Comments on: We have a winner!

By: Dutch Iris: My Harbinger of Spring | This Garden Is Illegal

Dutch Iris: My Harbinger of Spring | This Garden Is Illegal — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 02:01:57 +0000

[...] on snowdrops to tell me when spring has arrived. Now, it is not to say that I am knocking the more commonly used snowdrop, it is just that I have, for my garden, an earlier indicator that winter has been asked to leave [...]

By: Annie in Austin

Annie in Austin — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:48:47 +0000

Not even Annie Oakley could hit that target!

Our latest weather prediction reads 70Âº high/60Âº low for the next 3 days, followed by below freezing at night and 39Âº high on Monday and Tuesday. MSStevens is still picking cherry tomatoes, while 14 miles away, I’ve lost plants that should be hardy.
Oh well, at least there will be some blank spots for new plants!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 17:20:31 +0000

I confess I missed Golden Gecko and Entangled. I’ll have to go back to Don and rub it–uh, tell him. But I refuse to make this an official contest, regional or otherwise. Just how would I determine the regions, when Hardiness Zones are a moving target?

By: Annie in Austin

Annie in Austin — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 14:52:54 +0000

Maybe regional is the way to go, Kathy. Trey at the Golden Gecko had a photo of his snowdrops in bloom on January 1st, but he’s in California. Entangled had a photo of her Virginia snowdrops on the 2nd – but that’s a bit more Southern than Iowa or NY!

In Austin we don’t grow snowdrops, but are advised to plant Leucojum/Snowflakes instead. Although I dutifully planted some, the show was pitiful in 2005 & 2006.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

By: Carol

Carol — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 01:54:38 +0000

I dug up a new flower bed where my few snowdrops were planted in some grass, and don’t know if any of them survived. I think I saw a leaf or two the other day, we’ll see. If I have one bloom, I’ll send the picture and then I want a prize for the snowdrop that survived the most trauma to bloom.

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 20:26:33 +0000

Craig, if the snowdrop contest turned into anything more than a joke among friends, I’d have to turn the administration of it over to someone else. There are too many variables involved, as I’m sure you well know. There are not only regional differences but also microclimates on one’s own property, and I’m sure there are genetic differences in snowdrops as well. Anyone in a cold climate who wants to send me a photo of their first bloom of the season is welcome to, and I’ll post as many as I have time for. But I’m not going to run any kind of contest.

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 20:21:18 +0000

Ki, snowdrops transplant best after blooming when they are still in leaf. Unfortunately, most mailorder nurseries don’t sell them that way in the States. (I understand they do it that way in Britain.) So I’m afraid a lot of your bulbs were DOA. But they usually multiply quickly, so divide them after blooming every year or two and you’ll have a nice patch after a while. That’s how this patch got started. A friend gave me a clump, which I planted in a row. I had nothing to do with the moss, however. It came afterward by itself. Gives you an idea of the kind of place where snowdrops thrive.

By: Craig Levy

Craig Levy — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:40:50 +0000

How about regional winners plus a grand champion for your Galanthus contest next year? Like you, our temperatures have plummeted since Sunday plus a little bit of snow and more on the way means I shouldn’t see any bulb emergence until March/April. Until this week it’s almost like winter never happended.

By: Ki

Ki — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 19:05:32 +0000

Hi Kathy,
We planted what I thought was a huge number of snowdrops in the Fall of 2005. Spring 2006 almost nada, one or two at the most. Hopefully we’ll have a better showing this year or maybe we got a bum lot. I love the moss yours are growing in. The yellow green nicely sets off the blue green of the snowdrop plants.