nicely so I'll post it until I have time to get a better pic.

It's just an elwesii monostictus, or what I still privately call caucasicus (single-marked elwesii type). The mark's a nice heart-shape, and the flower has a nice scent. Nothing world-shattering but I think it's nice enough to chip and make a clump for the garden.

[Martin Baxendale]

Incidentally, Gal. caucasicus may turn out to be a valid species name after all. I've heard that true caucasicus has been found in the Caucasus Mts., and that some old clones that have been around for a very long time might possibly be true, while others (from more recent Turkish dried bulb imports) are single marked forms of elwesii. All a bit confusing, but may in the end show how inadvisable it is to rename plants on the basis of limited wild material, observations in cultivation and assumptions about what may or may not have happened in the past without firm evidence.

[Brian Ellis]

It's just an elwesii monostictus, or what I still privately call caucasicus (single-marked elwesii type).

So it maybe Martin but as you say it does show a degree of elegance, and sounds like a good mark.