Snowdrops

[Trevor Ellis]

I was looking at varieties of snowdrops on the net and came across some very interesting varieties, especially the yellow and white ones. One of the site owners,www.snowdropinfo.com, was asking for particular varieties of Irish snowdrops i.e. the ones originating in Ireland. Mark Smyth quote: "I'm doing my best to get a full collection of Irish Galanthus back into Irish soil." I thought that maybe this might interest George especially though any of our members just may be able to help. It's an interesting site anyway.

[ideasguy]

I was in email contact with Mark some time ago (will check)
Later, his garden was featured on television and I have to say I was very impressed.
He lives fairly close to me and now you have reminded me Trevor, I will make contact and arrange a visit on one of his open days.
http://www.snowdropinfo.com/
I'll better bring my knee pads!

Isnt it amazing that such a dainty little plant has so many different varieties!
I have another link to add to this:
http://www.rodmarton-manor.co.uk/
The owner uses Ideas Genie Pro and is a registered member of our forum.
Has any of our members been to Rodmarton Manor?

[Eric Hardy]

Has any of our members been to Rodmarton Manor?

You mentioned Rodmarton Manor to me some time ago, George, and you recommended a visit. I noted it then as somewhere me might go as a run out. If Anthea is better I would like to go. We do have a wheel chair from the time she had her hip operation.
I have just looked up their website from your link and it really does sound a MUST! We have a very good friend that we visit from time to time who lives at Northleach, not far away. When we go to see her we usually find somewhere to go together. We visited Eastleach House and garden with her which I illustrated in "Good gardens to visit" some time back http://www.eastleachhouse.com/

Copied and pasted: -
"Snowdrop Display at Rodmarton
Snowdrops (Genus Galanthus) feature strongly at Rodmarton Manor where there are at least 150 different sorts, some small, some huge, with many different markings – some yellow and some green and including many rare ones.
They flower from October to March with the main ones flowering January/ February.
There is now a great deal of interest in snowdrops and the garden is open in 2010 on February 7th, 14th, 18th and 21st from 1.30pm. We can take group bookings on other days.
There are likely to be other winter flowers such as Crocus, Hellebores, Cyclamen, Aconites. In the event of hard frost or snow it is advisable to telephone before visiting."

It does make your mouth water 

I am interested that they have snowdrops flowering from October onwards.

In passing, there was a letter in our paper two days ago from someone who already had a daffodil in flower. It was from Havant, Hampshire.

[Palustris]

There are a few Galanthus species which are Autumnal rather than vernal. Off hand I can only think of G. peshmennii which is often shown at AGS shows in October. The book I have on Galanthus does not lit them in flowering times.
I have a Narcissus Taffeta which has now finished flowering and hopefully going to seed.

[Trevor Ellis]

Yes, I wasn't aware of the early flowering ones until recently. One of the best known of the early ones it seems is G. reginae-olgae which in some areas flowers as early as September, G.peshmenii flowers in October, G. elwesii 'Hayden' in early January (there is at least one elwesii that will flower in November too). The last one to flower apparently is G. nivalis 'April Fool'.
A couple of interesting suppliers of Galanthus are http://www.galanthus.co.uk and
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/Galanthus/Galanthus_Wendys1_JL.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Galanthus&h=480&w=640&sz=40&tbnid=wUQmPJnlyCG3vM:&tbnh=103&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgalanthus&hl=en&usg=__zebJ4iyetwlDqleFv-IffquptuM=&ei=F8QbS7TIEeS8jAfk_-iNBA&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=6&ct=image&ved=0CBsQ9QEwBQ.
Yes, the one in blue is a bit long isn't it!

Then another interesting site is http://rareplants.co.uk. They have some very interesting Galanthus as well as lots of other rare plants.

[Trevor Ellis]

Ooops, the 'one in blue' isn't the one in blue is seems but it could hardly be more obvious which one it is - never seen such a URL before! Probably could get away with www.pacificbulbsociety.org.

[ideasguy]

Good links there Trevor! They all seem to be working, even the long one.

[mark smyth]

You just never know where 'I' get a mention 

If you are interested I cant post photos of snowdrops to show their variation and their flowering time from October to March/April

[ideasguy]

Hello and welcome to the forum Mark!
I'm delighted that you have joined us here.
As I said in my email, I was fortunate to catch a gardening program on TV and when I heard your name my ears pricked up.
Do you have a Video (on DVD) of that program by any chance?
I was very impressed with your garden and your collection of plants.

Photos would be very much appreciated here Mark.
I'm sure you are used to the limitations on other forums. Here its a max of 125kb per posting, if posting as attachments. Multiple photos are allowed in one posting as attachments provided they don't exceed 125 in total.
However if you are linking to one of your own websites with photos then there are no limitations.

[Kathy & Laurie]

Welcome to the Forum Mark.

It's always nice to greet new members. 

Laurie.