Looking Closer at Snowdrops
Like many plants, Galanthus can be viewed en masse in great drifts or close up to enjoy their delicate markings. In both cases, they are very rewarding and happily one does not have to choose one method of viewing over the other. I suppose it's the attraction of the close up method that has led to the current Galanthomania trend. Galanthus seem limitless in their ability to experiment with variations in their form and colour markings and observing these differences can be an absorbing activity.
I found this out recently when David Leeman and I were given permission to examine an old planting of Galanthus nivalis and G. nivalis 'flore-pleno' in the gardens of an historic house on the outskirts of Toronto. The results were very interesting. There were indeed, many variations from plant to plant, especially in the double flowers. You can see what we found in this link to David's post on this subject.
Interestingly, when I got home I looked more closely at the Snowdrops in my own garden and found similar variations. The doubles were again the most individualistic. From this observation, I've decided not to seek out the numerous named forms of this flower , but to enjoy the differences of those in my own garden and in those of my friends and neighbours. This may just be sour grapes on my part as the importation of plants into Canada is a daunting exercise and at this time I am unwilling to resort to smuggling. However here are some of the varieties of flowers found in my well established colonies of Snowdrops, I think some would be well worth cultivating.
This double Snowdrop has prettily marked reflexed petals. It will be interesting to see if this feature reappears permanently in years to come.
There are lots of green centres, this seems to be a fairly common variant.
I found this out recently when David Leeman and I were given permission to examine an old planting of Galanthus nivalis and G. nivalis 'flore-pleno' in the gardens of an historic house on the outskirts of Toronto. The results were very interesting. There were indeed, many variations from plant to plant, especially in the double flowers. You can see what we found in this link to David's post on this subject.
Interestingly, when I got home I looked more closely at the Snowdrops in my own garden and found similar variations. The doubles were again the most individualistic. From this observation, I've decided not to seek out the numerous named forms of this flower , but to enjoy the differences of those in my own garden and in those of my friends and neighbours. This may just be sour grapes on my part as the importation of plants into Canada is a daunting exercise and at this time I am unwilling to resort to smuggling. However here are some of the varieties of flowers found in my well established colonies of Snowdrops, I think some would be well worth cultivating.
This double Snowdrop has prettily marked reflexed petals. It will be interesting to see if this feature reappears permanently in years to come.
There are lots of green centres, this seems to be a fairly common variant.
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