BLHEG 2016

[Tim Harberd]

   'Big', 'Large', 'Huge', 'Enormous' and 'Giant' are words which are fairly liberally scattered across Snowdrop catalogues…. Probably because using those words sells plants! But what do they actually mean?

   My 'Glenorma' has just broken cover, so mollusc patrols have been doubled! And I thought it would be a good time to start the BLHEG list for the 2016 season, just in case anyone has an early season whopper.

   Last year's list stretched to 25 cultivars, so it seems reasonable to 'raise the bar' and exclude any flower whose outer petals are less than 35mm long. (This means 'Paradise Giant' drops off the list!)

   In order to be fair/consistent I think its a good idea to measure the outer petal length (P) a week after the flower first opens. (H is the height from soil level to the top of the flower.)

   Here is where we got to last year:


                                      .....2015.....                       ....2016....

Mrs Macnamara         H 27cm  P 35mm                    H 38cm  P 35mm
Naughton                   H?         P 35mm
Woodtown                 H?          P 36mm
Kildare                       H?          P 37mm
Bertram Anderson    H20cm     P 38mm                  H 22cm   P 36mm
Walker Canada                                                         H?          P38 mm
PHD 33643               H 22cm   P 39mm                   H 24cm  P 38mm
Gerard Parker           H?           P 39mm?
Grüne Weihnacht                                                    H 30cm    P 39mm
Two Eyes                                                                H 37cm?  P 39mm
Long Wasp                                                              H?            P39mm
Gemini ex PC              H?          P 36mm                 H 30cm    P 40mm
Peardrop                   H18cm?  P 40mm
Kencot Kali               H?            P 40mm
Excelsis                     H?          P 40mm
Penelope Ann           H?           P 40mm
Rev Hailstone                                                         H 34cm  P 40mm
John Tomlinson         H?          P 40mm
Louise Ann Bromley   H?         P 40mm
Fieldgate Superb       H?         P 41mm?
GC2                                                                       H?           P41mm
Hercule                                                                  H?           P41mm
Sibbertoft Manor                                                    H?           P42mm
Chantry Green Twins  H?         P 42mm
Glenorma                  H19cm    P 43mm                  H 30cm  P 45mm
Fred's Giant                                                            H 25cm   P 45mm     
Gravity                                                                   H?           P 45mm
Friar Tuck                   H?         P 45mm?
G.p.byz selectJN 'SL1'?  H?    P 45mm                     H?           P 44mm
Margaret Owen          H?          P 46mm
Comet                                                                    H?          P 47mm

As last year… I’ll edit/update this list to incorporate any info. posted below.

Tim DH

[Alan_b]

So it has to be based on flower size?  I have a whopper of an elwesii (which I got from forumist Tim Ingram) that has a daffodil-sized bulb and very tall leaves but, as far as I recall, flowers of an ordinary size.

[Tim Harberd]

Hi Alan,
   I agree with you… there are other Galanthus statistics which would be interesting to collate. However, as you'll see, I included a  height measurement last year, and most people were only interested in supplying the petal info!
   There was some discussion last year about a snowdrop ('Hercule') so named because it looked like a leek. But I'd guess the dedicated galanthofoliaphiles are a very select group indeed!!

Tim DH

[Tim Harberd]

The first flower on Glenorma half opened it today's sunshine.. I'll measure it next week. Meanwhile Mrs Macnamara fully opened. I suspect the clump has now got too crowded to produce champion sized flowers. They've not been open a week yet, but have 'only' got to 32mm so far. The slugs have also had quite a go at them! Grrrr.

Tim DH

[Hagen Engelmann]

Yesterday I got this picture of a very big Gem, called GRÜNE WEIHNACHT (Green Christmas).
It should be a fine member of the BLHEG- group.

Flowering now, at the christmas time ...
To all: Merry Christmas and (hours later) a Happy New Year

[Brian Ellis]

Another exceptional snowdrop Hagen   Merry Christmas to all.

[Tim Harberd]

Hi Hagen,
   Thanks for posting Grüne Weihnacht … I've logged it as 39mm. Could I trouble you to check its height?

   Leena was enquiring (on the Green Mile thread) what the biggest Green snowdrop might be. Chantry Green Twins is the only other obvious contender on the list so far.

   Meanwhile I attach a pic of Mrs Macnamara, as she graced the Christmas Table. In our warm wet weather here, Three Ships have long since gone West.

Tim DH

[mark smyth]

The slugs have also had quite a go at them! Grrrr.

Slug pellets work very well in this garden. I put them out the first day is rains after a dry period

[Hagen Engelmann]

Hi Hagen,
   Thanks for posting Grüne Weihnacht … I've logged it as 39mm. Could I trouble you to check its height

Tim DH

until 30cm, Tim

[Tim Harberd]

Slug pellets work very well in this garden. I put them out the first day is rains after a dry period

Hi Mark,
Are you suggesting you've seen a dry period recently? I've been waiting months for one of those, so that I can finish lifting the spuds! Mind you, I think that crop will be safe where it is, because I have yet to see pond snails in the garden. Even the 'common or garden' slugs are getting fed up with the rain. I evicted 8 of them from the kitchen tonight. Given the heart breaking images which are arising from the valleys around me it seems trivial to post a pic of a washed out snowdrop bed... but here it is.

Tim DH

[mark smyth]

We've had a few sunny warm days recently with temperatures around 12 and 14c

[Tim Harberd]

Hi Mark,
   Yes we've had the odd sunny day, but not dry. Yesterday was one of them, however there was standing water in the garden all day and it started to rain again after night fall. I reckon the temperature is a large part of the problem. A decent cold snap eliminates a proprtion of slugs, or at least it curtails their movement. Under the current conditions they are free to do what they like, and in huge numbers.

Hi Hagen,
   Thanks for the additional info. I've updated the first post.

Meanwhile, I decided yesterday was the day to take Mrs Macnamara's vital statistics.. I was amazed that she has made it to 35mm. That clump, in a corner of the greenhouse, has about a hundred flowers. (Clumps in the open garden can only manage 33mm.) She is also tall, 38cm. Since one of my interests in snowdrops is as a cut flower, this cultivar has (in my opinion) everything: Large flowered, tall, vigorous and floriferous.

Tim DH

[Maggi Young]

I don't grow 'Mrs Macnamara' but I admire a well-built strong 'drop as much as I would a similar lady
  every time I see the name I burst into song ... "my name is Macnamara, I'm the leader of the band ..... " etc - maybe it's just as well I don't grow it - my neighbours probably suffer enough without  any extra singing in the garden!

[Josh Nelson]

Bit of a newbie question to clarify height measurement - should this be taken from ground level to the top of the ovary held against the spathe, measured along the scape held straight? 

[Brian Ellis]

I don't grow 'Mrs Macnamara' but I admire a well-built strong 'drop as much as I would a similar lady
  every time I see the name I burst into song ... "my name is Macnamara, I'm the leader of the band ..... " etc - maybe it's just as well I don't grow it - my neighbours probably suffer enough without  any extra singing in the garden!

Just as well you don't grow it then Maggi, every time I look at mine I shall imagine your dulcet tones and perhaps your dancing round the clump