Galanthus March 2016

[Alan_b]

How about £20?

My limit started at £10, went up to £15, then £25 and in 2011 I paid £35 for a krasnovii that I killed fairly swiftly afterwards.  I got up to £40 for 'Advent' in 2015 but I don't think I've hit the £50 mark yet.  Nonetheless I must surely be stark staring bonkers to pay such sums for a single bulb that might not even survive till next year.

[David Nicholson]

............I must surely be stark staring bonkers to pay such sums for a single bulb that might not even survive till next year.

I'm inclined to agree

[johnstephen29]

I paid £26.00 for a single bulb of Kildare, either last year or the year before, I can't  remember. What I do remember was being in the doghouse for a week afterwards.
Alan I have some krasnowii seeds in a cold frame that I got from Vlastimil, you can have one if you want to try again, if I can get them to germinate that is.

[Alan_b]

Thanks, John, but a kind gift from another forumist has given me another crack as krasnovii.  However I'm very taken with Ian Young's idea that you can cause a plant to adapt to local conditions by natural selection from successive generations of seedlings.  So with some of the snowdrop species that are new to cultivation we should be trying as hard as we can to grow from seed, keep trying to establish a seeding population in the garden in order to let natural selection breed those that are best-suited to our own conditions.     

[Leena]

However I'm very taken with Ian Young's idea that you can cause a plant to adapt to local conditions by natural selection from successive generations of seedlings.  So with some of the snowdrop species that are new to cultivation we should be trying as hard as we can to grow from seed, keep trying to establish a seeding population in the garden in order to let natural selection breed those that are best-suited to our own conditions.     

I'm trying this, too. Our conditions are so different from Middle Europe.
I have bought cultivars but in the long run I would like to have plants which are fertile and produce seeds (like my G.nivalis and G.plicatus), then on the other hand I would like to have snowdrops which are different in how they look. Otherwise it would be same to just grow masses of G.nivalis.

Last spring I planted some G.reginae-olgae, and 'Tilebarn Jamie' and 'Cambridge' started to flower in mid December. Then around Christmas came winter, and I covered the flowering plants with styrofoam fish box. In January it was below -20 for two weeks with only less than 10cm snow, then we got more snow, and the cold continued. Now the snow has started to melt and day temperatures are above zero (nights are still below zero), and I took the box off the snowdrops. In the first picture is the box still over them, and in the second how they looked when I took the box off.
'Tilebarn Jamie' is on the right and it has lost it's flower during winter, but 'Cambridge' on the left is still flowering. Not in it's prime but alive with a flower after almost three months of winter. Ground is solid frozen still. It is amazing how tough snowdrops are! Now I hope that they still hang on and start to grow their leaves when the weather gets warmer, but don't know yet what will happen.

In the third picture there is G.caucasicus, from Bondarenko, and planted early last autumn. It has drilled it's way through snow.
The fourth picture is 'Gerald Parker', I took some snow away above it and there it was already flower down.
Last picture is 'Atkinsii' which grows under a rose bush where the snow is first to melt.
All pictures are from yesterday.

[Alan_b]

Otherwise it would be same to just grow masses of G.nivalis.

In some UK locales you see masses of nivalis that are sterile (or nearly so).  The effect is very striking but the individual snowdrops are all much the same.  Elsewhere you find seeding populations of nivalis which show great variety of size and form; tall or short, long pedicel or short pedicel, the odd poc. or ipoc. or yellow or more exotic variations.  So if you could get your snowdrops to set seed and start with a diverse gene pool I assure you that there would be nothing 'samey' about your masses of G. nivalis.     

[Thomas Huber]

Yesterday I found a very strange Galanthus nivalis in my rockgarden.
It's a scharlockii with 3 instead of 2 ears AND has 2 additional ears on the ovary.
Not sure if it is stable, the plant must grow for several years in my garden, but I never realised it before...
Have you seen something like that before?

[Brian Ellis]

Strange but interesting Thomas   I quite like the spathe in three like that, like a fantail.

[Leena]

Thomas, how interesting looking snowdrop!

In some UK locales you see masses of nivalis that are sterile (or nearly so).  The effect is very striking but the individual snowdrops are all much the same.  Elsewhere you find seeding populations of nivalis which show great variety of size and form; tall or short, long pedicel or short pedicel, the odd poc. or ipoc. or yellow or more exotic variations.  So if you could get your snowdrops to set seed and start with a diverse gene pool I assure you that there would be nothing 'samey' about your masses of G. nivalis.   

My G.nivalis does set seeds, and I have it from several sources, but they all look pretty much the same. The only difference is in how tall they are and in flower size, also some are more vigorous than others, and some are a little earlier than other. But no difference in colour or flower shape, at least not so far. I have also G.plicatus which sets seeds, so hopefully someday I will have spontaneous hybrids.

[Alan_b]

Have you seen something like that before?

I have one that produces five or six ears from the scape and an extra petal or two from the ovary (receptacle). 

[Alan_b]

But no difference in colour or flower shape, at least not so far.

These variations occur with very low frequency although sometimes you find a 'hotspot' where abnormalities are more common.  You just need a lot of snowdrops.

[Gert G.]

A very nice find across the dutch border  together with John Aipassa of a a better than Blonde Inge type. Right side Blonde Inge.

[Leena]

You just need a lot of snowdrops.

 

[annew]

Very nice, Gert, and hopefully more stable than Mother Goose?

[annew]

Some late ones here just now:
2 flyaway ipoc seedlings - first is  ex South Hayes, second is  Trymlet x south hayes
My first green seedling (shame it's like all the others!)
The amazing huge classic, Comet.