Galanthus Sophie North

[Alan_b]

I just noticed the email address quoted on this thread.  If you want this address to remain usable, you need remove it before it is discovered by the spambots.

[Maggi Young]

I have edited the post, Alan.

[Maren]

Thanks, Maggi, I had already nearly decided to hang on to it, but your advice confirms my decision. Who knows .....

[Mavers]

Hang on to it, Maren. The foliage will stay green for longer if there is a pod developing and that can only add more food to the bulb, as well as ripening any seed. 

This is interesting, I didn't realise this Maggi...........I have always removed the seed pods from bulbs thinking the 'goodness' will go into the bulb rather unwanted seed.

Mike

[Maggi Young]

This is a feature you can see demonstrated in pretty much any bulb, Mike.
Lots of people think that taking off the seed head "saves" the bulb from making the effort but if the leaves are going to be fresh and "working" for several weeks extra we have found that there is a benefit to the bulb as well as the bonus of seed.
It's something Ian has commented on in the Bulb Log over the years.

[Mavers]

I'm going to try this in future Maggi thanks for passing the tip on.

Mike

[Maren]

Not sure whether I'm allowed to post here any more, since it's 120 days since the last activity, but here goes:

I'm a happy bunny because the G.p. 'Sophie North', acquired from a kind forumist last year, has made 2 nice flowers. Not sure why it decided to move to the edge of the pot, but I'm not going to disturb it now. Long may it live and thrive.

[Brian Ellis]

What a nice surprise Maren.  I don't know why some snowdrops go to the edge of the pots either, it can be irritating when you just have one bulb and plant it in the middle; if it doesn't come up some people are tempted to gently scrape away to see if it is on it's way up, but if it has gone to the side you don't find it.  I was convinced I had lost a particularly valued (by me) autumn-flowering snowdrop but lo and behold a couple of weeks ago there it was, just foliage but still alive ... and at the side of the pot

[angie]

Maren that's nice that you got the snowdrop you wanted and it has flowered. Funny how its gone to the edge, maybe it was trying to escape  My Sophies are looking good now, no snow covering them this year.

Angie 

[RichardW]

sorry to bump such an old thread, hard to believe it was over 2 years ago I thought I had lost the bulb but took this home to sit by the log burner today having spent hours re-potting rescued bulbs it looked promising so hoping it's actually Sophie North, leaf looks good but last time I posted the flower was told it was wrong.

[Maggi Young]

 A new forumist was telling me recently that he has three different acquisitions of . 'Sophie North' and all three are different 
Seems others have the same problem.

 By the way , the story from Evelyn Stevens of how this snowdrop came to be named   can be read in issue 99 of the Rock Garden - pages 146 - 151 =- That is  one of the hundreds of issues of TRG available on the SRGC Website.
  Direct link for  Issue No. 99  is  http://files.srgc.net/journals/vol_1%20to_113/99.pdf

[RichardW]

ah, sounds like another Percy Picton...

had that 3 times but the one someone gave me last year looks "right"

having looked at other images in this thread it does appear to be a good match, though I'm sure the problem with it before was that the inner mark was split on mine where it should be soild, I might have photographed the wrong one 

even if it's not I'm still pleased I rescued a bulb which is now flowering again 

[Maggi Young]

even if it's not I'm still pleased I rescued a bulb which is now flowering again 

A rescue is always worth a celebration.

[John Breen]

A new forumist was telling me recently that he has three different acquisitions of . 'Sophie North' and all three are different 
Seems others have the same problem.

Maggi
I will try to post the photos maybe this evening. Thanks for the advice on how to do this.

[John Breen]

I had what I thought was a nice clump of Sophie North. They were from two sources: one from a local forumist and one from an English source (I’m not 100% sure).  The Bible (Snowdrops, Bishop et al. page 150) gives a picture. The inner mark on my Sophies did not show the distinct kite-shaped mark, and only had a slight waist. The text description in the Bible could fit my Sophies. “The most useful feature for its identification is the absolutely straight, erect spathe, an unusual character in G. plicatus.” However they describe the inner mark as “a V with rounded arm-ends joined to an oval” and mine were not that! I separated these two clumps. I think they are identical or very similar. They are good garden snowdrops and are increasing very well – but I think they are “not” Sophie North. I think this variety self seeds and I suspect they may be “daughters” of SN.
See also the pictures in Reply #29 by Marren (26-02-2011) above in this Thread and the picture by RichardW four posts ago (Reply #54)
Two years ago, I was at the Spring Show in Dunblane and acquired the true Sophie North.
Pictures, below.
1.   Not Sophie North 1a (note “straight, erect spathe)”
2.   Not Sophie North 1b (same flower as 1a, open indoors)
3.   Sophie North 2a in the garden
4.   Sophie North 2b same flower forced open (note inner mark)