White as snow
After a cold, grey January, who can fail to be moved by the arrival of snowdrops?
Here they come – the first signs that spring is finally on its way. The snowdrops have arrived, each apparently fragile bloom equipped with a warhead that can pierce frozen snow.
Just look at the construction of a snowdrop bud and you will notice a neat botanical phenomenon that enables the flower to emerge in the most unfavourable conditions. “Snow piercer” is its other common name.
So anticipated are snowdrops that they have their own bunch of enthusiasts - the galanthophiles - named after the plant’s botanical handle Galanthus, from the Greek word “gala”, meaning “milk”, and “anthos”, meaning “flower”.
Now, one snowdrop may look much like another to you, but there are hundreds of varieties with minute differences in form and colour. They are all white but with various markings that may be yellow or green, and flowers that are single or double, large and small.
Enthusiasts bitten by the bug will pay £20 or more per bulb, but for those who are happy with the plain Galanthus nivalis in its single and double forms, there is no need to splash out more than a few pounds for a hundred bulbs.
And now’s the time to buy them. Snowdrop bulbs are sensitive to drying out and, while dry bulbs can be planted in autumn with a fair degree of success, those that have been badly stored and desiccated are unlikely to emerge.
Those bought “in the green” will have no such problem and can be planted secure in the knowledge that they will come up next year.
I plant mine three inches deep and as
Enthusiasts bitten by the bug will pay £20 or more per bulb
much apart under fruit trees where they look very much at home.
The few special varieties I own I grow in terracotta pots, which are clearly labelled. But, to be honest, snowdrops are happiest planted in the garden, where they will cope with the ups and downs that nature throws at them.
Provided the soil they grow in is reasonably well-drained they will multiply year-on-year.
Enjoy the single or the double snowdrop flowers with their ballerina-like, multi-layered tutus – both are reliable. So if your garden lacks these spring heralds, plant them now to be sure of a bright future.