November 2014 snowdrops

[Maggi Young]

Came home from my hols to discover 'Santa Claus" has been and gone - don't think I will tell the grandchildren.
In the meantime 'Snogerupi' has just come in to flower.  It is so good to come home and check what is happening -

Shocking news indeed - I'm not going to tell  Ian either.......

It is so good to come home and check what is happening - unfortunately huge amounts of leaves to clean up but that means an ongoing supply of leafmould so I am not really complaining.

  Wonderful stuff, leafmould - and all the better if its DIY !

[emma T]

'Santa Claus ' is here instead lol

[Paddy Tobin]

I don't have 'Santa Claus' but I do have plenty of leafmould and lots in the making for next year.

[Matt T]

This Galanthus reginae-olgae flower has been out for about 2 weeks now. Haven't had a chance to photograph/post it before because I've been too busy/it's been too grey and wet. I'm impressed with it's longevity.

[Maggi Young]

Ian also mentions Galanthus reginae-olgae in today's Bulb Log
 http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2014Nov261417007041BULB_LOG_4814.pdf 
He also mentions the lack of pollinators around at the moment here. I wonder if the snowdrops are able to last so long because they are not being fertilised?
Also in the BulbLog Ian shows Narcissus 'Cedric Morris' which must be one of the longest lasting flowers of any kind that we grow. This delightful narcissus comes into flower now and individual flowers can still be absolutely lovely in several months' time. I am talking, as I say, of individual flowers, staying fresh, not of a succession of flowers.  The  N. 'Cedric Morris'  are sterile flowers, of course,  so even when the ovary swells enthusiastically, making one think that lots of seed is being made, the flowers continue to look good and, in the end, there is never any fertile seed. 
All part of the fascination of flowers, isn't it?

[Matt T]

I have noticed that flowers I've hand pollinated seem to go over quicker than others that haven't had their parts dabbed at. Nothing empirical, just a perception I have. I hope to get hold of Cedric one day, but it seems to be permanently out of stock.

I did have a lovely fat seed pod swelling on a Gr-o that had flowered earlier. A slug chewed most of the way through the stem last week so it was only hanging by the thinest fragment. I hoped it might still be attached enough to keep developing but it's withered 

A couple of Narcissus flower buds have also been attacked but other Galanthus are untouched, including my favourite, G. peshmenii. So, like Ian I have very carefully sprinkled just a few blue pellets of Gardener's revenge!

[ashley]

... The  N. 'Cedric Morris'  are sterile flowers, of course,  so even when the ovary swells enthusiastically, making one think that lots of seed is being made, the flowers continue to look good and, in the end, there is never any fertile seed. ...

A clone of N. jacetanus does the same here.  Fortunately I didn't give up checking though, because this year it presented me with a single fat glossy seed

Under glass, my efforts with a paintbrush regularly give nice fat pods on GG. reginae-olgae & peshmenii but many prove to be false pregnancies.  So far however G. cilicicus hasn't even produced pods despite cross-pollination between several clones.  Maybe it's a temperature problem.

[Leena]

I have been following Galanthus germination thread with interest, and when I noticed these G.nivalis seeds germinating earlier in November, I took a picture of them. I have my oldest G.nivalis patch near (they barely show their noses now). I was making a new path through the bed, and this path had been covered all summer (to kill weeds), and in October I took the covering away because I knew that there could be snowdrops also in this place in the spring (I plan to move them away from the path in the spring).
So the seeds start to germinate also here in autumn. I covered them with mulch for now so that they survive the coming winter.

[Matt T]

Under glass, my efforts with a paintbrush regularly give nice fat pods on GG. reginae-olgae & peshmenii but many prove to be false pregnancies.

Despite being self-pollinated, my slug-attacked Gr-o was developing and handful of fat seeds. I'm sure they're not yet developed enough to be viable, but have buried them in the moist plunge sand in any case.

I have several clones of Gr-o, but having them in flower together to enable cross pollination is another thing 

[mark smyth]

I'm very happy with my pot of ikariae snogerupii. I must put some out in the garden or in a trough

I bought my bulbs in 2012 at the Mid Anglia bulb sale. I now have 7 flowering bulbs, 1 bulb with an aborted flower and 9 non flowering bulbs

[ruben]

Some sun today here in Belgium, so a good moment to take some pictures of flowering snowdrops!
- Galanthus elwesii 'Faringdon Double': the earliest double flowering snowdrop for me
- Galanthus elwesii 'Kinn McIntosh': small but very nice
- Galanthus reginae- olgae from Calabrië in Italy. This one has got long and narrow flowers. This one is very vigorous and in contrast with other reginae-olgae types this one hardly suffers from cold winters!
- Cyclamen elegans 'Silverleaf' with Galanthus elwesii 'KinnMcIntosh'

[uvularia]

He is a photo of my Galanthus rizehensis Trabzon that has been out for 3 weeks already. Not the most remarkable of forms, but unusual for a G.rizehensis to be out at this time.

[Maggi Young]

Topsy-turvey timings - just  wonder how many more plants will make such an early start this year? In Scone on the 15th November I saw a perfect clump of Helleborus niger in full flower.

[mark smyth]

I have H. niger in bud and a self sown hybridus in flower. Primroses are flowering. Lonicera 'Winter Beauty' is covered in flowers. Ranunculus acris and montana have flowers ... and too many snowdrops above ground

[krisderaeymaeker]

In flower during the last week of november in South Turkey : Galanthus peshmenii