Fat foundling in a garden just changed owner

[partisangardener]

I found  last year in the usual old garden a special snowdrop. This garden belonged to some nice old Ladies. But they gave up because of old age. They had a lot of Galanthusseedlings because they did not keep it too tidy. Mostly nivalis but some decades ago they introduced a few elwesii. They did not care a lot about these snowdrops. Their interest was more on Irises.
2011 they quit and the next owner is a young couple with a lot of enthusiasm.
From the originally introduced elwesii is only on little clump left, but a lot of intermediate specimens spread all over this crowded overgrown garden.
Last year I discovered a very special clump consisting of three Bulbs , while I was helping the new owners.
They cleared quite a lot of this garden and I tried to save as much plants as possible into neighbouring gardens.
This Galanthus was so special I transplanted it into a new spot of their garden which was already done. So it might have a chance. One of the three bulbs I asked for safety reason to keep at my garden.
Their 2 bulbs,  with now additional 2 small, came ok mine has disappeared. At least I cant find it. There are a lot of Narcissus flies here, so that might be the reason why there are no big clumps in the ladies garden.

The inside picture was made the next day it was cold then, so it was  closed.

If it deserves a name I would like to name it after the ladies, but I must ask them before. The new owners wont mind I think

Total height 12 cm
They have never introduced a special snowdrop into their garden, apart from the elwesii species some decades ago.
I asked them yesterday.
The beginning picture is from the third of march. The others from the 10 and 11th of march.
If there is another like it this one, I don't know it.


Would it be worth naming?


There are now some Flore Pleno in this garden, but they are from me, nivalis out of my grandfathers garden.
Certainly there are in the other gardens of this Schrebergarten colonie ordinary nivalis flore pleno.

[partisangardener]

Update from today
In the German forum garten-pur the general opinion was it is a G.nivalis not a hybrid. What is your opinion?
The leafs get more broad with maturity. At the moment 8 cm long 9 mm wide.

[Alan_b]

It's not one of the Greatorex doubles, is it?  Possibly Dionysus?  These have been around a long time and are widely distributed. 

[partisangardener]

I have been in this garden quite often a year before this Galanthus flowered for the first time.
I looked almost every Galanthus beneath its skirt.
The owners were quite surprised about my interest for their Galanthi. They don't know any such plant in their Garden.
When I saw it for the first time this special place was covered with a lot of plants and moss. No trace of any digging for a long time.
You should see it now. The place this snowdrop was, before  I replanted it, is a heap of earth from emptied flower- pots.
I helped the former owners with my body strength and the new ones with my knowledge about this special garden and the plants therein.
They had no garden before.

They collected mostly Irises and some Paeonies in the sunny side of this garden, this special place was a bit neglected and there was no recently bought plant growing there. Only two somewhat bigger clumps of Galanthus grow  there. Some more weedy perennials which liked this shady place. The former owners said always they should do something about  this area, but their power was limited and most  better places didn't look much better. 
Even with my help we  never had time to do something about this place.
Snowdrops are not very widely  distributed in my area. But nothing is impossible.

Is Dionysus so much alike even the leafs?

I could not get good pictures of a single plants leafs.

Dionysus is a plicatus hybrid?

Because there are no plicatus involved here, if its really new.

They have some hybrids of elwesii of different degree in their garden. Nivalis are only a few in the other gardens Flore Plena is not too rare nearby. But no big clumps as in my old garden. The ladies had none.
Is it no species but a hybrid?

[Alan_b]

Greatorex doubles are nivalis x plicatus hybrids.  They don't have particularly broad leaves so might be taken for pure nivalis.  There is a picture of a clump showing the leaves some way down this page http://hampshirealpinegardeners.org.uk/page4.htm .  If snowdrops don't get enough light they can survive for many years without flowering, just putting up small leaves each year so they often pass unnoticed.

Given that your snowdrop looks quite like Dionysus, I think the question you have to answer is how is it different, and indeed better?  Ideally you might want to get hold of a Dionysus and grow it nearby so you can compare the two for appearance, flowering time, scent etc.       

[partisangardener]

Alan, thank you very much for your experienced opinion.
I don't want to get into collecting double snowdrops. The marks with my plant is smaller and more distinct as far I can I see from the pictures in the internet. But that might be a variation caused by different conditions.
And there are quite a lot of doubles to be found.
The former place was not too shady for snowdrops (but for their irises)under the plum-tree and no competiting grass there too. There are two fairly big very good flowering clumps of snowdrops within a small distance. They used a lot of compost too. But you are perfectly right maybe they had a small bulb accidentally imported with some Irises. This small bulb somehow found its place under the plum-tree and so on.

I will have a chat with the ladies within the next week and show them pictures of this finding. I will tell them what I intend to do about it. If they still live next year and my bulb will be flowering, I will give it to them to keep in their garden.
If I can find it indeed . It was a small bulb and maybe not jet flowering, but it is in a big pot sunk somewhere under the snow in the ground. At least I will find the pot.
When there are enough bulbs I will proceed with some collector of doubles for compairing. As far as I know them, the idea of naming them after them, will be good for a lough.   

[partisangardener]

I have been in my garden this morning and by the way took a picture of the original place this Galanthus grew.
The place was in the center.
The presumably mother plant is on the right (same marking, a bit broader leafs more elwesii type).  It was bitter cold this morning, but my wife wanted some twigs from the garden.
No way to say no.

In a couple of years I will know if its new and worth naming. At the moment a lot of guessing on my side

[Alan_b]

It's a neat double (this year, at least) without the aberrant inner petals you almost inevitably find on a nivalis double.  But the inner petals are not arranged symmetrically, as they are in 'Ailwyn' for example.  You need to watch over it and see if you can find some Unique Selling Point that distinguishes it from other doubles.  For example, there is a snowdrop that is local to me called 'Babraham Scented' that in looks is absolutely ordinary and completely indistinguishable from the mass of similar-unnamed snowdrops. But its USP is that it has a nice scent, apparently.     

[partisangardener]

If it wasn't only the second bloom just after transplanting the first, there would be some difference to Ailwyn for example.
More inner petals, sometimes more regular outer petals, very nicely held leafs, but its too early and I know other doubles only from pictures in the internet apart from nivalis Flore Pleno which is not my favorite, but inherited from my grandfather.

Lets see how it will perform next year.