Big Large Huge Enormous Giant

[Tim Harberd]

Big Large Huge Enormous Giant

Snowdrop catalogues seem to spray these words around fairly randomly without any qualification!  Thinking about it, most selected flowers are likely to be bigger than their immediate peers. But may actually be quite small fish in the bigger pool of other selected clones!

We started to collect some data in the thread ‘’Galanthus in December’’. I decided to collate that info. here and add Mrs Macnamara, who has finally got round to opening, despite the lack of proper sunshine.

Alanja  Yayla           Height 32cm/34cm       Outer 2.5cm
Crimea huge 1&2    Height ?                        Outer 3.4cm (est)
Mrs Macnamara       Height 23.5cm              Outer 3.0cm

Please feel free to add the statistics of any other Big/Large/Huge/Enormous/Giant snowdrop. (With or without a photo) For the purposes of elimination, I’d be particularly interested in the statistics of any that are catalogued with these words.. but aren’t!!

Tim DH

[daveyp1970]

Tim i was given a monster last year at a snowdrop sale,i have called it Pams giant(not officially just on my label) after the lady who gave it me,i will get dimensions,i will say Big Boy is named well.

[Alan_b]

There is scope for confusion here.  For example, when flowering "Colossus" appears as an ordinary-sized snowdrop but it was so-named because the foliage grows large later in the season.

For that matter, the 'wild' plicatus x nivalis hybrids that grow around here often produce very tall leaves and very ordinary-sized flowers - which is the last thing you would want in a cultivar. 

[Tim Ingram]

'Giant' must often be relative to what you know. So 'Gravesend Giant', which was given to me by Eric Jarrett, certainly isn't by comparison to 'Big Boy' (!) but I only know this because I have the 'Snowdrop Book' and have become a Galanthophile. 'Hunton Giant', which was found by David Way, doesn't have especially large flowers but like Alan says has dramatic foliage. Many people must get excited by seeing 'large' snowdrops locally because all they are used to are huge drifts of nivalis! Scope here for more snowdrop lovers? (Or sometimes more pedantry? - it all depends on how much you know).

[Hagen Engelmann]

You don´t need G plicatus or G elwesii to get/find bigger flowers. Here is a normal G nivalis: outers 3,5cm

[Brian Ellis]

Even Hagen's ruler is a Galanthus species 

[ichristie]

Hello all, our snowdrops have started to flower the usual RGO just after Christmas and Mrs McNamara nearly open, the pictures today are G Paradise Giant, G plicatus Castle early three different ones will get more pics maybe today and look out for the biggest flowers, cheers Ian the Christie kind.

[Alan_b]

I cannot help noticing the rather striped-looking leaves on the Castle Early.  I hardly dare say this to such a knowledgeable bulb-grower as Ian but I would be a bit worried if I saw that on a snowdrop because I have been told that this is associated with a virus infection and that such infections might be transmissible.

[Hagen Engelmann]

Oh Brian, I needed some time to understand your words .
Normally I have a galanthus ruler. It is only 1m and has ten 10cm segments .

[Brian Ellis]

Sorry Hagen, I meant that your ruler has G.Lindenbl...  which is like saying G.sandersii or something 

[Hagen Engelmann]

Brian, do you have a small ruler = galanthus ruler ?

[Brian Ellis]

Indeed I do Hagen

[KentGardener]

Following a request in the January thread to measure my 'Gerard Parker' - I went out with my tape measure and took some quick pics of any that look a bit bigger today than the others. 

I have never measured a snowdrop petal before so my quick run round with my DIY tape measure is pretty unscientific - but hopefully helpful to the thread.

I know that the petals get bigger during the weeks they flower and things are different from year to year - so please do not think of these as absolute measurements - just what they measure in a small Kentish garden on February 1st 2013.

1 - 31mm  'John Gray'

2 - 31mm  'Epiphany'

3 - 32mm  'Rogers Rough'

Edit: - opps - I forgot to post the pics! 

[KentGardener]

And the larger ones here today - I would think that there may be bigger over the next few weeks.

1 - 'Gerard Parker' - 34mm - should get bigger as has not been out for long.

2 - 'Naughton' - 35mm - been out a few days so should get bigger.

3 - 'Penelope Ann' - 40mm - I thing full size as she has been in flower a while.

[Hagen Engelmann]

John, 30mm are good but not large. Especially G. elwesii and plicatus can create bigger flowers.
And we have to see the flower in relation to the whole plant.