Snowdrop leaves dying down early

[Martin Baxendale]

Anyone else finding snowdrops dying down early this year? I recall someone mentioning this earlier in the season, and I think Mark said his crocus are dying down early too.

I'm finding early flowering snowdrops (some reginae-olgae, 'Remember, Remember' and 'Three Ships' in particular) are yellowing and dying back now, which is much earlier than usual for me. Also, some seed pods are ripening much earlier than usual (I harvested my first fully ripe yellow pod yesterday from 'Three Ships'.)

I imagine it must be down to the mild winter (hardly any frosts here at all) allowing the early snowdrops to do much more growing in December, January and February than in cold winters, so that by now they've completed their growth cycle, bulbs fully formed and ready to die down. Plus we're getting quite mild weather for the time of year, which may also make them think early Summer has arrived.

Just to be sure, I'll be checking on those bulbs that are dying back, to see if the bulbs are fully formed, firm and healthy. But the leaves look healthy, so I expect the bulbs to be okay.

However, I'd be interested to know if others are finding the same sort of trend.

[Maggi Young]

Martin, surely if a plant has ripened its seed pod, then its work is done for the year and so it WOULD be dying back? 
When I think that 'Three Ships' for example, is often spoken of as being in flower for Christmas, then it cannot be expected to hold its leaves for too much longer than into April, can it?

We haven't got much in the way of EARLY snowdrops and indeed, those that many would consider early to main season snowies are still flowering here. We have still fresh flowers on some elwesii and nivalis.

[Martin Baxendale]

Hi Maggi. Here even the earliest snowdrops (including reginae-olgae) usually keep their leaves until roughly the same time as the later ones. I guess because in a cold winter they can't do much in the way of growing and photosynthesis in Dec/Jan, so don't end up much ahead of the later snowdrops in terms of growth cycle.

The later snowdrops develop their leaves much faster and also fatten and ripen their seed pods much faster than the autumn snowdrops and early winter ones, so that they all end up (usually) at the same stage by the end of the season, with the autumn snowdrops only ripenign their seed pods maybe a week or two before the late snowdrops.

This is the first time I've noticed the early snowdrops dying back much earlier than the main-season ones. As you say, once the bulbs have fattened up, there's no need for the leaves any more, and I guess keeping the leaves after the bulb is firm and ready for dormancy could actually be bad for the bulb, making it more likely to attract sucking insect pests and consequent virus infection.

I just wondered if others were finding this (with snowdrops or other bulbs, where the winters have been mild recently).

[mark smyth]

None of mine so far but more worried about the Crocus that are dying back especially chrysanthus 'Sunspot' and sieberi 'Ronald Ginns'. The latter I know has gone wrong because the leaves have failed to grow beyong a couple of cm

[annew]

Mark asked that I post this photo of his very tall snowdrop. I don't know if this is the place for it, but here it is anyway - it really is a giant.

[mark smyth]

Thanks! The flower can just be made out. We should have thought about it more and used the coat as a background. As a reminder the height was 20 inches 51cm.

Anne can you remember where the Erythroniums were? When I went back to take photos I couldnt find them

[mark smyth]

Here is a group of 'Cambridge' almost died down photographed today

[johnw]

Given normal spring temperatures (ie 3-10c) how long does it usually take Galanthus to ripen its seeds... in weeks or months?

thanks

johnw

[Martin Baxendale]

The books say snowdrop seed ripens late May to June but it depends a lot on the season and where the garden is. I'm finding seed pods ripening earlier in these mild winters and warm springs. Last year I harvested most seed late April to mid May after most snowdrops flowered quite early, mainly mid-Jan to mid-Feb. So I guess for main-season snowdrops you're looking at about 3-4 months for seed pods to mature, depending on the weather (warm weather = faster ripening). The autumn snowdrops take much longer, ripening their pods not much earlier than the Jan-Feb snowdrops, so there it's more like 6 months. The pods aren't ripe until they start to turn yellow.

[Martin Baxendale]

Rob, if the elwesii are growing healthily then the early die-back may not be a problem. I reckon some early-flowering  snowdrops are simply dying down earlier due to warmer winter weather speeding up their growth cycle. Did you sow the reginae-olgae seed this Spring? If so, you won't get germination until next Autumn/Winter when the seed has been exposed to Summer warmth followed by Autum/Early Winter cold. If the seed was sown last year and hasn't germinated yet, then here again you won't get any germination now until Autumn/Winter.

[Martin Baxendale]

Rob, the snowdrop seed pot will be best in a shady spot. Snowdrops that have been lifted and mailed in the green will often die down earlier than the same varieties in the ground, because of the disturbance. If the bulbs are firm then they've completed their growth cycle and die-back is no problem.

[Gerard Oud]

Martin i noticed the same thing over here, and i think its also because of the mild winter. They had the chance to grow all the time , and when you check the bulbs most of them are fullgrown. But i have not found any ripe seedpod jet.

[Martin Baxendale]

Hi Gerard. I've only found one ripe seed pod so far, on plicatus 'Three Ships'. I think the ripening of the seed pods has slowed down because we have had cold Spring weather in the last couple of weeks, but some of the bulbs have finished their growth cycle and are starting to get yellow leaves. I have found that sometimes the leaves will die down while the seed pod and stem are still green and still ripening.

[mark smyth]

Most of my collection is now turning yellow. Narcissus fly time is almost upon us!!

[Paddy Tobin]

The first of my snowdrop foliage is now turning colour.

Paddy