Snowdrops: "Melanie Broughton", "Tiny", "Cowhouse "Green", "Curly", "Elizabeth Harrison","Sandersii", "Sarah Dumont", "Viridapice" & "Sam Arnott"

This has been an early season with the narcissus varieties bursting out into bloom while some snowdrops are fading far more quickly than I can remember. However here are a few varieties photographed today and still vigorously in bloom. First off is "Melanie Broughton", bought last year and still only showing one flower. It looms over Galanthus nivalis "Tiny", a snowdrop whose name says everything.


"Cowhouse Green" is supposedly slow to increase and yet my plant has thrown out three blooms since purchasing it last year. It dates back to the 1980s. This is an attractive snowdrop, and so far the most reliable of the green tinged brigade. I lost both my "Green Bush" featured here last year for reasons that I can't explain as they were in different pots and both extremely vigorous plants.


"Curly" is one of those snowdrops whose sharp features are appealing in close-up. The fragrance is appealing from close-up too but don't buy it for that. It is clumping up well. A survivor from the 1960s.


Another look at "Elizabeth Harrison" so that it might be compared with two other yellows.


The Galanthus nivalis Sandersii group has some variation though my strain is very yellow indeed. I potted a few bulbs with a special winter aconite that I'll be featuring shortly when it pops its distinctly yellow head out of the soil, which is just about what this little fellow is doing given that I have obviously planted it too deeply.


And a second yellow, the rather elegant "Sarah Dumont", in its first year with me and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment on its colouring as I understand it deepens in colour as it becomes more established.


 "Viridapice" has been successful in spreading around the garden helped by periodic splitting. It is a fresh and reliable snowdrop with the inverted "V" on each of the petals. Well, "reliable" save for the boldness of that "V" as it does vary.


"Sam Arnott" appears towards the end of the snowdrop season, replenishing the stock. A 19th century bulb, it is a great colonizer of our garden, pushing up through the grass, a classic and much loved variety.


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And remembering .....

Galanthus 'Mighty Atom'