Galanthus in October 2017

[Brian Ellis]

For years I have bemoaned the fact that 'Remember Remember' does not flower for me by Fireworks night (Nov 5th), so I thought that I ought to do something about it.  I moved it to a sunnier position last year, and the combination of that and the summer this year means that the bud has dropped already.  I have decided that, knowing my luck, it will be over by the 5th! 

[Rick Goodenough]

Almost all autumn-flowering G. elwesii are var. monostictus.  The best-known exception is 'Peter Gatehouse' - which is a lovely snowdrop that I would recommend to anybody.

Well it is logical because it is indeed a single mark but I think it is neither helpful nor scientific.  I am pretty certain that if you look at a wild or naturalised population of G. elwesii var. elwesii you will find some snowdrops with two distinct marks and some where the two marks merge together.  If that is true then there is little point in using different descriptive terms for the two types.  Var. monostictus (classified as I suggest) is rare overall but very common amongst the early flowering elwesiis.  And if you buy imported elwesii bulbs then about 1 in 1000 will be early-flowering.  I am certain there is a mystery here that remains to be unravelled.       

LOL, Alan, I wonder if the distinction being discussed and currently described has been a reasoned one for a splitter, which many of us who appreciate the nuances of color in Snowdrops may lean toward. Your point about populations of e. var. elwesii hosting both merged marks and two distinct marks gets at this issue. Also, it points to the seemingly inconsistent monostictus category of a single mark that is early blooming and is only monostictus in cases in which half or less of the surface at the apex of the inner is green.

Curious if you are suggesting that an early bloomer with a larger than half green mark should also be considered monostictus? My guess is that a peek at the genetic material under an electron scope may be the only concise way to determine the question of distinct genetic differences. This may be the only path to solving this mystery. Fun to noodle this around....I am sure there are logic points that I have missed!

Mariette, you raise an excellent point as this has been a bit muddy for many of us for some time, though in the big scheme of things, in my opinion, not a critical path issue.

Rick

[Mariette]

For years I have bemoaned the fact that 'Remember Remember' does not flower for me by Fireworks night (Nov 5th), so I thought that I ought to do something about it.  I moved it to a sunnier position last year, and the combination of that and the summer this year means that the bud has dropped already.  I have decided that, knowing my luck, it will be over by the 5th! 

Fingers crossed, that YouŽll enjoy the flowers in Bonfire Night! 

All my autumn-flowering G. elwesii are planted in the sunniest and driest spots in my garden, which may be quite a muddy place in wet summers. ŽBarnesŽI grow in 3 different places, in the shadier ones it tends to flower later.

Surprisingly, G. reginae-olgae doesnŽt need sun in my garden to flower early and well. It seems to be content with a spot that remains reasonably dry during summer.

[Alan_b]

We seem know very little about how these early elwesii bulbs that we grow in our gardens behave in their native habitat.  If you took a Hiemalis Group snowdrop back to Turkey, would it still be autumn-flowering?  If so then it isn't going to interbreed with spring-flowering types, even if they grow in close proximity.  In which case there are likely to be significant genetic differences (which only manifest visibly in that the autumn-flowering types tend to be var. monostictus and the spring-flowering types tend to be var elwesii).  There is great scope for some academic studies but nobody making them, as far as I know.     

     

[Brian Ellis]

Fingers crossed, that YouŽll enjoy the flowers in Bonfire Night! 

My fingers are crossed too

Surprisingly, G. reginae-olgae doesnŽt need sun in my garden to flower early and well. It seems to be content with a spot that remains reasonably dry during summer.

Joe Sharman told us that when he is looking for them in the wild he finds them quite high up and generally under plane trees, so that would not be too sunny.

[Gail]

For years I have bemoaned the fact that 'Remember Remember' does not flower for me by Fireworks night (Nov 5th), so I thought that I ought to do something about it.  I moved it to a sunnier position last year, and the combination of that and the summer this year means that the bud has dropped already.  I have decided that, knowing my luck, it will be over by the 5th! 

First year with 'Remember Remember' for me and it is flowering now - unfortunately the stem wants to be horizontal rather than vertical which I think is not a good look in a snowdrop...

[Alan_b]

I was warned-off buying 'Remember Remember' because the flower stems tend to flop but I am glad I did not heed the warnings because it is pleasingly early and has large handsome flowers.  Your best bet might be to accumulate a large clump so the flower stems can form a self-support group.   

[Gail]

Thanks Alan, I do hope that it accumulates obligingly!

[Alan_b]

An early form of Galanthus transcaucasicus that I bought from Wol and Sue Staines earlier this year.  The leaves are the same colour as the scape, a dark green and quite matt.

[Brian Ellis]

First year with 'Remember Remember' for me and it is flowering now - unfortunately the stem wants to be horizontal rather than vertical which I think is not a good look in a snowdrop...

I believe I may have been the person that warned Alan off 'Remember, Remember'   I was told by a well known grower that if there were early frosts it would lie down and have difficulty getting up so the flower would be spoilt, therefore plant it where it would have some frost protection to prevent that.

[Alan_b]

This is a snowdrop that I acquired in a trade with fellow forumist Tim Ingram.  He grows it as "Galanthus caucasicus early form ex Kath Dryden" which these days would be Galanthus elwesii Hiemalis Group ex Kath Dryden, I suppose.  It must have been around for a while and I would have though it might have been well circulated but for some reason it has never acquired a name, nor have I ever seen it offered for sale.  The mark on the inner petals is quite distinctive amongst Hiemalis Group snowdrops because it is almost split at the centre.   

[Mariette]

One of my lucky finds in G. elwesii mixtures was this one, where the mark is completely split. Two years ago it flowered in mid November, this year it will be within the next days.

[Rick Goodenough]

One of my lucky finds in G. elwesii mixtures was this one, where the mark is completely split. Two years ago it flowered in mid November, this year it will be within the next days.

Mariette, a lovely image. Nice find and I hope it shows the split mark again this year. Keep us posted.

Rick

[Alan_b]

That's a lovely find, Mariette.  I am interested in the statistics of elwesii "mixtures" and what fraction turn out to be autumn-flowering.  Can you estimate this for the ones you bought?   

[Mariette]

Mariette, a lovely image. Nice find and I hope it shows the split mark again this year. Keep us posted.

Rick

Thank You for Your kind comment, Rick! The split mark was the same last year.