Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Bulbs => Galanthus => Topic started by: ChrisB on February 22, 2015, 09:41:05 AM
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I got a pot of 6 snowdrops yesterday at Dunblane. All have different markings but three are very nice. They came labelled as G. elwesii AGM. Are any of them worth fostering?
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Careful :P ;D
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Hi David, couldn't resist when there were six different ones in one pot for a fiver..... Not even sure they are elwesii really, one has long slender sepals and another plump ones with a tinge of green on the tip. Maybe I should resell one by lol....
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A similar range of variation to a potful I picked up at a garden centre when down south over Christmas - extent of green on inner, 1 vs. 2 marks, greenish tips to outers, width of outers, size/shape of ovary etc. They're all nice in one way or another, but I think within the expected range for G. elwesii elwesii.
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Yes, they look quite a lot like mine Matt... I'll just pop them in the garden then....
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Some say they don't like our wet winters. I've separated mine out and did find a bit of rot on one bulb. It's been very wet here recently. So maybe find a warm, dry-ish patch if you have one?
Sorry to have missed you at Dunblane, Chris. I just couldn't get away this time. Will hope to meet you at an event soon! Was it a good day?
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I have hardly any wet areas, nearly all very sandy, so they should do quite well.. I think I'll separate them all out and number them when planting to see how each one fares....
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.... They came labelled as G. elwesii AGM.
I cannot vouch for the 'AGM' but I see no reason to doubt that they are G. elwesii. Not named cultivars, just examples of the species.
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The 50 dry bulbs I bought last year show a big range of elwesii elwesii and some elwesii monostictus
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Can anyone have a stab at this one please?
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Possibly 'Armine' if you bought that one. What are the leaves like?
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I possibly got a couple from Snape Cottage a few years ago, it's chucking it down here so will try to get a pic of the leaves tomorrow.
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ok
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Here's a picture (file name Snowdrop 3 Rs) of the leaves referred to above. A bluish/green, is the term 'glaucus'?
Mark, your 'stab' was possibly Galanthus 'Armine' and I was wracking my brains last night (what's left of 'em!) trying to remember if I did get some 'Armine' from Snape Cottage and I think I did but I can't remember planting them in the location shown. I did once get some Snowdrops labelled as G caucasicus and had thought I had planted them near the location shown. Is either a possibility?
I have another clump in my back garden which look, to me, remarkably similar and I have pictured those below also and hope you might have time to take a look. These are file names, Snowdrop 5 leaf BG1 Rs and Snowdrop 5 flower BG Rs. The leaf colour in 5 is more glossy than those in 3.
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I think the last one is Augustus.
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I think the last one is Augustus.
I agree.
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Thanks Anne and Mark. Augustus it will be, I suppose the 'dimples' sold it (there you see, I'm learning). I have no idea how I came by it, could possibly be another I got from Snape Cottage.
Mark, could I ask you take a look at Reply 9 and 13 please, in 13 I posted the leaves for my 'Possibly Armine' the flowers being in 9.
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The leaves look right for Armine too. This is mine.
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Armine flower.
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David, what you have could easily be seedlings or just snowdrops resembling named cultivars. If you don't know that you ever bought 'Augustus' then I don't think it is right to assign that name to your snowdrop, although I agree there is a strong resemblance. With snowdrops as with antiques, provenance should be all-important.
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I went to Snape Cottage in 2010 (I can only remember that from the dates on my images taken at the time) and came back with a selection of Snowdrops the names of which have faded from my memory as they have from the labels placed by them at the time. Equally it could be that my friend, Mike Quest, gave them to me and, if I were a betting man, I doubt he would remember either. It's not that I intend to do anything else with them (not intending digging them up and knocking 'em out on fleabay!) so I shall label them as Anne suggests.
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I never rely on labels as they are too easily lost by one means or another. But in another 5 years you might want to pass-on what is by then labelled as, say, 'Armine' to a friend, forgetting the attribution is uncertain. Your friend then passes it on to somebody else who sells some at their local AGS group and you end up with a 'false Armine' in circulation.
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Agreed Alan.
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I never rely on labels as they are too easily lost by one means or another. But in another 5 years you might want to pass-on what is by then labelled as, say, 'Armine' to a friend, forgetting the attribution is uncertain. Your friend then passes it on to somebody else who sells some at their local AGS group and you end up with a 'false Armine' in circulation.
At my age Alan you tend not to worry too much about what might or might not happen in five years time ;)
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So then, David, I would not bother worrying about the names of your snowdrops; just enjoy them for what they are.