Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Galanthus => Topic started by: Alan_b on April 01, 2021, 09:42:33 PM
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I remember having a debate some years ago with lapsed forumist Mark Smyth over whether 'Wendy's Gold' produces a second scape. He said it often does and at the time I hadn't seen or noticed this. But when I looked around this morning to see if I had any snowdrops left still looking fresh the only ones I found were on 'Wendy's Gold' and I think they are all second scapes. These must have flowered a good deal later than the first and are still going.
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Such a lovely late drop Alan. I must save up for one and see how it does in Kent, ( almost in France).
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some photos from Dimitri Zubov's cllection in his garden near Kiev .... " Actual cool April weather accompanied by weak night frosts makes happy my blossoming drops from the evolutionary ancient Platyphyllus clade, here they are!!!"
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G. krasnovii, Abkhazia, Sakartvelo
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G. krasnovii, Abkhazia, Sakartvelo
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G. krasnovii, Ajara, Sakartvelo
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G. krasnovii, Artvin, Turkey
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some more ....
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G. panjutinii, Aibga, Russia - - not growing so well in the garden near Kiev as it did in Dima's Donetsk garden.
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G. platyphyllus, Askhi Plateau, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Sakartvelo
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G. platyphyllus, Chanchakhi river - Mamisoni Pass, Sakartvelo
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G. platyphyllus, Lashipse river - Pyv Pass, Abkhazia, Sakartvelo
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It would be so interesting to try to grow G.platyphyllus here. I have once sown it from bought seeds, but they never germinated (so far):(.
Here are some of my snowdrops from yesterday.
'Wendy's Gold', I divided it last year so that is why only two now here.
'Diggory' is a good doer for me.
PHD33463 is a showy snowdrop with big flowers, but not so tall here.
'Garden Peace' does well, it comes up quite early through snow, but has been undamaged.
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'Chantry Dame', I'm so happy that I bought all these special snowdrops before Brexit. Now it would be impossible.
'Merlin', an old one, but good.
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some more ....
G. panjutinii, Aibga, Russia - - not growing so well in the garden near Kiev as it did in Dima's Donetsk garden.
G. platyphyllus, Askhi Plateau, Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti, Sakartvelo
G. platyphyllus, Chanchakhi river - Mamisoni Pass, Sakartvelo
G. platyphyllus, Lashipse river - Pyv Pass, Abkhazia, Sakartvelo
Thank You, Maggi, for showing these wonderful variations! The flowers of G. platyphyllus are of adorable elegance, and the green leaves a beautiful contrast!
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More of my snowdrops.
In the first picture is 'E.A.Bowles' on the left (two) and on the right is a seedling from it, with ordinary flower. Nice plant nevertheless and earlier to start flowering than the mother plant.
There is one more seedling in the back middle, which is still too small to flower yet. Maybe next year.
I like poculiform snowdrops :), like 'Moreton Mill'.
Also nice are 'More the Merrier' and a poculiform scharlockii which has a very long pedicel and heavy flower.
In the last picture poculiform G.nivalis from Austria planted last summer. :)
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One more perfect poculiform snowdrop, 'Poculi Perfect'.
The second picture is a snowdrop I have grown from Holubeck seeds sown 2015 and it is flowering now for the first time. It is G.woronowii from Uzugöl, Turkey, and a very nice plant, I think.
The green mark in the inners is quite big compared to the marks in my garden center G.woronowii.
The last small snowdrops is G.snogerupii.
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I remember having a debate some years ago with lapsed forumist Mark Smyth over whether 'Wendy's Gold' produces a second scape. He said it often does and at the time I hadn't seen or noticed this. But when I looked around this morning to see if I had any snowdrops left still looking fresh the only ones I found were on 'Wendy's Gold' and I think they are all second scapes. These must have flowered a good deal later than the first and are still going.
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Hello everyone from Estonia! I've been visiting this forum for many years and admired beautiful pictures and interesting talks! Thank you for that! Also, I've always felt for Leena for being a little alone here with her exciting sharings as the snowdrop season is over for many but just getting started here in the far north. Dear Leena, your posts are especially interesting and exciting for me, as we share the same conditions. Well, maybe I have just a little bit better ones! ;D I'll try to share my pics and thoughts with you here and with all others as snowdrops are a big love of mine too!
But first I'd like to reflect on Alan with his findings on 'Wendy's Gold'. Mature bulbs in clumps of 'Wendy's Gold' mostly bare two scapes in my garden. This yellow snowdrop seems to be enjoying Estonian conditions! A couple of pictures ...
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Hello Villu - great to have you join us!! We look forward to learning more of the plants you grow in Estonia.
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Tere Villu! I had booked onto a Greentours trip to Lahemaa and Saaremaa for July last year which of course could not go ahead, so I had to stay at home and make myself a Porgandipirukas instead! I look forward to seeing your images. Ole tubli!
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Welcome Villu! You grow 'Wendy's Gold' very well.
Best wishes, Tristan
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Also, I've always felt for Leena for being a little alone here with her exciting sharings as the snowdrop season is over for many but just getting started here in the far north. Dear Leena, your posts are especially interesting and exciting for me, as we share the same conditions. Well, maybe I have just a little bit better ones! ;D I'll try to share my pics and thoughts with you here and with all others as snowdrops are a big love of mine too!
Hi Villu, and thank you! :)
Your conditions and climate are a bit better than here :), but luckily snowdrops are mostly so tough plants. They are my favourites, too, and though our season here is much shorter than in more south, they still bring spring and joy with them. There is nothing like seeing snowdrops emerge from snow (even though they as as white as snow) in spring.
Your 'Wendy's Gold' grows very well indeed! With me it has been more difficult than for instance 'Spindelstone Surprise' or 'Primrose Warburg', it seems it is more demanding to soil,
and AlanB suggested that adding lime to the soil might help, because my soil is acidic, and I think it has helped.
Is your soil more basic or acidic? I think the soil in Estonia has more lime in it, am I right?
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Some more snowdrop pictures before they are over also here.
An unnamed G.plicatus I got from a forumist and it has grown well, and I like it. It is a compact plant and very nice, and distinct in my eyes.
'Bambino' (from Woodchippings), planted last summer. I haven't found any information of this in books.
'Diggory', always a favourite
'Primrose Warburg' grows well here, very similar to 'Spindlestone Surprise' (in the back), and they flower at the same time but PW comes up just a bit earlier.
'Midas', is so cute.
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Dear Maggi, Tristan and Leena, thank you for the warm welcome!
Gail, your Estonian is perfect! I had such a laugh! I hope you can make it here soon. It is worth it! Hapukapsad ja verivorstid are waiting for you! ;D
Leena, Estonia is roughly divided into two by soil conditions. The northern part sits on limestone and soils are neutral to alkaline there and in the southern part, it is sandstone which makes soils more acidic. My home is Viljandi county, which is in the south, but in our area soils are rather heavy, sitting on clay and they are neutral. If it is cultivated for long, it is black and rich. I think my snowdrops like it. I grow mine in the same bed with hostas and I add leaf mould every autumn.
Snowdrop season is getting over here. The early ones have finished flowering but the mid-season group is still fresh. However, I think this warm spell will finish them off soon. Some pictures from yesterday.
Big drops and small daffs
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Snowdrop Bed
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Snowdrop Bed 2
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More pictures can be seen in my blog:
https://tistoupaevaraamat.blogspot.com/2021/04/selle-kevade-paev.html (pictures from yesterday)
https://tistoupaevaraamat.blogspot.com/2021/04/lumikellukeste-valevus.html (pictures from a week ago).
Coming back to different snowdrops producing multiple scapes, my most floriferous snowdrop must be G. plicatus 'John Long'. I have two plants that are young, but already having three scapes per bulb.
Six leaves, eight flowers, 'John Long'
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G. plicatus 'John Long'
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Your snowdrops really like your garden and soil, they grow so well :). There were so nice pictures in your blog, and all so tidy that I'm so envious. :)
I must move my 'John Long', it does ok, but not really to it's full potential. I have read also elsewhere that it is a very good doer.
Also here snowdrop season is slowly coming to end. Here most flower at the same time: that is when the snow melts. Only the latest ones are still full well,
and 'Cicely Hall' growing in shade is only now coming up.
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Hapukapsad ja verivorstid are waiting for you!
I enjoyed the porgandipirukas and it is a useful picnic food with vegetarian friends but I must admit the hapukapsad ja verivorstid are not things I am in a hurry to try! :)
Love that picture of the Big drops and small daffs - I think soft yellow companions really help to bring out the yellow in the yellow snowdrops.
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I bought one bulb of 'Emerald Isle' in 2016, and it flowered in spring 2017. Then it disappeared alltogether for 2018 and made just a couple of leaves in 2019 and 2020.
Now it has made several leaves and one flower, so it seems not to like very much to grow here. It is the latest one of my snowdrops to flower.
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Here is a closer picture of it.
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Hello Villu; sorry I have been slow come back here to welcome you. I'm afraid the only Estonian I know is Arvo Pärt (and I don't mean know in person). At the moment the snowdrop world is largely obsessed with novelty; you are wise to pay attention to garden-worthiness like the number of flowers per bulb.
I was wandering around the grounds of Howick Hall today, looking at their vast quantities of daffodils and some other enviable spring flowers. I noticed one solitary snowdrop still in flower. Was it delayed for some reason or is it naturally at the far end of the distribution curve of flowering times?
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Hello Alan! I am glad if you know Arvo Pärt and his music! He most likely might be the most well known Estonian these times. He has written some excellent music!
Snowdrops are basically over now. Today only G. plicatus 'E.A. Bowles' and 'Cicely Hall' are in bloom.
But on Wednesday, when I took pictures there were some more.
In my garden and among snowdrops I have, 'E.A. Bowles' is always the last snowdrop to bloom. Some years reaching to May. Super beautiful at the moment.
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It is 'Cicely Halls' first year in my garden. I didn't know she was late, I picked her because of the beautiful all green inners. It came up so late so I thought it was dead.
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'John Gray' on the other hand is one of the first to emerge and to flower. But it proves to be one of the longest blooming too!
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G. plicatus 'Trympostor' is blooming very long.
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G. nivalis 'Virescens' is well known late snowdrop.
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And I don't want to leave out one more snowdrop that was in bloom on Wednesday. It is 'Marjorie Brown'. She is late, opening her blooms a lot later than the others. But unfortunately, she is also very quick and blooms fade about the same time as on midseason snowdrops. Maybe it is because of the warm weather which usually ends the snowdrop season here. But what I love about her are the ghostly grey broad leaves!
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One more 'E.A Bowles' to finish off.
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Leena, do you still have many drops in bloom? I guess you had the same warm spell as we did?
Huh, and I almost left out my much-admired G. elwesii 'Pat Mason'. She was one of the first special snowdrops along with 'Wendy's Gold' I acquired from Ebay. I wanted it so badly and I still love her very deeply! :D
She also starts very early here and carries on a long time.
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Great photos Villu!
Leena, do you still have many drops in bloom? I guess you had the same warm spell as we did?
Yes, it was unusually warm week and many earlier flowers are starting to look not their best any more, but there are still many snowdrops flowering here:). Now it rained yesterday and it is going to be a rainy and cold week-end, and all next week they promise night temperatures below freezing, so spring is slowing down. I will have to look what snowdrops there are still looking good, but also here 'Cicely Hall' just started to flower and 'E.A.Bowles' is still looking good. We seem to have a similar taste in snowdrops because EAB is also one of my big favorites. Not doing as well as with you :), but still slowly increasing.
There are now so many other plants starting to flower that I haven't taken snowdrop pictures last week:(.
I found one picture taken four days ago of a nice Crocus abantensis, but in the background there is 'Mrs Macnamara' still looking quite good. It is always one of the first the come through snow and even in winter 2020 when we didn't have snow nearly at all, but still cold, it came through well, so it is also very cold resistant. A very good snowdrop even if there are now special markings in it. The snowdrop in the back left is an unnamed G.plicatus from Augis bulbs, also a good late flowering snowdrop.
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The blue of Crocus abantensis is a wonderful contrast to the snowdrops Leena! Your sceneries are always so admirably well composed!
Thank You for the pics from Your garden, Villu! Obviously, You are a very gifted grower of snowdrops, there are seldom shown such beautiful groups o varieties!
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Thank you, Leena and Mariette, for your kind words!
Leena, your pictures are always a treat and a great pleasure to look at. Your woodland settings are definitely something I'm aiming for one day. :)
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Thank you Mariette and Villu. :) Growing snowdrops and other plants is trial and error for me, trying to find the suitable places and conditions for them,
and that is also the joy in it.
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Some snowdrops are still flowering well here, these pictures are from yesterday.
'Fieldgate Tiffany' has always been one of the latest ones to come up and flower.
G.plicatus from Augis bulbs is also late one for me as also 'Melanie Broughton' has been.
'Ballerina' is surprisingly late, too.