Any snowdrops yet?

Thanks, Spruce and Jenny. Tomorrow's job if not raining too much.

@silu very jealous of your aconites. Have no problems with snowdrops, hundreds of them in bloom, but have had no luck with aconites.

 

Bet I would be Emerald green at some of the things you can grow Lost in France!

Time and time again I read/hear about the troubles regarding transplanting Snowdrops. I am NOT an expert but have loads of experience of moving Snowdrops. I am completely convinced that it has to do with moisture content of the bulbs and nothing to do with the state of the bulbs when moved IE in the green or otherwise. With the huge numbers I have, I constantly dig them up by accident. Over 10 odd years of disturbing the bulbs, often in Summer when the bulbs are completely dormant, I have, as far as I am aware not lost any bulbs. What does seem critical is that the bulbs are never subject to long periods of drought. I found growing Snowdrops close to huge Yew bordering on impossible and I may be wrong but my gut instinct moved me towards the problem being drought in the summer rather than the ground being maybe infertile due to the Yews....weeds grew happily.

I expect the real problem is that often the bulbs people buy are so dry that they are not able to regrow perhaps having been stored in a dry state for months prior to being packaged for sale. I have bulbs growing quite happily almost above ground BUT are in a woodland setting with very little direct sunlight and growing in a leaf mold medium. Personally I don't think Snowdrops are the kind of bulbs to buy from the likes of big chain stores where they have been subjected to periods of hot and dry storage, fine for the likes of Daffodils, Iris, Hyacinth etc but maybe not Snowdrops.

I hope I don't sound a complete bore on the subject just trying to stop disappointment when you buy bulbs which never again see the light of day.....experienced this with various bulbs other than Snowdrops....very annoying!

 

Good idea Armandii, hopefully you might be able to find a source of FREE!!! leaves/leaf mold ? I do spend a considerable amount of time collecting my leaves (even invested in a blower!!!) and use the resultant leaf mold extensively as a potting compost etc for genus which desire an acid medium which personally accommodates the majority of what I grow. I do try quite hard to replicate nature in my garden and don't fly in the face of nature too often. After a few years of trying to be "clever" with growing things which really don't appreciate the Scottish climate I accepted that I was wasting my time/being a pregnant fish!!! and concentrated on the still huge diversity of plants which are very happy with the conditions I have to offer them.

 

Nothing expensive or unusual here but this is the first plant I've ever grown from a bulb that's flowered.

 

I've got some snowdrops that I never knew I had! We've got the garden which everyone around us calls the croft... This is where all the ground elder was... Now that we seem to have got rid of it all, I can now see snowdrops! *happy dance*

 

They look like they've just come back from the Laundry - so crisp and white...
Jenny

 

My last five bulbs of G. Sam Arnott are flowering, with hellebores, violets and anemones. Nearer the house, the hyacinths are just about to open around flowering Osmanthus burkwoodii and Lonicera purpusii, yet the crocus haven't opened yet. So far this winter we've had about a dozen frosts but most things are dangerously early...

 

True, armandii. Just getting tense at the prospect of a late cold spell and / or hail showers, especially for the fruit trees!

 

Can't see piccie Pam,
Jenny