snowdrops - bulbs or in the green?

Discussion in 'General Gardening Discussion' started by TOR, Jan 19, 2012.

  1. Kristen

    Kristen Under gardener

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    and if you were creating a planting now you'd get 100 for 10-20 quid, and they would bulk up in a few years to some spectacular drifts ...

    I'm with you on that, although I have to admit to have a sneaking admiration for the green colourings on the outer petals of that Green Tear one ... Perhaps I should sell the Ferrari and the Yacht and buy a couple of bulbs ? !!
     
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    • joolz68

      joolz68 Total Gardener

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      i quite like the flore pleno armandii :) but if i had a lotto win sat id definatley bid £400 on the green tear ...just cos i could :heehee:
      then post it to spruce :WINK1: x
       
    • ARMANDII

      ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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      Keep the Ferrari and Yacht, Kristen:heehee::D

      I've got more than a sneaky feeling that you would too, Joolz.:love30::D

      But it does prove my friend's point. I mean we spend hours shopping trying to find a bargain, or a penny or two off a pack of sausages etc, trying to find the cheapest Petrol Station, cutting back on this and that..................and then suddenly something that we really don't need but has been made to exclusive to the point where our desire to have it is ignited and we must have it at all cost!! It's a case of your Head failing to win the battle over an impulse that doesn't even make sense. If I was to knock on your door and try to sell you a single Snowdrop bulb telling you that you were so lucky to have the chance of buying for £300, that nobody else would have it....would you buy it?? Does the fact that it has a single green marking on a petal make it so desirable that you'd spend say a whole week's wage on it??
      Press the right button of a human being with marketing and we'll buy anything.:WINK1::heehee::heehee::loll:

      Having said that, I'm waiting for my delivery of 200 Snowdrops and 100 Blue Bells in the green which should be here soon, obviously I've asked my self "Do I need them?"................of course I do!!!
       
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      • joolz68

        joolz68 Total Gardener

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        i suppose in some cases i hope we do actually get what we pay for (quality wise)
        like what i thought was a bargain victoria plum tree for £16 of the internet :D but then i seen poundstretcher had them for £5.99:mad:
        im hoping mine gets better plums for the price i paid :heehee:...i am useless at shopping thou and id rather be in a garden centre than a clothes shop :thumbsup:

        if them snowdrops and bluebells make you smile then yes you defo need them :)
        im hoping the pinkbells seeds i bought are actually pink ..time will tell :WINK1: xx
         
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        • ARMANDII

          ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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          Pink Bells? I'd forgotten yo'd mentioned them!! Well, the thing is, Joolz that I've got at least 2 bunches of Pink Bells in my borders, which obviously haven't shown yet..........and you're quite welcome to some to them while they're in the green. I've also got thousands of White Harebells, which spread like mad and are really pretty in bunches..........you can have some of them if you want!!:D
           
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          • joolz68

            joolz68 Total Gardener

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            that is so nice of you :wub2: thank you :dancy:, i have planted mine under the holly tree(from the pots i seeded them in that is) but the shoots look as dainty as fine grass at mo :o so im not even sure if they will flower this yr :( xx
             
          • ARMANDII

            ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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            Okay, wait until they come up and I'll post some to you, not a problem. It's all part of gardening and Gardeners Corner exchanging and swapping stuff:D:thumbsup:
             
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            • Kristen

              Kristen Under gardener

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              Well ... if I get caught and have to "explain myself" then I will fall back on my well-worn phrase: "Couldn't afford not to have it" !!

              I'm going to buy some snowdrops in-the-green too. I have a whole load that I lifted from my last place and planted here ... well, I thought it was a whole load, but there don't look to be very many.

              I do wonder if the ones I planted this-time-last-year struggled? We had an April & May last Spring to end all dry Aprils and Mays ... and with hindsight I should have watered them (never ever thought to do that before ...)

              Trouble is when i look at the catalogues I get carried away. Plant a few hundred nivalis and pleno-what-nots in the middle and them some poncy Viridapice and S. Arnott and the like around the edges - and they cost 10x as much of course ... and then some Leucojum Vernum at the back to create some contrast and height ... and all of a sudden I've racked up 6x what I budgetted for before I've even got my Plastic Money out ...

              Where are you buying from Armandii? I've been looking at www.eurobulbs.co.uk and www.naturescape.co.uk. I don't know if it is coincidence but they are both using the same shopping cart software, and its a brand I've never seen before ... I wonder if they are both the same outfit, trading against each other so-to-speak.

              'Course I need Bluebells and Aconites too ... and some Cyclamen for under the trees. I bought some Bluebell seed from a keen enthusiast a couple of years ago,and I can't see any sign of any having taken. I'm surprised about that - or maybe I should have grown them in "modules" and planted out? (although his advice didn't suggest that that was necessary)

              Final thought whilst I'm rambling on: I've been meaning to raise the point that the RHS "The Garden" had an article recently (I can't find the blessed thing, otherwise I would quote it ...) that in-the-green may not be the best way of getting these bulbs established - the Spring drought stress being a significant problem. When I next see the Mag lying around I'll report back with chapter-and-verse.
               
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              • joolz68

                joolz68 Total Gardener

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                i hope i have something worth exchanging,your welcome to anything ive got :) send me your wish list you never know your luck:WINK1: xx
                 
              • ARMANDII

                ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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                Hi Kristen, I buy Snowdrops and Blue Bells in the green from Garden Supply Direct. I bought 400 Snowdrops in the green from them last year and they seem to have all come up again......maybe that's because I watered them:heehee::heehee: As I said I've bought another 200 Snowdrops and 100 Blue Bells off them this year and I'm awaiting delivery. They sell Snowdrops at £8.95p per 100 and £17.45p for 200. Personally, I would recommend them for service and care of customers and will continue to keep buying from them! They have a range of stuff in the green which might tickle your fancy!

                I'm like you, and so many others, so easily tempted by catalogues or looking on sites and buy beyond my set budget. I've done that with Canna rhizomes, seeds and other plants and seeds for this year!! Do we ever learn??!!

                I bought some Cyclamen corms from a Market Gardener 4 years ago and put them under my Acer...............not a thing for 4 years. Then this Winter I've got flowers and leaves from all four of them, plus seedlings that have appeared from nowhere!! Yeah, Aconites, crocus etc I've been planting for years all over the garden and you have to take a step back to suddenly see just how they've multiplied!!

                I think certain seeds are awkward to get to set and Blue Bells are among them, but you've got to try! I've got 40 Banana seeds of different varieties in a heated propagator and I'm not holding my breath on them coming up.:mute:

                Yes, come back with that RHS article about Snowdrops, Kristen, it'll be interesting to read it. For me, planting dry snowdrops bulbs is very chancy and most of them haven't come up, while planting them in the green has always given 100% success.:thumbsup:
                i
                 
              • Kristen

                Kristen Under gardener

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                You didn't tell me to :( You didn't phone, you didn't write, you didn't fax, you didn't email, ... :nono:

                I'll have a look at Garden Supply Direct, thanks for that. 400 you planted eh? and another 200 this year eh? Hmmm ... I was thinking of planting just a couple of hundred (split up to singles, so they'll be a few years making clumps). I reckon I am not planning to plant anything like enough then ??

                "They have a range of stuff in the green which might tickle your fancy!"

                I do hope they don't! I've been buying from the Winter garden plant sales like they are going out of fashion ! Starting the spending spree last Autumn with 16 x 8' tall yews didn't help :cry3:

                "I bought some Cyclamen corms from a Market Gardener 4 years ago and put them under my Acer...............not a thing for 4 years. Then this Winter I've got flowers and leaves from all four of them, plus seedlings that have appeared from nowhere!! "

                You'll get a good price for them on eBay - "Cyclamen that will self-seed years before they flower" :heehee:

                "I think certain seeds are awkward to get to set and Blue Bells are among them"

                Didn't think to check if they were easy or not. My, new, plan was to plant some bulbs - they are reputed to self seed readily, so getting a few going is the first step. I've dug up and burnt all the Spanish ones we had here ... they are way to promiscuous for the English ones to survive ...

                "I've got 40 Banana seeds of different varieties in a heated propagator and I'm not holding my breath on them coming up."

                I think 10% germination is regarded as "good" for them (although Musa v. Ensete may be different, which have you got?). I put mine on top of the boiler (the lid gets almost too hot to touch), with a couple of 1cm slivers of wood under them, so the seed tray [and transparent cover] isn't actually touching the boiler. Then I put an upturned polystyrene box (fish-box type thing) over the top. That gives them a very hot period when the boiler is on, and very cool contrast overnight (my boiler is in the garage ...). Supposedly toggling the temperature between 35C and 18C (or something like that ...) for 8/16 hours makes a difference. I got about 40% germination last year (trying the same thing with some Travellers Palm seeds this year - I think they look rather fun :) )
                 
              • Kristen

                Kristen Under gardener

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                OK, I did some Comparison, based on 100 Singles and 100 Doubles

                HTML:
                                     Single Double Carriage  Total
                Garden Supply Direct  £8.95 £14.99    £2.95 £26.89 
                EuroBulbs             £9.00 £15.00    £3.50 £27.50
                NatureScape           £8.80 £14.80    £3.00 £26.60
                
                Much-of-a-Much-ness

                Prices are very similar at 1,000-off - although EuroBulbs marginally cheaper (that's excluding carriage and freebies)

                EuroBulbs £3.50 postage any order size, 100 free single snowdrops with every £50 spent
                NatureScape free postage on orders over £40

                The EuroBulbs "offer" represents £8.95 discount on every £50 spent - which is the best part of 18% !!

                Prices of other bulbs (based on 100-off):
                HTML:
                              GSD    Euro  NScape
                Elwesii    £27.99  £28.00  £--.--
                Ikariae    £27.99  £28.00  £--.--
                Viridapice £--.-- £200.00  £--.--
                S. Arnott  £--.-- £200.00  £--.--
                Leucojum
                Vernum     £--.-- £200.00 £175.99
                Bluebells  £15.80  £14.00  £15.60
                Aconites   £19.39  £15.00  £99.99
                
                 
              • ARMANDII

                ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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                Hi Kristen, sorry for the delay in replying but I've got a bug of some sort and feeling a bit dizzy. sick and sorry for myself. So every now and then I've got to get my head down till I stop feel lousy.:cry3:

                You're right about the prices being a "much of a muchness" but I tend to buy from the smaller suppliers as they tend, in my opinion, give a better customer service and quality of plants. That's why I like Gardening Supply Direct because, when I had a problem ordering online from them this time, I e-mailed them and got a reply back in around 3 minutes!!. They apologised for the problem and offered to ring me. I e-mailed them again saying I would try to order online again then and there. I tried and failed. so e-mailed them telling the problem and again within 3 minutes my phone was ringing!! They took my order and then rang me again within 15 minutes and asked me to try a trial order as they had fixed the problem. I did and they had!! I then got another e-mail apologising for the problem and thanking me for alerting them. Give me a small supplier every time!!:thumbsup:

                When I wrote about the super large Cyclamen corms not appearing in leaf or flower for 4 years but having seedlings popping up I was obviously woolly minded in that I hadn't mentioned that I've got 6 to 8 Cyclamens of the smaller varieties in the same sloping border for around 10 years.:heehee::heehee: But again it's the first time that they have seeded and with the border sloping most of the seedlings are at the bottom of the slope.

                If I may offer some advice about planting Snowdrops. I have tried planting them in single format and then three or five in clumps and I honestly find that the clumps seem to get away quicker than singly planted bulbs, whether in the green or not.:D

                Regarding the Banana seeds I've got Musa Ensete superbum "Rock Banana", Musa manni "Indian Dwarf Banana, and Musa coccinea. I've got them in the Kitchen area in the heated propagator which is relatively cool since I usually have the door into the garden ajar for the moggies to go back and forth. Would you advise moving the propagator into a warmer area???:scratch:
                 
              • Jack McHammocklashing

                Jack McHammocklashing Sludgemariner

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                Are these special Bluebell bulbs ? or just common or garden English Bluebells
                The ones my brother is desperately trying to rid his garden of each year, over a hundred new ones keep popping up :-( everywhere and not wanted

                Jack McH
                 
              • ARMANDII

                ARMANDII Low Flying Administrator Staff Member

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                Life's like that, Jack!!! What common to some is rare to others. I garden on neutral sandy soil and when my wife and I used to visit old gardens we'd fall in love with a plant only to find it liked acid soil:cry3: We never got around to planting Blue Bells and to be honest there aren't many around my area who have. I've just got into my head that I want to fill the area under the Acer tree with as many Blue Bells, Snowdrops, Aconites, Crocus, Cyclamens as I can. So what is a weed to some is a thing of beauty to others!!
                 
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