Its Galanthus Time.

It's Galanthus time.

For this Galanthophile it's the best time of the year with such promise of what's to come. I went into Cloudehill today looking for a metal ring to make a Christmas in July decoration they didn't have one, but they said to me Tim Drewitt has a new Galanthus for sale it is a cross between Galanthus elwesii and Galanthus plicatum. Of course I hadn't heard of it but it sounds interesting. I will go and have a look in a weeks time and let you know more about it, thats if you don't beat me to it.
Above is Galanthus Bertram Anderson, I like to grow my Galanthus with Pulmonaria's, Cyclamen coum and Helleborus.
Of course I have a long way to go with this garden, getting the desired effect I had in my other garden.

Galanthus Hippolyta a lovely double flowering Galanthus with green on the outside of the petals as well as inside the flower. This is one of the older hybrids.

 Galanthus nivalis Lady Elphinstone this is my favourite with its double flower and delicate green markings, of course this was one of my loses moving gardens. It did not enjoy being in a pot for an extended time.

Galanthus Lavinia a strong loose grower that multiplies effortlessly from Otto.

Galanthus Merlin that has multiplied, I have 5 bulbs since this photo was taken. From Marcus Harvey Hillview Rare Plants.

Galanthus Primrose Warburg another of my losses, it grew beautifully in my other garden in a well drained, shaded moist position and was multiplying.

 Galanthus Titania a strong grower with stems of 20cm that hold nice double symmetrical flowers .

Galanthus Tubby Merlin this is a very strong grower that has multiplied beautifully. The books say it increases quickly to form large clumps, well we don't have large clumps yet but it is increasing.

Galanthus that I purchased as G. caucasicum and is now called G. elwesii subsp. monostictus. It has not turned a hair in being moved another Galanthus from Marcus. Because of its flower size and markings, its width and colour of its leaves it has a real presence in the garden.

Galanthus elwesii with the soft lime green-yellow markings, I showed a few weeks ago from Marg Taras you can see the markings better in this photo. Marg was very excited when she found these particular Galanthus growing in her garden. They come true from seed as mine were all seed raised with the lime green-yellow markings.
The Galanthus elwesii from Turkey do very well in Australia they grow large clumps and multiply with out to much trouble .

Galanthus gracilis with it's little twist to the leaf, it is quite distinctive, growing with Helleborus in the background.

Galanthus ikariae from Mr Jensen in Exeter NSW what a wonderful bulb Nursery that was, this is one of my strongest growing Galanthus I have. I collect the seed every year as it sets good seed and multiplies well when lifted every few years, I do lift them when they are in the green, (growing) as I can find the bulbs and they are easier to pull apart and replant and water in well.

Galanthus nivalis Viridapice I had to look this one up as I could not remember where I brought it from, and it is still in my other garden as I forgot to bring it with me. It came from M. Jones in Tasmania 1997. This cultivar has a least 7 different spellings in the use of Viridapice, this was the original spelling by Arnott, it is not the true Latin spelling but it is the one in most use today.

Galanthus reginae-olgae last to flower or first to flower which ever way you want to look at it. It flowers at a different time to most of the Galanthus.

Galanthus plicatus flowering amongst Cyclamen coum.

Galanthus rizehehsis distributed all over Australia by Otto who grows this little Galanthus all through his garden. By now you are probably bored to tears as some people think Galanthus all look the same, my only comment is, you will need to send me some photo's of your plants and I will add them to the blog.

My last Galanthus is Galanthus transcaucasicus collected seed in Iran by Jim Archibald dated 9/2000 number 0.509.500.
Three excellent books are Snowdrops by Matt Bishop, Aaron Davis and John Grimshaw. The Genus Galanthus by Aaron Davis, and Snowdrops by Gunter Waldore.
Of course we can not import Galanthus bulbs into Australia due to cites but we can raise a lot from seed especially the species, and we can't pay the hugh prices they demand on ebay but we can but look and dream.