Gotta Garden

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

More Snowdrops...

While it's so nice outside, I am finding it difficult to tie myself to the computer here and write about this symposium I partially attended last week...so, let's just poke around outside and see what the snowdrops are up to...






Even though I know this is not the wondrous drift of snowdrops I envision, I am still pleased that from one little snowdrop, all these have now emerged.

Look at the very slight green dots on the ends of the white petals...as none of the others in this little group have them, they may mean nothing...


The next two pictures are of Galanthus elwesii...they were fortunate to be planted with a label...



The next two pictures are of Straffan...notice the lack of green at the top inside...



This is Mrs. Backhouse, not quite open yet....maybe tomorrow...


Just for fun, here's looking inside one of the unknowns...a preview...


Did I mention that I received a postcard (of snowdrops, naturally) from Mr. Lyman of Temple Nursery acknowledging my order? Yes! Looking forward to those...

Some other odds and ends..as I've added hellebores, some are in more exposed locations and they've suffered with our weather this winter...surprisingly, as I think of hellebores as bullet proof. I do expect them to recover, of course. The one below is in a protected area...a couple others there are also starting to bloom. I didn't anticipate exactly how my Japanese maple Waterfall would grow...it's become difficult to get in this area...so forgive the fuzziness from Waterfall...


I did find another self seeded Johnny Jump Up...too cute to pass by...


And, finally....have a look at the albino daylily seedling....it is doomed to die as soon as it uses up the nutrients provided by the seed itself. It can't produce chlorophyll. I've not had many of these...luckily....as it is rather sad to see them.


I learned recently...I thought this was interesting...that dormant seeds are thought to have nothing to do with dormancy in the plants themselves (we're talking daylilies here). They are produced to ensure the survival of the plant...so that the new plants don't all emerge at once and get wiped out by something. This information has been discussed on the AHS Robin recently as many of us are starting our seeds...and there are always questions about why some lag or seemingly fail to grow. You can make efforts to ensure that your seeds all germinate together, if that is important to you. I don't worry about it too much.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah! I love new plants in spring.

Unknown said...

i planted some snowdrops last fall for the first time. i hope they bloom their heads off!

Corner Gardener Sue said...

I planted some snow drops, but they are under leaves right now. I hope they come up and bloom.. We're supposed to get up to 6 inches of snow on Friday, so I guess I'm not in a hurry, but I thought they were one of the earliest to come up, and I have some other bulbs coming up.

I have hellebores on my want list for this year.

Great pics!

Kerri said...

Those beautiful little snowdrops give me hope! Your photos of them are lovely. They're hard to photograph, being so small.

EAL said...

Is it just the hellebore foliage? Because mine always looks awful at this time. I just pull it away in March.

Chandramouli S said...

Snowdrops! Aren't they cute!!!! "Oh, I mean, you too Pansy." :)

lynn'sgarden said...

Yikes! I just pulled out the envelope with my daylily seeds from the fridge..all shrivelled..are they goners? Forgot all about them 'til your post today.
Lynn

Gotta Garden said...

Me, too...Moving on up!

Yes, flowrgirl1, I hope they do, too! You will be delighted! I long for enough to pick and bring inside where I can actually see them at eye level!

Sue, maybe they are still on the time of wherever they came from. They can be tiny, at first, so maybe you will walk out there one of these days and see blooms! I hope so!

Kerri, before the macro lens, I couldn't get a decent shot of them. The white blooms just tended to look like blobs. I'm still learning...I take a number of shots to get just a couple good ones.

You know, EAL, I always wish I had already removed the old leaves when the blooms start...I remember the Pine Knot folks saying they removed theirs quite early (or so it seemed to me)...anyway, unfortunately, it's not just the leaves but the actual blooms on some...which is a bummer. I poked around one today and it looks like it will put up more blooms...just in time, probably for the next freeze-and-thaw. It's always something! *grin*

Hi Chandramouli...they are cute, aren't they? I'm happy to see any blooms this time of year!

Hi Lynn: I wouldn't think so. Some of mine will do that and others will stay plump. I suspect that once you put them in some damp planting medium (I use Pro Mix), they will plump back up. Whatever, as long as they grow! Good luck with them! (Once you start playing with seedlings, they say you are truly hooked!)

Thank you all!

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