Galanthus March 2018

[ielaba2011]

Hi Gerd, unfortunatly there's no wild Galanthus in Portugal. They are not very commun in gardens also, in fact I brought these ones "in the green" from the UK last year. I wasn't expecting much sucess but, it turns out they have grown quite well in my soil.

Jaime, it's interesting to see Galanthus growing in Portugal!

Do you know if there are any wild poplations exist in your country?

Gerd

[ielaba2011]

Thank you Alan, yes they seem to grow wild here in the Iberia close to the Pyrenees. Iberian flora has it and the natural distribution is northern Catalunha Aragon and Navarre.

I have been studying the Wikipedia map recently https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galanthus#/media/File:Distribution_of_the_galanthus_species.png .  According to this, snowdrops (nivalis) just cross the border between France and Spain but have not got near to Portugal.  But perhaps there are naturalised populations as here in the UK?

[Gerdk]

Thank you for your reply Jaime!

I found Galanthus nivalis near Valdelinares/Teruel, which is quite south and far from the French border. So it would not be totally unimaginable to expect an occurence in Portugal. The site in Spain mentioned above is still poorly known and maybe there will be further places on the Iberian peninsula for this species.

Gerd

[Pauli]

A nice find today in the forrest

[Pauli]

Is such a plant with very keeled petals something special? It is stable, flowering the second year in my garden.

[Alan_b]

Pauli, your snowdrop is a little reminiscent of 'Finchale Abbey', seen here: http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=4921.msg134600#msg134600 in John's 5th picture.

[Pauli]

Alan,
of course it is very similar. But mine was collected in the forest two years ago---

[Cephalotus]

Hello to all,
the beginning of the year was horrible for snowdrops and other early growing plants. The frosts, that visited my region devastated the plants in my garden, so I won't be able to cheer myself with their beauty. I really hope, that such weather anomalies won't happen regularly. I know what everyone must be living through with their plants, when I see frozen to death plants from other gardens.

Fortunately, in the wild the plants were covered with thick layer of leaves and in some other parts of Poland even with snow, so only a tiny fragment of the population look like damaged by the weather. My wife and I managed to find some new forms, one particularly should catch your attention.

1. 8160a - shows a chimera of which I was told, that does not propagate. Last year my wife found such form, this year I was the lucky one. Nice thing, pity it does not propagate...

2. 8223a - a form with entirely green inners and quite strong green marking on the outers. I know well, that there are forms named looking exactly the same, but still it was something my wife and I wanted to find.

3. 3237a - another chimera which... oh... wait... it propagates?! YES IT DOES! It seems, that it is all up to the region the new bulb is forming. If it would grow out of the green part, the offspring would be green. If it would grow from the chlorophyll free region, it would die at the moment it would detach from the mother plant, but if it would grow from the middle, than it would have both characteristics. It is all up to where the new plant would from from. It would be a nightmare to propagate. One of the plants was entirely green, out of all six markings on the inner petals five were green and one was purely yellow, meaning, that the plant still is a chimera, only in a tiny fragment. What an interesting plant and mutation this is! I wonder if the other two would propagate in same way.

[ielaba2011]

Hi Gerd,

thank you.

Those are good news, that part of Spain is drier than here in western Portugal, that means with the right soil, some shade and plenty of leaf mulch they might survive and maybe actually even thrive. I don't know of any known place with wild Galanthus in this country, and as we are smaller than Spain, botanists know the country very well, so probably is pretty certain that they do not exist wild in here.

My next step is to buy species known to do well in drier areas, Like reginae-olgae or peshmenii that some members already told me about. But The truth is I would like to try every single species! 

Jaime

Thank you for your reply Jaime!

I found Galanthus nivalis near Valdelinares/Teruel, which is quite south and far from the French border. So it would not be totally unimaginable to expect an occurence in Portugal. The site in Spain mentioned above is still poorly known and maybe there will be further places on the Iberian peninsula for this species.

Gerd

[fermi de Sousa]

My next step is to buy species known to do well in drier areas, Like reginae-olgae or peshmenii that some members already told me about. But The truth is I would like to try every single species! 

Jaime

Hi Jaime,
Central Victoria is quite hot and dry in summer with rain and frost in winter; Galanthus elwesii is the one that does the best here so might be worth trying in Lisboa
cheers
fermi

[Hannelore]

Those are good news, that part of Spain is drier than here in western Portugal, that means with the right soil, some shade and plenty of leaf mulch they might survive and maybe actually even thrive. I don't know of any known place with wild Galanthus in this country, and as we are smaller than Spain, botanists know the country very well, so probably is pretty certain that they do not exist wild in here.

My next step is to buy species known to do well in drier areas, Like reginae-olgae or peshmenii that some members already told me about. But The truth is I would like to try every single species!

Hello Jaime,
about our ordinary Galanthus nivalis I learned, that they are plants that live underneath foliage trees. In winter and spring, when the trees have no leaves, the snowdrops get water and light. In summer, when the trees are green, the snowdrops get shadow and no water because the trees take all. So I think you can plant any type of snowdrop in your region if you consider this life cycle.

BW
Hannelore

[Alan_b]

Hi Jaime,
Central Victoria is quite hot and dry in summer with rain and frost in winter; Galanthus elwesii is the one that does the best here so might be worth trying in Lisboa
cheers
fermi

I was also going to suggest elwesii.  It's a readily-available species, less expensive than reginae-olgae or peshmenii if you start with just bulbs of the species rather than named cultivars..   

[Blonde Ingrid]

A grey and miserable morning patrol, only one major topic of conversation here while reviewing my late drops!

A new one from Andy Byfield, 'Tall, Dark & Handsome' one of the Flete gracilis  another real beauty. I first saw this on a visit to Andy and immediately placed it on my wish list. It has a gorgeous inner dark green marking, with a slight bleed towards the ovary. The depth of the green is eye catching and complements Andy's series of Andrea's Fault and Whiter Than White. When this becomes more widely available it is a must have.

Next Creme Anglaise, a new Poc for me from the Thorps. There is a view that all Pocs look the same but although this one is pretty, it is not of the calibre of Annielle or Swan Lake. Like all drops from the Thorps it is increasing well.

Boyd's Double, I seem to be growing more of the 'freak drops' than I imagined. Very slow to increase but a lovely green colouration.

Fieldgate Forte/ex Fortissimo, which is bulking well, despite the name change.

Greenkeeper from Anne Wright, increasing well, for me. This is my second clump and pot grown. Both this and the garden clump are doing well.

[Maggi Young]

 The depth of green on 'Tall, Dark & Handsome' is very pleasing -
the contrast of the dark green with the white is good  and  I like that the ovary is the same dark colour.

[Leena]

It is so nice to see your snowdrops in pictures! Here they are still under snow (and underground) and waiting for spring.
I found older pictures of one of my favourite snowdrop, 'Diggory'. I planted one fat bulb in summer 2013 and in the first picture it is in spring 2014 and in the second picture last spring 2017, so it has multiplied quite well. I have found that G.plicatus does pretty well in my garden, as well as G.nivalis, but G.elwesii is much slower to multiply and grow.
Also two pictures of 'Ray Cobb' planted one bulb the same summer 2013 and in the first picture it is in spring 2014 and in the second picture last spring. It hasn't multiplied as well as 'Diggory', but I'm very happy with it all the same.