Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum

Bulbs => Galanthus => Topic started by: Leena on April 03, 2019, 06:03:16 PM

Title: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 03, 2019, 06:03:16 PM
This past week more snowdrops have come to flower when the snow has melted.
'Atkinsii'
'Mrs Macnamara', it looks like one has yellow markings, but they should all be the same plant, and I suspect the yellow is only either from cold or because there was so much snow over the plants.
'Falkland House' which has this year bigger flowers than before.
'Trymposter' is so small, but it has increased from last year. :)
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 03, 2019, 06:11:12 PM
I don't have many snowdrops which have green marks in the outers. I have 'Rosemary Burnham' but it has regressed, and is not flowering, I should move it to someplace else.
Green nivalis seem to do ok for me. 'Greenish' has multiplied well from one bulb two years ago.
'Hugh Mackenzie' also is ok, planted also  summer 2017, and it is good green for me, though it's flower shape is not very elegant.
Last spring I bought one snowdrop from Slovenia, the cheapest one available. ::) When it came in the mail, it's flower was already over, but here it is now. The green markings are quite faint, but flower is big compared to the plant (though it hasn't flowered long yet). I hope all these will hybridize and give me seeds for more green nivalis. :)
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: David Nicholson on April 03, 2019, 06:36:08 PM
Glad to see your Spring is arriving Leena.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 03, 2019, 06:41:06 PM
Thank you David! This is the best time of year, every day there are new plants coming up, old friends and new surprises. :)
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: David Lowndes on April 03, 2019, 07:31:54 PM
I enjoyed looking at these Leena - two months after we had them!  They do look healthy and thriving in your cold weather!
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 04, 2019, 06:51:33 PM
I enjoyed looking at these Leena - two months after we had them!  They do look healthy and thriving in your cold weather!

Thanks, I glad you liked looking at these. For me snowdrops are trial and error. Most of them like it even in our weather, but there are some I have lost, and some are not doing well at all. For instance, 'Wendy's Gold' is difficult for me, but other nivalis or hybrid yellows are better here. I have heard similar experiences also from others in Finland.

Here are some more snowdrops. I like to grow them outside (because I don't have a place to keep the pots during winter, and in pots above ground they may freeze to death in cold winters) in my woodland beds, and try to find also other nice companion plants. :)
In the first picture is 'S.Arnott', which does very well for me. The crocus in the picture is C.sieberi 'Firefly' which does better than 'Tricolor', I don't know why.
In the second picture 'Diggory' with C.tommasinianus .
'Diggory' has increased well from one bulb, that I have already divided it and planted also to another bed, where only now snow is melting.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 04, 2019, 06:55:27 PM
Some more. :)
'Washfield Colesbourne'
'Colossus'
'Big Boy'
In the last picture a peculiar flower of 'Cordelia'. Usually the markings have been green, but this year in the sunny side of the flower the marking is yellow. In the shade side of the same flower the marking is green. :o
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: David Lowndes on April 04, 2019, 07:01:07 PM
Lovely, natural planting.  Strange about the crocuses.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 04, 2019, 07:19:25 PM
Thank you. :)
In many of my pictures, there are spruce branches in the background. I use them to protect mainly Helleborus buds in cold nights, and they also prevent wild rabbits from eating the buds during nights. Snowdrops are good plants, no animal eats them! Usually also Hellebores are not eaten, but in early spring when there is nothing growing yet in the wild, the animals come to the garden to look for food, and then some buds may get eaten.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Gail on April 04, 2019, 07:28:44 PM
Snowdrops are good plants, no animal eats them!
Do we have an emoticon for ironic laughter? I agree that birds and mammals don't usually eat them (although I've had pheasants pulling the flower heads off just for the fun of it) but swift moth larvae will happily chomp through a potful of the bulbs...

I always used to say I grew peonies because nothing eats them but last year...
[attach=1]

I was getting excited about the fattening bud on a new Paeonia rockii but next time I checked it there was just a small piece of sepal left and a little lump of insect frass...
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 05, 2019, 07:31:00 AM
Of course Gail, I forgot about swift moth larvae :-[, so far I haven't seen it in my garden, but it is known to live also here, mostly on Narcissus, because snowdrops are not very common - I don't think there are any other snowdrops at least in 15km radius from my garden in the countryside. In the cities there are also more snowdrops, and they are slowly becoming more known because there are snowdrops sold in garden centers as dry bulbs in the autumn. Not very common though I think, but when weather gets warmer and winters milder it may well become a pest also here. >:(

For my peonies botrytis is the biggest problem and I have lost many peonies to it.

One more snowdrop. This is an unnamed G.plicatus, short and lovely, and I like it very much.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 09, 2019, 08:29:09 AM
More snowdrops from last week-end.
Here all snowdrops flower about the same time, so here is 'Straffan' in the foreground and 'Mrs Macnamara' behind it.
Nameless G.plicatus from Augis Bulbs, very prolific for me.
'Gerard Parker' looks good this year, but many time it has suffered from cold.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 09, 2019, 08:36:06 AM
'Glenchantress' does well, one bulb planted in 2016. I like this.
Also 'Copton Trym' is a snowdrop I like very much, and it does well for me. :)
Markings in 'Green of Hearts' look similar to CT, maybe slightly bigger in the outers and also it seems to be taller than CT. This is one bulb planted last summer, so I don't know yet how it will do in the long run.
'John Long' is my favourite, too.
'Lord Lieutenant' was planted in 2014, and it is looking nice with short leaves and  upright stature, but the markings in the inner petals have not been what is pictured in the books. Only this year in one flower the markings seem to merge together like they should, so I'm wondering if this is a cultivar where it takes time to develop the "right" markings...
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Maggi Young on April 09, 2019, 09:51:33 AM
As usual, Leena, your  photographs are  every  bit as  lovely as your  flowers. How  pretty the  snowdrops are in your  garden!
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 09, 2019, 11:17:20 AM
Thanks Maggi, I'm very good at cropping the pictures so that all the mess is left outside. :)
I love snowdrops because they are the first ones to flower, and at this time of spring there is still time to admire them and they are not yet lost in all other plants (and weeds), they shine now in spite of freezing nights and even days sometimes. :) Though our snowdrop season is short but it is wonderful still. :)
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 19, 2019, 06:04:24 PM
Some snowdrops from today. First half of April was cold with very cold nights, now it is unusually warm, almost +20C, so I don't think snowdrops will last very long now.
'Spindlestone Surprise'
'E.A.Bowles', my favourite
'Poculi Perfect', planted last summer, and I think this one is going to my favourite too.
'Green Light' which has flowered already for a month
'More the Merrier', which was flowering under snow, and suffered because of that a bit. I will have to move it to more early place.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: David Nicholson on April 19, 2019, 07:27:32 PM
Thank you for extending my Snowdrop season Leena, lovely to see.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: johnw on April 21, 2019, 06:01:40 PM
After a very prolonged winter, the worst since 1993, Spring is finally here. Though a brief low of only of 7F (-14c) the cold persisted from February till April.  The ground froze down a metre and then snow came, though not much. The Galanthus are 2 months + behind and happy to note all the potted & garden ones survived. 

In 2014 Hagen sent me a generous quatnity of nivalis op seed.  There was enough to fill 4 x 5" deep pots. How is it possible I grow seeds from keeners and never get any variation yet every Hagen pot has an abundance of surprises & gems.

Pot 4/4 has a number of gems but today's surprises are:

nivalis albino
nivalis green tip and green inners
nivalis Poculiformis

johnw
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: johnw on April 21, 2019, 06:08:26 PM
Pot 1/4

Galanthus nivalis Poculiformis #1 HE 1/4
Galanthus nivalis Poculiformis #1 HE 1/4

Thanks to Hagen, the Merlin of the Galanthus world.

johnw
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: johnw on April 21, 2019, 06:11:22 PM
First flowering of an exciting elwesii found in Victoria, BC.

Galanthus elwesii 'Fireside Find'

johnw
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Maggi Young on April 22, 2019, 01:51:29 PM
My word, that was  some  winter  for you, John- great to know  all the  'drops are  well and to see these  photos.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: David Nicholson on April 22, 2019, 04:12:49 PM
Glad to see you around the Forum again John, lovely selection.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: johnw on April 22, 2019, 08:35:33 PM
Glad to see you around the Forum again John, lovely selection.

Always here David though just lurking of late.

john
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: johnw on April 23, 2019, 10:09:19 PM
Sad to report the death of the esteemed Galanthophile Veronica Cross earlier this year.  Very late getting the news.  She will be greatly missed by many but especially her snowdrop friends to whom she was so very generous.

john
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 24, 2019, 07:32:26 PM
John, who needs named cultivars when you can grow such gems from seeds! Truly lovely different kinds.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: johnw on April 25, 2019, 02:26:56 PM
who needs named cultivars when you can grow such gems from seeds!

You and me!
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Maggi Young on April 25, 2019, 06:46:16 PM
Epimediums, reticulate irises & newly named snowdrop cultivars comprise the April medley in free e-magazine International Rock Gardener April2019. 

IRG is  happy to formally introduce a new Galanthus cultivar from Patricia Becker in the USA and three from Krzysztof Ciesielski in Poland.

http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2019Apr261556270768IRG_112_April_2019.pdf (http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2019Apr261556270768IRG_112_April_2019.pdf)
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 27, 2019, 06:59:54 PM
I planted 'Emerald Isle' in summer 2016, and it flowered well in spring 2017.
Last spring there was no sign of it, and I read that it can be short lived.
However, this spring these leaves came up in the place where it had been!
How can it have been missing one year, and now putting up leaves?
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Anthony Hawkins on April 29, 2019, 11:15:37 PM
My sister reported the same phenomenon from her garden in Brittany, France. Snowdrops this season where she thought they had gone last year. As she is not particularly interested in snowdrops, and has a 3,500 sq.m. garden, I had thought it was just incomplete observation. Perhaps I am wrong.
Title: Re: Galanthus in April 2019
Post by: Leena on April 30, 2019, 06:57:45 PM
It is interesting to hear that the same thing has happened to someone else, too.
I'm sure mine didn't come up at all last year, because I kept close eye to it, as it was not the cheapest of snowdrops.
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