digression from chipping to Flocon de neige

[mark smyth]

'Hill Poe'

[Paddy Tobin]

Well now, Mark's photographs say it all. Really, does G. 'Flocon de Niege' compare with G. 'Hill Poe'? Not at all. G. 'Hill Poe' has a far neater arrangement of inner segments and is a far more dainty and pretty flower and has the benefit of a proven track record.

Don't get me wrong. G. 'Flocon de Niege' is a pretty plant and an interesting addition to the variety of snowdrops and I would certainly give it garden space but I will certainly not be paying £50 for a bulb.

Could I ask those of you who have seen it growing in a garden how it looks in a clump? I think an important consideration when assessing a snowdrop is how it looks in a drift rather than simply as a single flower. Or is this simply my painful knees and hips making me appreciate those snowdrops which look well without the need to kneel to view them at their best?

Creakingly, Paddy

[art600]

Mark

How would you separate 'Tutu' from 'Hill Poe' from 'Flocon de Neige' from ordinary nivalis 'flore pleno' ? 

[Maggi Young]

how it looks in a clump? I think an important consideration when assessing a snowdrop is how it looks in a drift rather than simply as a single flower.

A good point, Paddy! Some of the Snowdrops Ian Christie is bulking up from  Scottish 'drops, such as G. 'Lady Dalhousie' are not only very attractive when examined closely, but are also very sturdy, upstanding plants in a group, looking exceptionally good in a clump..........a point to consider when making a garden choice, indeed!

[Paddy Tobin]

Maggi,

There is a garden in Northern Ireland, Mark will know it well, that of June Docherty where she has huuuuuge drifts of G. nivalis obviously planted originally many, many years ago. It is a most wonderful sight and apparently there is no variation among them. Bob Gordon told me that he went through them with June in hopes of finding something different, feeling sure that after all the years they were growing that some variation had arisen, but they were disappointed. It is simply one enormous drift and it looks fantastic. AND - there is no need to get down on hands and knees to appreciate them. Oh, yes, there are blue crocus planted among them and this was an inspired choice as the blue sets off the white of the snowdrops and vice versa.

I have been very fortunate, through the kindness of a forum member, to receive some of Ian Christie's snowdrops earlier in the year and I am looking forward to seeing them in flower later on this snowdrop season. They are reputedly good-growing bulbs and hopefully will prove to be so. Ian has selected a number of good snowdrops I believe and it will be good to see them when he has bulked them up further.

Paddy

[Martin Baxendale]

Paddy, I'm not having a go at Irish snowdrops, but 'Hill Poe' hardly ever looks in my garden like it does in Mark's photo. Maybe it misses its homeland. I've seen it looking better in other gardens so maybe mine is too dry for it or something. It certainly seems to need a long time to settle down and here only seems to flower like Mark's pic when it's gone deep into the soil and made a really big bulb. Smaller less established bulbs seem to want to only produce small and irregular flowers with often small, short, thin outers, unlike the large  and regular outers that Mark shows. It's also very slow to clump up here and I can;'t say I've ever seen a big clump over here (but I don't get out that much   ). I think it may need plenty of moisture and feeding, much more than it gets here, but of course more like your conditions. I also find 'Straffan' difficult to keep (though my mother a few miles away does all right with it, though on a heavier clay soil)- again, I suspect 'Straffan' does best in Irish-like conditions.

 

[mark smyth]

How would you separate 'Tutu' from 'Hill Poe' from 'Flocon de Neige' from ordinary nivalis 'flore pleno' ? 

nivalis 'Flore Pleno' is mostly irregular with extra outers within the inners. 'Tutu' if I remember right is also a nivalis but it's very neat and dainty  packed tight with inners. 'Hill Poe' is quite a chunky snowdrop with the most jaw dropping set of inner petals. nivalis 'Flocon' has 6 outers.

I suppose it's like identifying birds by song - many are alike - or identifying gulls.

[mark smyth]

I have also gone through June's drifts of snowdrops looking for the unusual. I did tell her recently to buy bulk elwesii, plicatus and woronowii to try and get some hybrids.

Bob's and Margaret's 'Hill Poe' always look good.

[Anthony Darby]

You hit the nail on the head when you said 6 outers. I like the regularity. I suppose this makes it the only true double snowdrop?

[Martin Baxendale]

You hit the nail on the head when you said 6 outers. I like the regularity. I suppose this makes it the only true double snowdrop?

Gal. elwesii 'Godfrey Owen' has the same floral arrangement.

[snowdropman]

Gal. elwesii 'Godfrey Owen' has the same floral arrangement.

but it tends to throw the odd aberrant inner petal?

[Martin Baxendale]

Gal. elwesii 'Godfrey Owen' has the same floral arrangement.

but it tends to throw the odd aberrant inner petal?

Hi Chris. Is that your experience of it? I've only had a couple of flowers here so far and hadn't noticed that yet. Maybe when I increase it enough to have a good clump.

[Brian Ellis]

Yes Martin I have had the same aberrant inner petal.  Hopefully not this year

[snowdropman]

Yes, Martin, it does seem to have this trait - it has done this 3 years in a row with me, which is a disappointment for what would otherwise be a very nice double.

[Anthony Darby]

All of which leads straight back to 'Flocon de Neige'.