‘Godfrey Owen’ has a very unusual form with six outer and inner petals (segments) instead of the usual three.
As I mentioned in the last post, southeastern Pennsylvania, US, zone 6 to 7, has been experiencing unseasonably warm weather for months. There has been no snow and the ground was not frozen. That all came to an end yesterday when the daytime high was 22 degrees F, and it went down to 14 degrees last night. Significant snow is expected on Saturday.
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 and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
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‘Atkinsii’ is an old-fashioned and vigorous cultivar, looking great here with hardy cyclamen.
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I have to admit that I was worried about how this very unusual weather pattern would affect the snowdrops. Most of my varieties are blooming a month early, and many are two months ahead of what I am used to. How would they fare when they are shoved into the deep freeze after being coaxed out so early by temperatures reaching as high as 72 degrees F? I am happy to say that it didn’t faze them. They all look perfectly happy though droopy and frozen. To celebrate, I am going to show you some of the highlights of the snowdrop season so far. In alphabetical order…
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‘Colossus’ has the beautiful pleated leaves of a Galanthus plicatus cultivar.
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‘Daphne’s Scissors’ has produced very pronounced green tips in honor of the weather.
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‘Ding Dong’ was selected by Alan Street at Avon Bulbs, ding-dong Avon calling.
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‘Faringdon Double’ is the earliest blooming double snowdrop.
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‘Fly Fishing’ throwing out its lure. It has produced green tips when it is usually pure white.
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Another shot of ‘Godfrey Owen’s’ beautiful habit.
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I can sympathize with ‘Grumpy ‘ who looks afraid to come out in this weather.
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‘Kite’ sporting its huge, finely formed flowers.
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I couldn’t resist another shot of ‘Kite’ as it’s one of my favorites—note the extra long outer petals and the distinct X mark inside.
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‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’, a vigorous and elegant double.
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‘Magnet’ another old-fashioned and reliable cultivar. It hasn’t released its distinguishing extra long flower stem yet.
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‘Standing Tall’ combines fine markings, a beautiful habit, and indestructibility.
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‘Three Ships’ with its distinct sail-like petals always blooms by Christmas but was a few weeks early this year.
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‘Wasp’ displaying its insect-like wings and “thorax”.
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‘Xmas’ is a giant snowdrop cultivar selected and named by me for its Christmas bloom and X-like marking. It is quite tall with a very upright habit and bulks up more quickly than any giant snowdrop I grow, even the species.
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That’s a complete record of all the snowdrops in my garden that are up and fully out. Many more have buds starting to open so the fun is just beginning.
Carolyn
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Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.
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