Galanthus November and December 2007

[snowdropman]

superb colour cyclamen!

[Lvandelft]

I am not familiar with the weekly flowershow of the Dutch Bulb Organisation - can you tell me if this snowdrop was exhibited by a commercial grower, or a private individual?
[/quote]
Chris, this snowdrop was shown by the Royal Bulb Grower Association (KAVB).
They have it in their collection.
At the flowershow (every Monday) growers have the possibility to show their
products. This varies from many different bulbous plants to perennials.
You can see many new cultivars from (mostly) bulbs. For example you might see from december till May every week tulips. The last few weeks there were many
Liliums or earlier several weeks with Eucomis etc.
Luit van Delft

[snowdropman]

Luit, very helpful answer - thank you very much.

[Kees Jan]

I'm attaching an untypical Galanthus reginae-olgae picture from the wild. This is the first time I found a clump, they normally seem to grow as single plants in the Taigetos.

[snowdropman]

Kees - many thanks for posting this photo - another member of this Forum tells me, just as you have said, that they usually grow as single plants - Wim posted a superb clump a few days ago and now you - really good to see.

[mark smyth]

The early bulb season continues with flowers open on Alex Duguid - all bulbs twin scaping - and a pot of plicatus plicatus. A pot of nivalis Sandersii Group have noses above ground. Some Castlegars are above ground also

[Rogan]

After all this 'galanthophillic' banter and all the exquisite habitat pictures of Galanthus spp, this question just had to be asked (by a person who can't tell the difference between a snowflake and a snowdrop ) - which species are most likely to succeed (in pots) in a subtropical climate? I have a cool, dry winter (min. -1 or -2'C occasionally) and a warm, moist, humid summer (max. 25 - 30'C, occasionally 35 - 40'C!). Last year I tried my hand at Crocus from seed (...and they're doing fine!) this year it's Galanthus...

Thanks a lot.

[snowdropman]

Hi Rogan - with the climate that you describe, this is going to be quite challenging as, in order to break dormancy, snowdrops need a cold spell.

The 'Snowdrops' book (by Bishop et al) does offer some hope - on page 321 it briefly describes the experience of snowdrop growing in the USA, in places such as Southern California, Louisiana & Missouri, although it makes the point that they do not do well in the South East, where summer temperatures and humidity are too high.

I don't know how your climate compares with the above parts of the USA, but the book says that the most tolerant species, in the USA, is the autumn flowering species g. reginae-olgae (and that the clone 'Cambridge' seems to have performed particularly well).

The same article notes that 'one brave soul is trying' to grow galanthus in South Africa, but it did not say who! You mentioned that you "can't tell the difference between a snowflake and a snowdrop " - apparently the summer snowflake (leucojum aestivum) is grown around Cape Town, where it is called 'snowdrop'!

Good luck & would love to hear how you get on.

[Anthony Darby]

Many snowdrop species will not actually experience frost in the wild and are well adapted to Mediterranean conditions. Look at all the species found on the Greek Islands. I can't grow some because it's too bloody cold and wet. How about Galanthus fosteri?

[Martin Baxendale]

Rogan, the most widely available snowdrops through the bulb trade are nivalis and elwesii. Nivalis won't tolerate constant summer lifting and storage but elwesii is much better adapted to such treatment. So why not try obtaining some (not too expensive) dry bulbs of G. elwesii from one of the major bulb growers and try growing them first in pots, where you can control such things as moisture better than outdoors, until you have them switched to your seasons, then you could try growing them outdoors in your winter and lifting them for dry storage (in dry sand perhaps) during your wet summer. Elwesii are quite readily raised from seed too, setting seed very freely and in large quantities, so you could also collect seed from your pot-grown elwesii (better still hand-cross-pollinate for a large seed crop) and start off a batch of seedlings. I imagine repeated seed sowing and natural selection would eventually give you a strain of elwesii more suited to your garden, but that would take a while.

[mark smyth]

... and mentioning G. fosteri it is also above ground with the flower buds visible

[mark smyth]

a look around my raised beds today I could see way too many noses above ground

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Rogan,
our climate is a bit colder than yours in winter(-7^oC) and not so wet in the summer but we get quite hot (40^oC). We've had reasonable success with Galanthus elwesii in the open but they stay dry during the summer. If you are growing them in pots you could just keep them sheltered during the summer rains.
The comments from (the recently exfoliated) Martin B. sound quite reasonable and if you want the names of some bulb growers in the Southern Hemisphere just ask as it's almost time for their catalogues to come out! I usually get Marcus Harvey's catalogue as an e-mail attachment and can send that on to you (and anyone else who's interested - he does send bulbs to the Northern Hemisphere!)
cheers
fermi

[Anthony Darby]

I noticed a couple of flower buds on Galanthus peshmenii in a trough outside. These are from the same batch that flowered in my greenhouse over a month ago.

[mark smyth]

my plants in a trough have produced a couple of late flowers also including a green tipped flower. I forgot to photograph it, and my Colchicum cretense, at the weekend. The latter may be over by this Friday when I'm at home again. Multi flowered this year compared to only one last time. Dontcha hate this time of year for photography