Galanthus March 2010

[Paddy Tobin]

Paddy, you have SO many gorgeous snowdrops - how many years have you been growing them?

'Little Ben' is really cute and 'Peardrop' is a sweetie    One to covet  

Robin, there are many very kind people who are interested in snowdrops and who share very generously. Each snowdrop has a connection to a kindness which I treasure.

Isn't G. 'Sally Pasmore' beautiful - Mary's favourite and a gift from the very kindest of friends(who will not read this as he doesn't use the internet)

Paddy

[Paddy Tobin]

The last of them. Paddy

G. 'Straffan'
G. 'Straffan'
G. 'The Linns'
G. 'The Whopper'
G. 'Tiny Tim'
G. 'Yvonne'

[Ragged Robin]

Paddy, it's what makes gardening have a real meaning for me too - friendships growing through plants, what could be better  

PS 'Robin Hood' has be on the figurative list too  

[Paddy Tobin]

Robin, Absolutely! Mary and I, when we walk around the garden to look at the plants, will always remember where, when and from whom we received each plant. To be honest, it is Mary who can remember all these details. For the snowdrops, I write all these little things down and keep a record or sometimes put initials on the label in the garden to remind me who gave me a particular snowdrop. Besides this personal connection which plants have I also enjoy knowing the history of a plant or having a plant associated with a particular person. It makes it all the more interesting.

'Robin Hood' is a lovely snowdrop, one of those which stand out easily in the garden.

You might soon be trying to grow a few in the Alp?

Paddy

[David Nicholson]

Lovely stuff Paddy. Just a small correction- it is Pusey (as in Green Tips) not Pucey, after the small town of Pusey in Oxfordshire where it was first found.

[Paddy Tobin]

Lovely stuff Paddy. Just a small correction- it is Pusey (as in Green Tips) not Pucey, after the small town of Pusey in Oxfordshire where it was first found.

Thank you, David. I am so confused with this spelling even reverting at times to the older mistake of spelling it as "Pewsey"

Paddy

Post Scriptum: I have gone back and corrected this now. P.

[Brian Ellis]

Such nice days at the weekend what else was there to do but visit friends?  Our first visit was on Saturday, and, after greetings, coffee and a quick word with the dogs we went out to see progress in the garden.  Molly was not pleased to be left indoors and wondered what all the fuss was about - she does see them every day! 
One long thin bed, the miniature iris which bordered the lawn had been replaced by a bed of snowdrops (fear not the iris have been moved elsewhere).  David amused himself with taking some pictures whilst we talked drops, and most of those that follow are things that caught his eye
So here we have Alison Hilary with a good large inner mark, All Saints with the curved spathe, Godfrey Owen and one of the snowdrops rescued from Warham, there are several different snowdrops circulating from Warham, on a visit to the garden my friend was given a trowel and encouraged to look round and take a bulb of anything that took her fancy, she has several nice snowdrops from there.

[Brian Ellis]

Elsewhere amongst other plantings, there is a large raised bed with a path through the centre.  Here were a good clump of Augustus, and shining out on the edge of the bed the very good Lowick form of sandersii.  I had to laugh because she had a good clump of Selborne Green tips with lots of double heads, every year I mean to buy it and forget until I see it in another garden.  One of the snowdrops that also caught my eye was a large, green tipped elwesii.  Also in this bed a fine clump of Swanton - I really like these snowdrops with puckered outers.  In another area, well protected was Lacewing, which was collected from the Greatorex plot a couple of years ago when we visited, and finally Mosquito, which I first saw about four years ago when it was first found, I'm pleased to have seen it in two more gardens over the last couple of weeks.  When first open it has a very distinctive 'sting' coming from the centre of the flower, but this one is going over and you can see that it is formed from two inners, I wonder if St Pancras (which has three inners protruding) is one of the parents.

[Brian Ellis]

On Sunday I was invited to go and look at a patch of plicatus which has started throwing up some yellows, you can just see some at the foot of this picture. One of them was named June Boardman after the lady of the house, and I was delighted to be given another unnamed yellow from this patch.  It was interesting to find out from Bill that when he used to show at the RHS Halls he was a contemporary of Alex Duguid who gave him a Leucojum wagneri.  I thought it apt that I should give them a Galanthus 'Alex Duguid' in return.

[KentGardener]

Great post Brian.  I wish I had come to stay this weekend too!  [green with envy icon]

[Hagen Engelmann]

Hello Brian I mean to see JUNE BOARDMAN with a yellow ovarium and a green apical mark, isn`t it???

[Brian Ellis]

Hello Hagen, yes it appears to be a limey green/yellow apical mark, I am interested to see whether it will change as the flower is now in the sun (well it would be if we had some), as it was in a shady position before it was planted in the garden.

[johnw]

Paddy & Brian - Thanks for the grand tours. Brian that Lowick Sandersii is a stunner and their Augustus looks clean of virus - can that be?  Paddy - first time I've seen Elfin, a distinctive  - would you call it a ? - spikey. You never seem to repeat a snowdrop photo - the collection must be getting huge.

There's a mention in the Bavcon book that G. nivalis in Slovenia does not naturalize, aside from a very few, manured open fields.  It is not clear if by manured he means pasture land or manured by passing native sheep/goats which surely would not amount to a great deal of nitrogen.  This is not the first time I have read that Galanthus detests manure.  If true is that fresh manure or even well-rotted manure and has anyone tried well-rotted manure on their drops?

johnw  

[Brian Ellis]

I have been asked twice today if that was a doctored picture of the Lowick form of Sandersii group.  You have David to thank for the photos - I was too busy talking and looking   The photograph colour has not been doctored at all.  I was bowled over by it I have to admit...and I think it might need splitting, so if we play our cards right

I think Paddy's Elfin is still in the process of dropping, it's certainly not a spikey as far as I know.

As to manure, I think Mike Broadhurst uses his horses manure (well rotted I would think - is that right Mike?) and other people talk of horses manure being used, but then I have heard that they don't like animal manure too so I am at a loss as to what to think.

[KentGardener]

I think Paddy's Elfin is still in the process of dropping, it's certainly not a spikey as far as I know.

My 'Elfin' has been an upward pointing flower, just like Paddys', for the last 4 year since I got it from Phil Cornish.  I wouldn't describe it as a 'spikey' but it is definitely a 'different' one.  This year however it has decided to break the trend and all but one flower have 'dropped' and look like a green tipped nivalis.

I seem to remember hearing that Phil experienced the same when he first found it and was calling it 'Stargazer' for the first few years until it broke the trend, and stopped staring upwards, for him too.