CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS

We seem to have survived our flirtation with temperatures usually found in the depths of winter and have returned to more normal November weather.  As expected, the fall-blooming snowdrops were not bothered by the 30 degree days and 20 degree nights—it was the humans who huddled inside 😊.

This is part two of a two-part post on the new snowdrops that will be offered in our 2023 Snowdrop Catalogue.  To read part one, click here.  As usual, the catalogue will be posted on our website in the first half of December.  Meanwhile, this post will give everyone an advance look (sorry, no advance orders) at five more special, new snowdrops that will be available for order in December.  Enjoy!

Nursery News:  Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade.  The only plants that we ship are snowdrops within the US.  For catalogues and announcements of local events, please send your full name, mailing address, and cell number to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com and indicate whether you are interested in snowdrops.  Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
.

Although a single flower is lovely, I agree with Anne Repnow (Some Snowdrops, page 80) that a clump of ‘Rosemary Burnham’ is quite impressive—seen here in the Avon Bulbs display at the RHS Show.

‘Rosemary Burnham’, a cultivar of G. elwesii, is considered one of the finest virescent (green-shaded) snowdrops ever selected.  The outer segments are covered in pale green lines from the apex to the base, resulting in a beautiful green wash effect.  They spread wide to display the entirely dark green inner segments.  The effect is very striking when combined with the wide blue-green leaves characteristic of G. elwesii.  It is a rare North American snowdrop found by Rosemary Burnham in the early 1960s in an abandoned garden in Burneby near Vancouver, British Columbia, and named for her by Don Armstrong. 

.

The substantial flowers of fall-blooming ‘Cambridge’.

‘Cambridge’ is a particularly robust selection of the fall-flowering species G. reginae-olgae subsp. reginae-olgae.  It has thick-textured, pointed, and ridged outer segments.  Its substantial flowers, which are large for a reginae-olgae, bloom a little later than the species—in our area in late October—when its leaves are just emerging.  It was collected on the island of Corfu and given to the Cambridge Botanic Garden in the early 1960s.  It was named and exhibited for the first time in 1989.  Our plants originated from stock given to Charles Cresson in 2000 by John Grimshaw. 

.

‘Colossus’ flowering at Colesbourne Park where it was selected.

‘Colossus’ has everything a collector could want in a G. plicatus cultivar.  The large flowers with thick stems tower over the beautiful, broad, arching leaves characteristic of plicatus, making for a statuesque and arresting habit.  The plant is robust and vigorous.   I especially treasure it because it is early blooming, sometimes by Christmas in my garden (photo below).

.

‘Colossus’ blooming on 12/23/15 in my garden

‘Colossus’ was selected in 1982 by Lady Carolyn Elwes at Colesbourne Park, which is the source of my stock.  After some initial confusion about its name, it was listed and sold by Phil Cornish in 1999 as ‘Colossus’.  It is a very popular snowdrop in the UK, appearing as #14 on a list put together by Avon Bulbs.

.

This photo gives a great view of ‘Betty Hansell’s’ unusual boat-shaped, pointed outer segments and prominent dark green mark.

‘Betty Hansell’ is a very distinctive and large double snowdrop, producing a fine regular flower with a neat rosette.  It is set apart by its narrow, boat-shaped, pointed outer segments with green tips.  Because of the long claw (the neck attaching the outer segment to the ovary), the outers stay parted to reveal the heavily dark green-marked inners.  It produces two flower scapes when settled and happy.  ‘Betty Hansell’ was found in 1994 near Hainford in Norfolk by Robert Marshall and named for his aunt.

.

‘Warwickshire Gemini’ displaying its twin flowers

When choosing snowdrops for my own collection, I seek out cultivars with unique and eye-catching qualities like extra large flowers, yellow coloring, or an interesting form.  Of the many traits a snowdrop can have, twin flowers (two flowers and pedicels on the end of each scape) are very rare.  ‘Warwickshire Gemini’ is an exceptionally large form of G. elwesii with bold blue-gray leaves and twin flowers on each scape when settled. 

‘Warwickshire Gemini’ was discovered by plantswoman Noreen Jardine in her garden.  She named it and planted it at Hill Close Gardens in Warwickshire from where it was eventually introduced and distributed (information provided by Neil Munro, Head Gardener, Hill Close Gardens).

.

Blogs are a lot more fun for everyone, especially the writer, when readers leave comments.  Scroll down to the end of the page to the box where it says “Leave a Reply” and start typing—-it’s easy!

Carolyn

.