Galanthus March 2009

[Alan_b]

Perhaps this does not need repeating yet again, but I visited Bill Clark last year and he assured me he does not spell his name with an "e"!

(See first post here http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=1350.60 )

[Martin Baxendale]

Just a quick couple of pics of a late seedling I found in a seed bed today.

It's ikariae x nivalis 'Virescens', has ikariae leaves and flower shape with a solid green inner mark and green tips to the outers.

The photos don't do it justice. It's a small flower (may get bigger in future years - this is the first flowering) but nicely shaped and the green shading looks better in the flesh than on the photo.

[Paddy Tobin]

Martin,

That's a good one, an excellent result for your breeding programme. Well done.

Interesting shape to the inner segments; they seem to form a point.

Paddy

[Martin Baxendale]

Martin,

That's a good one, an excellent result for your breeding programme. Well done.

Interesting shape to the inner segments; they seem to form a point.

Paddy

Just had a look, Paddy, and yes the inner petals do narrow towards the sinus end, almost forming a point. I also just noticed that the leaves, while basically ikariae-like are quite narrow for ikariae and also have a feint pale central line which may come from the nivalis blood. It's an elegant little thing which really does look better in real life than in my snap.

[KentGardener]

A lovely shape overall - very nice.   

John

[ichristie]

Hi Martin very interesting indeed please excuse me but is this one of a very few hybrids between G. nivalis and G ikariae, I have not heard of others,  cheers Ian the Christie kind.

[Martin Baxendale]

Hi Martin very interesting indeed please excuse me but is this one of a very few hybrids between G. nivalis and G ikariae, I have not heard of others,  cheers Ian the Christie kind.

I'm not aware of any other ikariae x nivalis hybrids, though there may be one or more I've never heard about. I may have a few more in my seed beds eventually.

[Anthony Darby]

Here is a strange little ikariae flowering without leaves where it was until I moved them 'all' last summer. Clearly I missed one.

[johnw]

Some G. nivalis are out near the house. Have a quick look at the state of our Galanthus in the open garden, G. nivalis doubles.  Leucojum vernum not far behind. I say quick as we are expecting 20 cm of snow in the next 24 hours.  Not a very good start to Spring.

johnw

[Jo]

Hey John, you're soooo lucky, still all those snowdrops to come    They are rapidly finishing here after a week of lovely spring sunshine

[Alan_b]

Help, I'm getting snowdrop withdrawal symptoms and there have been no posts on the forum for almost two days.

I wonder if there is anywhere I can go to see snowdrops at their best in late March or April?  Preferably somewhere in reach of a cheap flight out of Stansted Airport?  I would love to see them growing in the wild and see the other spring flowers that accompany them.   

[KentGardener]

Help, I'm getting snowdrop withdrawal symptoms and there have been no posts on the forum for almost two days.

I wonder if there is anywhere I can go to see snowdrops at their best in late March or April?  Preferably somewhere in reach of a cheap flight out of Stansted Airport?  I would love to see them growing in the wild and see the other spring flowers that accompany them.   

Aberdeen?   

[Anthony Darby]

I have 'Baxendale's Late' just coming into bloom!

[Jo]

So Alan, it looks like Anthony's garden or Aberdeen, or maybe there are cheap flights to Coastal Nova Scotia, but I don't think Ryanair goes that far.  Shame

Glad the plants arrived safely 

[Diane Whitehead]

We're just home from a trip to Namibia and South Africa with our two oldest
grandchildren. We were mainly looking for animals (63 elephants in and around
one mudhole), but I did see a few flowers.

I expected to miss the flowering of a lot of my spring flowers - my poculiform
elwesii were still in tight bud, and no nivalis were open yet when we left at the
beginning of March.

However, the weather here must have been cold, as a quick trip around the garden
this morning at dawn showed snowdrops still blooming.  I must get those pocs
crossed, if I can find decent pollen on them - when I've looked in previous years,
the stamens seem a bit deformed.