I found these today, tucked away in a very sheltered part of my garden.
Those look very much like Flore pleno, the double variety, that I had stolen. These are Galanthus caucasicus; they're not very tall this year (none of my snowdrops are, possibly because of the cold weather), but they have much bigger flowers as always.
just lovely :) :)
Lovely, just lovely! Noticed the first of mine open today. I only have a few, but they are welcome nevertheless.
Keep meaning to buy some, what would be the best variety to get ?
Great images Pauline and Robert.
DD
Hello Pauline7s, Lovely picture, mine are just starting to come out too. Yesterday while I was out for my walk with my dog I saw a clump of wild violets they looked so lovely. Spring must be on it's way :)
We have one or two also. By the way Dirkdigger, the easiest to get hold of are G. nivalis.
There are loads of varieties, mostly very slightly different. I have plants from loads of different sources, which gives me a good spread of flowering times. Onces woth looking at are the common doubles, G. nivalis 'Flore pleno', G. caucasicus, which is larger, and is my favourite, and G. Elwisii, another larger one, with very broad leaves. If you get really interested there are endless varieties, but many are rare and quite expensive.
I only grow Galanthus Nivalis on the basis that they are the native variety - even though they aren't really, they were brought across from Europe by the Druids but they are the one you see wild. Trouble is, as with Bluebells, the natives are under threat from the cultivars.
(http://photobucket.com/albums/y31/GREENWIZARD/Copy2of100_3953.jpg)
found this one yesterday :)
I noticed a load of daff's out at the back of Mcdonalds in Didcot over the weekend.
Snowdrops. No sign of mine at the cemetery and don't seem to have any in garden. Must have been a dodgy lot of bulbs. However I did see a nice little group in Lorna's front garden. She has had the help of a friend to sort her garden this year and the ancient rose bushes have been disposed of and borders dug. I am surprised the snowdrops survived.. I really do love them.
I only have one flowering at the moment! :D
Snowdrops are pretty tough and have survived all the digging about my beds have had in great style. The only ones I've lost have been the ones targetted by the local kleptomaniac, who even got all but two of my Elwisii when the things were dormant, so she must have really gone through that patch with care.
Isn't wonderful when you stumble across a plant that is in flower or bursting through the ground that you never noticed before.
I just love that surprise.
Wonderful photos - thank you for sharing them
Flore pleno snowdrops and hellebores
Some more; the first pic is caucasicus, and shows how much the stems have grown since the first pic. The other two are the standard nivalis.
Thought that this would go well with one of yours, Robert?
I like those white Hellebores; I have a small clump which survived the thefts, but it's not out yet. I did put some seed in, but it's been sitting stratifying; I hope it comes up.
I went into a garden centre with a view to buying some hellebore seeds. However, I started looking at the plants and came across this one. The pot has been planted up with two different colour seedings so I got two for the price of one! ;D ;D
I altered the title of this thread to include hellebores as it was beginning to drift that way. :D
Lovely!
This is almost always the first x orientalis to flower.
Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on February 11, 2006, 19:58:40
Flore pleno snowdrops and hellebores
that's the same colour as my one (inherited) plant hidden under the front hedge !
i hadn't even noticed it from the front window until i started clearing up the snowdrop patch.
Now add Aconites & Crocuses?
What a mess - but we're not proud!!
It's no worse than my so-called lawn. I planted it last summer, and relied on a battery-powered strimmer which packed up on me. So it's a mass of ground elder which should have been expiring by now instead of swamping the grass.