Shy Flowering Galanthus alpinus var./ssp. bortkewitschianus

[Alan_b]

Around about five years ago I bought a single bulb of this snowdrop for £8 at the Galanthus Gala.  I now have around 30 small bulbs but it has not flowered at all for several years.  Does anyone have any advice on how to get this one to flower?  The Book says "when grown well it can be quite charming".

[kentish_lass]

Around about five years ago I bought a single bulb of this snowdrop for £8 at the Galanthus Gala.  I now have around 30 small bulbs but it has not flowered at all for several years.  Does anyone have any advice on how to get this one to flower?  The Book says "when grown well it can be quite charming".

Oh no, not another problem bulb!  I ordered this from Avon this year and am expecting my delivery very soon.  Will be interested to hear more about this topic so I know where to plant it for the best.
Jennie

[TheNorm]

I'm afraid that mine are very similar.  A foliar Galanthus!  I'm about to move house and will divide this summer and try in a variety of spots.  If I have any success, I'll let you know, but aside from growing, mine don't do flower.  Other than buying from a reputable source, it could well not be a Galanthus for all it has done. 

Have you tried baking some bulbs during summer close to the surface?  Probably a kill or cure solution.  Equally, sticking them in the fridge for a few days might be enough to kick start their cycle.  Obviously, these are just spitball ideas and there is a good chance they won't work and may kill the bulbs, but it might be worth trying with one or two bulbs to see if replicating a natural climate cycle that they may encounter could be the answer.  Unfortunately I don't know enough climatically about what they'd encounter to say for sure.  I think further research may be required on environmental factors. 

If I find out anything of value, I will get back to you.

Lewis

[Alan_b]

It's not the case that I've never had flowers, although I didn't get any at all this year.  It's just that in general I get lots of leaves and a flower or two if I am lucky.  The leaves are not particularly attractive so if I cannot do better I'm not sure if this snowdrop is worth keeping.

This form is sterile, has never spread by seed anywhere so it has no particular reason to produce flowers!

Oh, and thanks for taking the trouble to reply, Lewis.  I was beginning to think I wasn't going to get any answers.  

[steve owen]

I have two long tom pots of bortkewitschianus with six bulbs apiece. One produced two flowers and the other none. Didn't taker any pics but willnext year (can't photograph everything). Generally I find they are shy flowering but I assume that if I could replicate their preferred growing conditions they would prove more floriferous. I treat them like my reginae olgaes (of which I am by no means an expert grower) which means dryish dormant conditions and protect from excessive wet - and no frost. And plenty of Tomorite - rite now.

The lattice pots now stretch to the horizon.

[Oakwood]

This one guy flowers not every year cause it is triploid, for ex. this year I've got one of its clone flowering that never bloom before, but my every year flowering clone of it in this spring didn't bloom at all))

[Oakwood]

Some news from me - my first paper on snowdrop species is published now in Ukraine, sorry, only in Russian.....

Zubov D.A. Genus Galanthus L. (Amaryllidaceae J. St .- Hil.) : the systematic composition, chorology, phenology and microevolutionary divergence / D. A. Zubov, S. Ya. Didenko / Florology & Phytosozology. - Vol. 1. - Kiev : Fіton, 2011. - P. 215-236 (in Russian).
Summary. In the original article the microevolutionary divergence schemes, and current systematic composition, flowering period in the wild and distribution (according to A. Takhtadjan, 1974) of Galanthus L. species were represented, taking into account the genus critical systems of Z. Artjushenko, 1970, A. Davis, 1999, and “Code of additions…” by S. Cherepanov, 1973. The Key to species identification, developed by detailed studying of the morphology of all currently known snowdrop species (including geographical and ecological races) from the botanic garden living plant collection (101 clone-samples of known wild origin) is also represented.
Key words: Galanthus, Amaryllidaceae, Key to Galanthus L. species identification, microevolutionary divergence, speciation, syngameon, pollination syndrome, phytochorion.

[Maggi Young]

Some news from me - my first paper on snowdrop species is published now in Ukraine, sorry, only in Russian.....

Dima, congratulations on the publication of this paper.   It "looks" good!! 

[mark smyth]

If you can add the text to a web page - I can give you a page - Google Chrome will hopefully translate it

[Oakwood]

Thanks, Maggi))) especially for my birthday congrats!
Mark, I think even Google Chrom translator don't have the narrow botanic vocabulary   I'll try to do it myself with time........