Identification Galanthus

[Yorkshirelass]

I dont think it is Compton Court or any of the tall chunky single mark snowdrops

Thanks, Mark!

I realise, having discovered further websites that describe the habits of the various snowdrops, that I got that quite wrong based on just photos of the different snowdrops - Compton Court being a tall early variety and mine being an short--ish late one! I put one in water overnight hoping it would open more to allow a better picture of the green mark (which has a yellow tinge to the upper edge, I notice), but it seems to be one of the more demure varieties. It hasn't open nearly as much as the ordinary single picked at the same time. Anyhow I've added another photo to show the shape of the green mark a bit better.

On a different note - through a friend I have been offered a "Scottish Garden" - has anyone heard of such a variety?

I ordered a copy of the snowdrops monograph last Tuesday, and I'm still waiting impatiently for Amazon to dispatch it - hence the rather naive questions...
Susanne

[Anthony Darby]

The unknown with the small apical mark thought to be rizehensis or lagodechianus can't be either. Both species have narrower bright green leaves.

[Gordon Cottis]

The unknown with the small apical mark thought to be rizehensis or lagodechianus can't be either. Both species have narrower bright green leaves.

Davis gives the leaf colour for lagodechianus as 'bright to dark green,glossy to matt or infrequently becoming very slightly glaucescent' and the leaf width at flowering as 0.5-1cm. Given that the plant is of known wild origin (in the Caucasus) appears to have aplanate vernation and a single mark it still seems to me reasonable to ascribe it to lagodechianus.

[Toft Tops]

Could anyone confirm whether or not this is Upcher.  I purchased it (Upcher) in the 90's from RHS Halls and have moved it but it looks suspiciously like Augustus growing near.  Any opinions?

[Paddy Tobin]

Lynda,

Have a look at the "Galanthus March 2010" where a good photograph of 'Augustus' was posted today. This will give you something with which to compare.

I'm afraid I  couldn't comment on your snowdrop from the photograph you posted.

Paddy

[Alan_b]

Susanne (Yorkshirelass)

You must realise that whilst there are now over a thousand named snowdrops, there must be many many millions of unnamed ones.  Even if you have a snowdrop that very closely resembles a named cultivar, it would be wrong to attribute the name of that cultivar to it unless you have a very strong secondary reason (for example you know you bought one of that name but don't remember where you planted it).  Your snowdrop has a longer than normal ovary and a thicker than normal marking for a nivalis but unless you have a reason to believe otherwise it is best to assume it is not a named cultivar.  Of course, if it has enough merit it could one day gain a name of its own but we already have so many named snowdrops that new ones really do need to be exceptional. 

[Alan_b]

Many of us who have become interested in snowdrops have found a snowdrop that in our early days struck us as interesting but which we have subsequently come to realise is not all that unusual or special.  This certainly happened to me, although the story has a happy ending.

Some years ago, I found two snowdrops amongst the many growing in my local churchyard that drew my attention.  They both had particularly broad leaves, one was a good tall variety and the other was rather quirkily short by comparison.  With permission I was allowed to lift a few of each and transfer them to my garden.  The tall broad-leaved one I had so admired never grew as tall or as broad in my garden, has only clumped up slowly and does not have any other interesting features so really proved to be unworthy of interest.  The small one that I had initially regarded as a curiosity turned out to be a really good doer and has bulked up very well.  It also has an interesting tendency to produce extra petals, fused ovaries or even an extra flower on the same scape.  So it proved to have features of interest that I was wholly unaware of when I collected it!  Still, I'm not sure if it is worth naming although I like it a lot myself.   

[bulborum]

Its one of the reasons there are collection numbers
I normally never name a plant I prefer numbers
it tells you when you collect it
all my plants I find myself start with RGB
so I know its my own collection or selection

Roland

[steve owen]

Could anyone confirm whether or not this is Upcher.  I purchased it (Upcher) in the 90's from RHS Halls and have moved it but it looks suspiciously like Augustus growing near.  Any opinions?

If it looks like Augustus, tastes like Augustus, and quacks like Augustus, it may well be Augustus.

[steve owen]

It occurred to me after posting the previous comment that some visitors might find it a bit of a puzzle. I have adapted the birdwatching quote that goes

"If it looks like a duck, flies like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck" (Bill Oddie - I think - no connection between Bill and duck).

I think I should stop this and get back to work, packing and posting snowdrops to happy bidders.

[Alan_b]

Looking here http://bigrab.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/if-it-looks-like-a-duck/ it would seem the phrase predates Bill Oddie.

[Gail]

I prefer the Douglas Adams version; “If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.” (from Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency )

[Paddy Tobin]

Many, many years ago in my teens, I was a very enthusiastic bird watcher and regularly went with a very experienced ornithologist when he was netting and ringing birds. Invariably, I would spout out excitedly that I had spotted something very rare, some passing warbler or the like, until one day  in exasperation he shouted at me, "Paddy, whatever you see it's a bloody sparrow and don't call it anything different unless it comes with a certificate sticking out of its ar.e." Well, that curbed my enthusiasm for a while but its a good point - the ordinary and common is what you are more likely to encounter than the rare and unusual.

Paddy

[mark smyth]

How true Paddy

[Toft Tops]

Thanks everyone!

I think now it must be Augustus BUT does anyone have a good pic of 'Upcher' so I can search around the garden.  Google tells me there's one on Judy's website but the site won't open for me.  Ever hopeful!