Galanthus in april

[Rick Goodenough]

Two small snowdrops. G.nivalis cultivars seem to do well for me, and I like them a lot.
'Ray Cobb'
'Greenish'

Leena, thank you for your kind words. It is great fun to see all of your fresh and alive Snowdrops this morning. They look very happy with you. I think we must have some similar winter gardening experiences with a lot of snow cover at least during typical winters. Overall, I have generally found nivalis to consistently perform better in these conditions than other species. Elwesii does fairly well here, too. Your 'Greenish' and 'Ray Cobb' both look superb. Happy Spring!

Rick

[Alan_b]

'Greenish'

In my garden 'Greenish' would flower at least six weeks later than, say, 'Green Light'.

[Leena]

Alan, also here 'Green Light' would like to flower earlier  , it has always come up when there is still snow and ice, while 'Greenish' has come up after snow has melted. So I think if grown side by side also here 'Green Light' would be earlier than 'Greenish'. Now they grow in different beds, and the bed where 'Greenish' grows loses the snow cover earlier. I'm planning to move some earlier snowdrops there, too, though here they wouldn't flower as early than in UK anyway because of the weather conditions.

I think we must have some similar winter gardening experiences with a lot of snow cover at least during typical winters. Overall, I have generally found nivalis to consistently perform better in these conditions than other species. Elwesii does fairly well here, too.

Yes,  G.nivalis seems to be best to grow here, and mostly they also multiply quite well by bulbs, too. G.elwesii does ok, but in my garden it doesn't multiply well, it might have to do with soil pH or something like that, because I know that for others in Finland G.elwesii does well. As well as G.nivalis, I like G.plicatus most, and some of them do well for me, but in my garden they grow best in more moist (but not wet) woodland bed than in drier conditions. G.nivalis and it's cultivars do well everywhere in my garden. 

[Alan_b]

I was talking to an American gentleman called Hitch Lyman whilst standing next to him in a queue earlier this year.  He was adamant that in his garden he could grow nivalis but not elwesii.  See https://www.gardenconservancy.org/open-days/garden-directory/hitch-lyman-s-garden perhaps?

[Leena]

That is interesting, Alan. 
Couple of years ago I sent seeds from my G.nivalis to someone in Alaska. I hope they are doing well over there.

Couple of pictures from today.
G.nivalis. I should divide this clump, they multiply really fast.
G.nivalis 'Flore Pleno'
'Ballerina', planted last summer. I was surprised to see that it is much bigger than 'Flore Pleno' or 'Lady Beatrix Stanley', really nice snowdrop.
'Falkland House' seems also to do well for me.

[Leena]

First picture, 'Mrs Macnamara' on the right, 'Gerard Parker' in the middle and 'Moreton Mill' in the background.
'Lady Elphinstone' is doing well here. It was a gift from a kind forumist.
G.caucasicus form from Leonid Bondarenko is very slow to grow here, but it is alive. Maybe it doesn't like it's place.
In more moist bed G.alpinus var bortkewitschianus multiplies well, it has rather small flowers.
In the last picture it is in the front, and in the back there is G.plicatus 'Oreanda'.

[Leena]

I have written earlier that G.elwesii does not do so well in my garden than G.nivalis. However they live, it's just that they usually don't multiply so well for me, but I have some G.elwesii.
First are nameless G.elwesii from garden center bulbs many years ago, they are good in that way that they set seeds and I get seedlings from them.
Second is 'Fenstead End', planted two years ago and now there are four flowers when last year there was only one, so it seems good.
Then there is 'Big Boy', with huge flowers, and I'm very relieved to see that it has come up and even double compared to last year.
Last picture is 'Lord Lieutenant', and very nice snowdrop and you can see it from far. The markings in the inner seem to develop as the bulbs mature.

[Maggi Young]

A delight to see your snowdrops  coming out so well, Leena - the plantings  are so natural, very appealing.

[Leena]

the plantings  are so natural, very appealing.

Thanks Maggi, I like them, too. 
It was nice of you to say natural, some would say untidy, but dry leaves protect my plants during the winter, and even though the ground freezes, I hope it doesn't freeze very deep with leaf cover.

[Leena]

Some pictures of snowdrops taken the last day of April.
'S.Arnott' always good one for me.
'Washfield Colesbourne' is a nice one which I like.
'Fieldgate Forte' is not doing so well, I should move it someplace else.
G.plicatus from Augis bulbs does very well here and is one of my favourites.

[Leena]

I like poculiform nivalis, this is 'Moreton Mill'.
Yellow snowdrops were quite late here this year, 'Wendy's Gold' and 'Spindlestone Surprise' are not yet even in full flower, it maybe due to deep frost in the bed where they grow, but right close to them G.nivalis Sandersii (Lutescens from Dryad) came up earlier and has increased well from one bulb two years ago.

[Mariette]

It´s fascinating to see all these lovely snowdrops flowering in Your garden! In mine, they´re all about to go dormant, and the peony species are in flower now.
Leena, I think G. elwesii does comparetively well in Your garden. In my experience, only a few clones clump quickly - they are not like most G. nivalis, regarding this aspect.

[Leena]

Thanks Mariette. 
Some snowdrops in the earliest places are already going over also here, but most are still fine, and some late ones are only starting flower. It will be a short snowdrop season for me this year, weather is going to be very warm next week so spring flowers are going over fast then.